Poor Notre Dame, being mistreated by the NCAA.

Wah, wah, wah.

Welcome to the University of Hawaii’s world. Except, I think UH might have a little more to be indignant about.

Sure, in both cases maybe the punishment doesn’t fit the crime … or the one at which you got caught. But maybe this is a recent career achievement award for the Fighting Irish.

The academic cheating scandal for which the NCAA announced punishment this week includes vacating of 21 football victories from 2012 and 2013 and a fine of $5,000. It is just the latest that makes the home of Touchdown Jesus seem a little less holier than thou these days.

Six Notre Dame football players were arrested a week before the current season for illegal possession of a loaded weapon, assaulting a police officer, resisting law enforcement and illegal drug possession.

In 2013, quarterback Everett Golson was benched for the season for cheating on a test, and the 2012 starting QB, Tommy Rees, was arrested for assaulting a cop.

And in 2010, a freshman from nearby Saint Mary’s College reported being sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player to university police, who did nothing. She committed suicide.

Whether these incidents are or aren’t NCAA violations, we can all agree they’re not a good look for a program and a university that likes to project that it holds itself to a higher standard than others.

What about the coach? Is he responsible for any of this?

“Zero. None. Absolutely none,” he answered when asked about his accountability.

Stand-up guy, that Brian Kelly.

In fairness, it’s true that a head coach can’t be expected to be aware of everything going on with everyone associated with his program at any given time.

But when there’s a trend like that on a coach’s watch, it can rightfully be at least partly attributed to him. Kelly was hired to be the Fighting Irish head coach in December 2009.

Notre Dame is learning the hard way that self-reporting doesn’t always mean you’ll get what you might consider a break, or a slap on the wrist. UH learned that one a couple of years ago … ’fessing up doesn’t always mean you get a sweetheart deal.

When you self-report, one of the advantages is that you control the narrative, at least the start of it. Do people think the NCAA doesn’t realize this and wonder if it’s being gamed by the institution doing the confessing? That maybe it has something else to hide?

I’m generally a big fan of transparency. But there are times when getting out in front of something is like getting out in front of traffic on the freeway.

Not a good idea.

In Hawaii’s case, the problem — one of the problems — was not everyone was going with the company line (in this case, the truth). The former basketball coach and some of his supporters, including some players, made it difficult for the NCAA to confirm precisely what happened and didn’t happen — so much so that in the end it didn’t matter so much that the original sins were rather venial in the big picture (or the medium-sized picture, since part of what we’re talking about is the improper issuing of an IPad to a student-athlete).

Hawaii didn’t get the death penalty, but in essence the ban from postseason play killed what could have been back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. It has appealed, and the NCAA has said, “My bad, sort of. Maybe we hit you a little too hard.”

So what exactly is ND crying about?

Notre Dame isn’t banned from a bowl game next year (assuming a team that is 4-7 this year will qualify for one).

The Rainbow Warriors lost basketball scholarships.

Notre Dame isn’t losing football scholarships.

Nobody in Hawaii worries too much about the vacated hoops wins. We all still remember them.

Notre Dame is appealing the deletion of the wins, which include those from the national runner-up 2012 season.

“Let’s not kid ourselves — 80 percent of colleges go through cheating,” Kelly said this week. “There’s cheating that goes on in college. Eighty percent of colleges. That doesn’t condone it, but we know what the culture is.”

Notre Dame always projected the image that it was among the other 20 percent.

Maybe now’s the time to come off its high four horses.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick- reads.