INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has placed Florida A&M University on four years probation and imposed a number of other penalties for lack of institutional control and approximately 200 other violations in 15 sports.

The institution has acknowledged that its compliance program was understaffed and inadequately funded, which resulted in an inexperienced and inadequately trained compliance staff between 1998-99 and 2004-05. These compliance shortcomings and the resulting violations led to a finding by the committee of lack of institutional control.

The Committee on Infractions is a 10-member body composed of institutional faculty and administrators, conference representatives and members of the public. While the NCAA enforcement staff serves as investigators in infractions cases, the committee serves as an independent adjudicator of NCAA member institutions that are alleged to be in violation of NCAA bylaws.

In this case, the committee noted that the former compliance director did a commendable job, given his inexperience and lack of training and support staff. He was a former graduate assistant and administrative assistant in men's basketball, but had received no formal training in compliance.

The committee's public infractions report also commended the institution's new president for her determination to correct the problems within the program.

Nonetheless, the shortcomings in Florida A&M's compliance program, education and certification systems resulted in a large number of rules violations.

"The result was an environment that allowed for violations of NCAA legislation," said committee vice-chair Josephine Potuto, a professor of law at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "Numerous bylaws were misinterpreted, large numbers of student-athletes were certified improperly and many student-athletes competed while ineligible."

Specifically, those violations include:

• 67 student-athletes competed even though they did not complete the required 24 credit hours in a given year.
• 34 student-athletes competed despite not meeting NCAA progress-toward-degree requirements.
• More than 100 student-athletes practiced and competed before completing required NCAA paperwork.
• 22 practiced and competed before their high school transcripts were reviewed and they received certification of their academic eligibility.
• One student-athlete was allowed to compete despite not choosing a major prior to her third year of enrollment.
• One student-athlete competed without meeting minimum grade-point average requirements.

The committee also found that during the 2004-05 season, the football team exceeded the 20-hour weekly limit on athletically related activities. However, due to poor record keeping, the exact dates and amount of excessive practice were not available.

An allegation against the former head football coach was not found by the committee. The committee determined that there was insufficient evidence presented at the hearing to support a finding. With regard to an allegation made against the former director of compliance, the committee concluded that his conduct did not constitute a violation.  

In assigning penalties, the committee considered the institution's corrective actions, including enhancements made to its compliance and educational programs. It also considered conference-imposed penalties, including the return of $175,000 in revenue sharing and vacation of contests and conference championships when ineligible student-athletes competed. The institution's self-imposed penalties were also considered.  

The penalties imposed by the committee or imposed by the institution or conference and adopted by the committee include:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Four years of probation, which will end on January 31, 2010.
• A reduction in grants-in-aid in all 15 sports on the following schedule: baseball grants are reduced by three in 2005-06; grants in men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, softball and women's volleyball grants are each reduced by one in 2005-06; football grants will be reduced by six in 2005-06, two in 2006-07, three in 2007-08 and three in 2008-09; men's and women's swimming each reduced grants by two in 2005-06; grants in men's tennis are reduced by 1.5 in 2005-06; men's track is losing one grant in both 2005-06 and 2006-07; and women's track is losing two grants in 2005-06 and one in 2006-07.
• Football practice time was reduced by 20 hours in 2005-06.
• All contests and records involving ineligible student-athletes in the sports of baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's tennis, men's and women's track and cross country, and women's volleyball between the 1998-99 and 2004-05 academic years shall be vacated. The institution must continue to develop a comprehensive educational and testing session on NCAA rules, and arrange for an NCAA compliance review within one year.

In addition to Potuto, the Committee on Infractions members who heard this case were Alfred Lechner, Jr., vice-president, Tyco International (US) Inc.; Edward Leland, vice president for advancement, University of the Pacific; Gene Marsh, Committee on Infractions chair and professor of law, University of Alabama; Andrea L. Myers, director of athletics, Indiana State University; James Park Jr., attorney, Lexington, Kentucky; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association.