INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has placed Gardner-Webb University on probation for three years for multiple violations, including a lack of institutional control. The case centers around violations of bylaws concerning recruiting, academic eligibility, extra benefits, ethical conduct and institutional control.
This was the university's first major infractions case.
The committee found that the institution's former president had provided a men's basketball student-athlete with an extra benefit and also violated the principles of institutional control. The former president, at the request of the athletics director, directed the university registrar to recalculate the student-athlete's grade-point-average in a manner contrary to institutional practice in an effort to make the student-athlete academically eligible for the 2000-01 academic year. (The student-athlete had received a failing grade in a course because he had been found to have copied from another student's paper on the course's final exam.) The former president also failed to consult with appropriate university personnel before making a decision that circumvented the university's eligibility certification procedures.
The committee also found that, during the period beginning with the 2000-01 academic year and concluding with the 2002-03 academic year, several student-athletes in five sports: baseball, men's basketball, women's cross country and women's track practiced, and in some cases competed, and received athletically financial aid while ineligible.
The committee also found that, during the 1999-00 through 2002-03 academic years, the institution failed to correctly certify the eligibility of any of its 33 international student-athletes during a four-year period because it failed to require international student-athletes to complete the General Amateurism and Eligibility Form for International Student-Athletes. As a result, 33 student-athletes in the sports of men's golf, women's golf, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, softball, indoor and outdoor track, and men's and women's tennis practiced and/or participated while ineligible. The committee concluded that this was a major violation because it was not isolated and it provided more than a minimum competitive advantage.
The committee also found that during the 2002 fall semester, the institution failed to follow its own procedures in documenting the designation of degree programs for 14 student-athletes entering their third year of enrollment. The committee noted that this violation was neither inadvertent nor isolated and provided more than a minimal competitive advantage. The committee further noted that the compliance director discovered in early October that the student-athletes had not completed the university's paperwork process, but it was not until October 15, when the director of athletics was alerted to the problem, that the university withheld the student-athletes from competition.
The committee found that the university's former head women's basketball coach purchased a one-way airline ticket from Krakow, Poland, to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a former women's basketball prospective student-athlete. Additionally, the committee found that the head women's basketball coach violated NCAA bylaws related to ethical conduct by his involvement in this violation.
The committee also found that the institution had committed secondary violations by exceeding the maximum financial aid equivalency limits in the sports of baseball, men's soccer and men's tennis during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years.
The committee ultimately found that there was a lack of institutional control and lack of monitoring of the institution's athletics program because the institution:
Failed to possess adequate compliance and monitoring activities to prevent the violations listed above;
Did not employ a compliance coordinator during 2000-01 while the university was in transition from NCAA Division II to Division I status;
Did not hire an experienced compliance coordinator;
Failed to apply junior-college transfer regulations;
Failed to correctly apply financial aid legislation;
Failed to document the designation of degree programs;
Did not require international student-athletes to complete NCAA-mandated paperwork;
Failed to correctly certify the initial eligibility of three student-athletes; and
Failed to monitor the satisfactory progress of a women's cross-country student-athlete.
The committee noted that all of the failures resulted in numerous student-athletes participating while ineligible during the 1999-00 through 2002-03 academic years. The committee also concluded that the institution's former president violated NCAA legislation relating to institutional control in that he did not ensure that all aspects of the athletics program were compliant with NCAA and institutional policies when he arranged for a student-athlete to be certified in a manner that was contrary to institutional policy.
The committee found that many of the violations were directly attributable to the institution being ill-prepared for a move to Division I and the accompanying complex requirements of Division I membership. "The committee believes that this case should serve as a warning to institutions making the move to Division I that there must be a heightened sense of awareness with respect to compliance during the period of transition and such institutions need to take deliberate steps to prepare for the elevation to Division I status."
The committee also noted that this case, and the previous one (St. Bonaventure University), announced "are two examples where university presidents asserted their influence and made improper decisions on issues relating to student-athletes and academics. In both instances, the presidents ultimately left office, at least in part, because their actions resulted in NCAA violations. Both later expressed regret for what they had done. Once again, the committee believes this case and the St. Bonaventure case should serve as cautionary lessons for institutional chief executive officers."
In determining appropriate penalties, the committee considered the institution's self-imposed penalties and corrective actions. The following penalties were imposed by the committee or were self-imposed by the university adopted by the committee. Those penalties that were self-imposed by the university are so noted.
Public reprimand and censure.
Three years of probation beginning March 4, 2004, and ending March 3, 2007. (The institution had proposed a two-year period of probation.)
