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For Immediate Release

Friday, May 13, 2011

Contact(s)

Stacey Osburn
Associate Director of Public and Media Relations
317/917-6117

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Samford University for violations of NCAA financial aid rules. The violations involve 49 student-athletes from the football, men’s basketball and women’s soccer programs. Penalties in this case include two years probation and a $15,000 penalty, as well as other sanctions.

This case was resolved through the summary disposition process, a cooperative effort where the involved parties submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in written form. When the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and involved individuals agree to the facts of the case and penalties proposed by the university, they may use this process instead of a formal hearing.

From the 2007 summer academic term through the 2009 summer term, the university provided impermissible financial aid to numerous student-athletes prior to their full-time enrollment. Contrary to the membership-adopted rules, none of the prospects were enrolled in the required minimum of six credit hours and some were enrolled in physical education courses. Although the violations were limited in scope, they occurred over a significant period of time, three years, and involved 49 prospective student-athletes.

As a result of these violations, the university agreed it failed to monitor athletically related financial aid provided to prospective student-athletes enrolled in summer school prior to their full-time enrollment. The committee noted that no member of the athletics department reviewed the relevant rules or contacted the conference office to determine whether any rules applied. It also noted the school did not conduct any rules education once it decided to award scholarships to prospective student-athletes.

The penalties in this case are as follows:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Two years of probation from May 13, 2011, through May 12, 2013.
• $15,000 penalty, representing $5,000 for each of the three years of violations.

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference USA and acting chair; John Black, attorney; Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at University of Notre Dame; Eleanor Myers, faculty athletics representative and law professor at Temple University; James O’Fallon, law professor and faculty athletics representative for University of Oregon; and Greg Sankey, associate commissioner of compliance for the Southeastern Conference.

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