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Texas Southern placed on probation for five years

The Committee on Infractions heard this case August 11, 1996. Representatives of the university, the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the NCAA enforcement staff appeared before the committee. The head men's and women's track coach and the assistant men's and women's track coach involved in this case also were present.

The violations found by the committee included:

* Seven men's and women's track student-athletes received fraudulent academic credit that they needed to be eligible for NCAA competition. The student-athletes did not perform the work for these courses. The awarding of academic credit violated university registration procedures.

Specifically, in the spring semester of 1993, the head men's and women's track coach arranged for four men's and women's track and field athletes to receive unearned academic credit for photography courses. The same semester, the head men's and women's track and field coach awarded passing grades to two women's track and field student-athletes even though they never attended classes or did any required work for the course. From the spring semester of 1992 through the spring semester of 1993, the assistant men's and women's track and field coach awarded unearned academic credit in physical education courses he taught to four men's and women's track student-athletes. The head coach contacted the assistant coach to solicit his help for three of these student-athletes.

* The head men's and women's track coach and the assistant men's and women's track coach violated the principles of ethical conduct by their involvement in these violations.

* During the 1992 fall semester, a football student-athlete practiced and competed while ineligible as a result of receiving credit for two courses without performing the required course work. In 1991, the student-athlete received extra benefits since he did not pay for a course in which he received academic credit.

* From the fall of 1991 through the spring of 1996, 38 student-athletes in several sports practiced and competed even though they did not meet NCAA eligibility requirements or had not been properly certified.

* In April 1993, seven women's track and field student-athletes received extra benefits when the head track and field coach and assistant track and field coach personally paid for airfare, lodging, entry fees and meals associated with an away competition.

* There was a lack of institutional control.

In determining appropriate penalties, the committee considered Texas Southern's corrective actions, including:

* Terminated the employment of the head men's and women's track coach and the assistant track coach involved in this case.

* Hired a full-time individual to handle compliance matters.

* Implemented a program to monitor full-time enrollment.

* Prepared a compliance manual for the athletics department.

* Required rules education for individuals involved in the certification of student-athlete eligibility.

* Implemented a new system for completing and monitoring squad lists.

* Removed all improperly awarded grades from the student-athletes' transcripts.

* Planned new procedures for certifying student-athlete eligibility.

* Planned rules-education and ethical-behavior workshops with coaches and student-athletes.

The Committee on Infractions adopted as its own penalties that were self-imposed by the university, including:

* The institution will forfeit any games, tournaments and meets in which ineligible student-athletes participated.

* The men's and women's track programs did not participate in conference or NCAA postseason competition in 1994-95 or 1995-96 and the cross country programs did not participate in conference or NCAA postseason competition in 1995-96.

* The total number of scholarships in men's and women's track and cross country will be limited during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 academic years to the minimum number needed for Texas Southern to continue to meet the minimum financial aid requirement for Division I membership.

The Committee on Infractions imposed penalties, including:

* Five years of probation, from August 11, 1996.

* Prohibition against postseason competition by the men's and women's track and field teams for 1996-97 and by the cross country teams for 1997-98.

* Prohibition against awarding any new scholarships in men's and women's track and field and cross country during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 academic years.

* Reduction by four of total football scholarships during the 1997-98 academic year, to 59 total scholarships.

* Prohibition against participation in any invitational meets for the institution's men's and women's track and field teams for 1996-97 and for the men's and women's cross country teams for 1997-98.

* Development and implementation of a comprehensive educational program on NCAA legislation.

* If the former head men's and women's track and field coach seeks employment in an athletically related position at an NCAA member institution during a five-year period (August 31, 1996, to August 31, 2001), he and the involved institution will be asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine if his athletically related duties should be limited.

* If the former assistant men's and women's track and field coach seeks employment in an athletically related position at an NCAA member institution during a five-year period (August 31, 1996, to August 31, 2001), he and the involved institution will be asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine if his athletically related duties should be limited.

If the head men's and women's track coach and the assistant men's and women's track coach involved in the case still had been employed at the institution, the university could have been subject to additional penalties had it failed to take appropriate disciplinary action against them.

As required by NCAA legislation for any institution in a major infractions case, Texas Southern is subject to the NCAA's repeat violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case, August 11, 1996.

Should either Texas Southern or the former coaches involved in this case wish to appeal this decision, they must submit a written notice of appeal to the NCAA executive director no later than 15 days from the date of this release. The Infractions Appeals Committee, a separate group, hears such appeals.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who heard this case are Richard J. Dunn, divisional dean of humanities, University of Washington; Jack H. Friedenthal, dean of the school of law, George Washington University; Roy F. Kramer, commissioner, Southeastern Conference; Frederick B. Lacey, attorney, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae, and a retired judge; Beverly E. Ledbetter, vice-president and general counsel, Brown University; James L. Richmond, retired judge and attorney; Yvonne (Bonnie) L. Slatton, chair of the department of physical education and sports studies, University of Iowa; and committee chair David Swank, professor of law, University of Oklahoma.

The complete report of the Committee on Infractions will be published in the December 2 issue of The NCAA Register.