Kentucky football is on probation, but who knew there were NCAA rules still to break?

They’re back to those cheating ways these Kentucky Wildcats, the UK football program that was placed on probation in the mid-1970s and early 2000s; the basketball program that has run afoul of the NCAA in the 1950s and 1970s and again in 1989.

Now, here we are again with the school and the NCAA announcing Friday a joint agreement that places the football program and swimming program on two years probation with Kentucky football forced to vacate all 10 of its wins in the 2021 season.

Another black eye for the Big Blue, right?

No, not really. Not these days when we have departed the antiquated student-athlete amateur model and entered the play-for-pay era with NIL the way of the world and revenue sharing on the horizon.

I’d venture to guess that many college sports fans didn’t realize the NCAA still levied such things as penalties anymore. Rendered nearly powerless by the sweeping judicial tide that washed away the previous model, the suits in Indianapolis don’t pack the same enforcement punch.

That’s not to say that the violations committed by the football program between the spring of 2021 and March 2022 would be OK by the rules today. The fact that Mark Stoops’ players worked at the UK hospital was not the problem. The fact that Stoops’ players allegedly received pay for work that they did not perform at the hospital was the problem. And still would be a problem.

There’s a catch, however. With college athletes receiving NIL money now — with revenue sharing from the NCAA antitrust settlement to come — would players even need to work at a hospital, or anywhere else, to earn walking-around money? Probably not.

It is true that having your name associated with “rules violations” and “probation” and “vacated wins” is never good. It is also true that those headlines don’t carry the same weight these days when almost anything goes in the wild, wild west of college sports.

Once upon a time, “vacated” was considered a stain on your record. Now, it’s something to be listed on your Wikipedia page. Did Kentucky pay much attention to the “vacated” wins on basketball coach John Calipari’s résumé from his days at UMass and Memphis? Not really.

Fans will still remember the 2021 Kentucky football team as the one led by Will Levis, Chris Rodriguez and Wan’Dale Robinson on offense and DeAndre Square, Jacquez Jones and Josh Paschal on defense. It will still be the team that posted the program’s second winning SEC season (5-3) since 1977 and beat Iowa 20-17 in the Citrus Bowl.

Nor do I think Friday’s announcement will hurt Kentucky’s ability to raise NIL funds. There will always be boosters who want to “help” or “gain access” to their beloved program, which includes a meet-and-greet with the head coach, no matter how overworked Stoops might be.

We live in a different world now, but in one sense it’s the same world. College athletes have always been getting paid under the table, or receiving extra benefits, or obtaining cushy jobs that require little work. Cheating has been around as long as the NCAA itself. It’s just now those practices are out in the open. The charade is over.

Nor do I think Friday’s news will hurt Kentucky football in recruiting. Unlike the NCAA penalties of 1976 and 2002, there is no bowl ban this time around, no reduction in scholarships. And I doubt there will be much of a stigma either.

UK swimming is another matter. The NCAA violations listed Friday were bad enough. If the allegations of sexual harassment in a recent lawsuit are true, the athletic program specifically and university as a whole dropped the ball in inexcusable fashion.

As for football, my guess is that Big Blue Nation is more worried about whether the Cats can bounce back from consecutive 7-6 seasons and how they will compete in an SEC that now includes traditional powers Oklahoma and Texas, all while keeping a wary eye on what Jeff Brohm is building up the road at Louisville.

Now those are real problems.

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