All contests in which the aforementioned men's basketball student-athlete participated during the 2000-01 academic year shall be vacated. Further, the university's records regarding men's basketball, as well as the record of the head men's basketball coach, shall be reconfigured to reflect the vacated records and so recorded in all publications in which men's basketball records for the 2000-01 season are reported, including media guides, Atlantic Sun Conference publications, recruiting material and university and NCAA archives. (The university voluntarily vacated the 2001 National Christian College Athletic Association championship, including the removal of banners and signage.)
The institution's men's basketball team shall end its 2003-04 season with the playing of its last regularly scheduled, in-season contest and shall not be eligible to participate in any postseason competition, including a foreign tour, at the conclusion of this season. Further, during the 2004-05 academic year, the men's basketball team also is prohibited from taking advantage of the exceptions to the limitation on the number of basketball contests provided in NCAA Bylaws 17.5.3.1, 17.5.5.1, 17.5.5.2 and 17.5.5.3 for preseason contests. If the institution has any existing commitments to participate in contests under these exceptions, it may seek permission from the committee to defer application of this portion of the penalty until the 2005-06 academic year.
The number of total athletically related financial aid awards in men's and women's basketball shall be reduced by one for both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years. This limits the women's basketball team to no more than 14 grants for both of those years, and the men's basketball team to no more than 12 grants for those years. (The university self-imposed a one-grant reduction for the men's and women's basketball teams during the 2004-05 academic year only.)
As a result of exceeding maximum financial aid equivalency limits, a secondary violation, the university reduced the permissible numbers of equivalency grants by twice the amount by which the equivalency limits were exceeded in the sports of men's soccer, baseball and men's tennis. (Self-imposed by the university.)
The number of official paid visits in both men's and women's basketball will be limited to no more than nine for the 2004-05 academic year. (The university had self-imposed a reduction of two visits for only the women's program for the current academic year.)
The former head women's basketball coach resigned at the request of the institution, effective June 30, 2002.
The former head women's basketball coach will be informed in writing by the NCAA that, due to his involvement in certain violations of NCAA legislation in this case, he is subject to a show-cause order. If he seeks employment or affiliation in an athletically related position at an NCAA member institution during the period of time beginning with the release of this report (March 4, 2004) and concluding June 29, 2004, (two years after his release from the university), he and the involved institution shall be requested to appear before the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions to consider whether the member institution should be subject to the show-cause procedures, which could limit the coach's athletically related duties at the new institution for a designated period.
The former university president submitted his resignation to the university's board of trustees October 12, 2002, in part because of his involvement with the violations regarding the men's basketball student-athlete.
The former assistant director of athletics for compliance was issued letters of reprimand by the university for his involvement in the violations. (Self-imposed by the university.)
The former head women's track and field coach was issued a letter of reprimand for his involvement in a violation. (Self-imposed by the university.)
The faculty athletics representative and the director of athletics each received letters of admonishment for their involvement in a violation. (Self-imposed by the university.)
Since this case involved violations of NCAA legislation relating to academics, this report will be forwarded to the appropriate regional academic accrediting agency by the NCAA's president as provided in NCAA Bylaw 19.5.2.7.
Within 30 days of receipt of this report, the institution's chief executive officer shall contact the NCAA's membership services staff in writing and formally request a compliance review.
The committee required that, during the probationary period, the university shall continue to develop and implement a comprehensive educational program on NCAA legislation and submit periodic reports to the NCAA. The university also is required to submit, to the director of the NCAA Committees on Infractions, a preliminary report that sets forth a schedule for establishing this compliance and educational program. The institution also must file annual compliance reports indicating progress made with the program, placing particular emphasis on NCAA legislation relating to certification of eligibility, institutional control of the athletics program and the university's efforts to establish a viable compliance program. The report also must include documentation of the university's compliance with the penalties imposed and adopted by the committee. At the end of the probationary period, the university's president will provide a letter to the committee affirming that the university's current athletics policies and practices conform to all requirements of NCAA regulations.
As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Gardner-Webb University is subject to the provisions of NCAA Bylaw 19.5.2.3, concerning repeat violators for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case, March 4, 2004.
The members of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case were: Thomas Yeager, committee chair and commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association; Paul T. Dee, director of athletics at the University of Miami (Florida); Gene A. Marsh, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Andrea L. Myers, director of athletics at Indiana State University; James Park Jr., attorney, Lexington, Kentucky; Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law and faculty athletics representative at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Eugene D. Smith, director of athletics at Arizona State University.
