INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Georgetown University for major violations involving the baseball program.

The case was narrow in scope, centering on the misuse of federal work-study funds to pay members of the baseball team for work not performed. The case also included a failure to monitor by the university and head baseball coach.

Penalties in this case include three years probation, vacation of records, scholarship restrictions, and a financial penalty.

Although the issues were limited, the violations occurred over seven years and resulted in excess payments to 26 baseball student-athletes estimated at $61,552. The committee stated in its report that it was troubled not only by the violations but also that multiple assistant coaches over seven years helped facilitate "the abuse of the work-study program through either inattention or misguidance."

During the 2000-01 through 2006-07 academic years, the assistant baseball coaches responsible for work-study supervision instructed student-athletes to record blocks of time totaling no more than 20 hours per week on their timecards. This direction was under the assumption that sufficient work would be assigned to justify the hours.  Student-athletes recorded and were paid for up to 20 hours of work per week, even though they were not always assigned sufficient work to justify the amount of compensation.

University records indicated that the percentage of pay legitimately earned by the student-athletes during the seven years varied widely during different periods within the same academic year, from 10 percent to 92 percent  The student-athletes indicated the assistant coach assured them they did not need to be concerned with tracking specific hours because he would ensure they received enough work to support the hours they submitted. The assistant coach reported that he intended to give the student-athletes sufficient work to support the time cards and he was generally able to do so, but that became more difficult once laundry duties were shifted to another area of the athletic department.

The committee found the university and the head coach failed to monitor the federal work-study program in the baseball program. The university had no internal controls or systems to monitor the program or detect whether abuses took place. The committee also found the university failed to provide training for the baseball work-study supervisors and student-athletes regarding the accurate completion and review of timecards. Further, the head coach stated he delegated the administration of the work-study to his "second" assistant coach and had little to no involvement in the daily oversight.

The penalties, some of which were self-imposed by the institution and adopted by the committee, are below. Additional details are available in the public report.

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Three years of probation (September 2, 2009, to September 1, 2012).
• Limit of five equivalency scholarships for baseball for 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years (self-imposed by the university). The committee extended this restriction to the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years. If the institution has already obligated more than five equivalencies in baseball for the 2009-10 academic year, it may delay the initiation of this limit to 2010-11, in which case this penalty will conclude with the 2012-13 academic year. 
• Financial penalty of $61,000. Additional details are available in the public report
• Vacation of all wins in which any of the involved 26 baseball student-athletes competed while ineligible during the 2000-01 through 2006-07 baseball seasons. Details of this vacation penalty are included in the public report.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Paul Dee, lecturer of law and education at the University of Miami and formerly the institution's athletics director and general counsel. He is the chair of the Committee on Infractions. Other members are John S. Black, attorney; Eileen Jennings, general counsel at Central Michigan University; Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly director of athletics at Hampton University; and Andrea Meyers, athletic director emeritus, Indiana State University.