The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee has upheld findings and penalties involving the wrestling program at Bucknell University. The appeals committee reaffirmed a finding issued July 15, 1999, by the Division I Committee on Infractions that the university failed to exercise institutional control in the conduct and administration of its wrestling program. In upholding the finding, the appeals committee said that compliance procedures and processes in place at Bucknell at the time of the violations were not adequate because a pattern of violations occurred over a lengthy period of time.

The university appealed findings involving oversight of summer employment of student-athletes and prospective student-athletes, control of donor contributions to the athletics program, payment processes for student-athletes in the intramural program, and oversight of the former head wrestling coach's summer camp.

The university also appealed four penalties: four years of probation beginning February 7, 1999; prohibition from awarding any initial athletically related financial aid in wrestling for two years; prohibition from off-campus recruiting from August 15, 1999, to June 1, 2000, and reporting to the Committee on Infractions regarding education and compliance programs.

The university's appeal asserted that the Committee on Infractions' finding of lack of institutional control was based on speculation, conjecture and unwarranted inferences from the evidence. The university also argued that the penalties should be vacated because they were excessive and inappropriate based upon the evidence and circumstances.

Upon a review of the record, the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee determined that the findings of the Committee on Infractions were not clearly contrary to the evidence, the standard required by NCAA Bylaw 32.10.2(a).

With regard to the summer employment finding, a prospect, who later became a student-athlete, was paid $5,000 per summer for employment arranged by the former wrestling coach, although the young man did not perform all of the work for which he was paid and was paid at a rate substantially greater than the going rate for similar work in that locale. The former wrestling coach had secured payments from two representatives of the university's athletics interests to fund the employment, which was originally established as an internship which did not materialize.

The appeals committee concluded from the review of the evidence that Bucknell did not have adequate compliance procedures in place to oversee summer employment of student-athletes as violations occurred over a three-year period.

The committee also said that senior officials at Bucknell became or should have become aware of possible improprieties in its donor contributions program and that the university did not adequately monitor employment records of student-athletes working in the intramural department also under the control of the former head wrestling coach.

The appeals committee concluded that the various violations in combination constituted lack of institutional control and were not contrary to the evidence.

After reaffirming the finding of lack of institutional control, the appeals committee reaffirmed the penalties. The committee said the four-year probation is designed to ensure that the university will implement sufficient institutional controls in the future, and the penalties prohibiting athletically related financial aid and off-campus recruiting in the wrestling program for specified periods of time reflect the seriousness of the actions of the head wrestling coach.

The members of the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee who heard the case are: Katherine E. Noble, Georgia Institute of Technology; Terry Don Phillips, Oklahoma State University; Michael L. Slive, chair, Conference USA; Rodney K. Smith, University of Arkansas, Little Rock; and Robert A. Stein, American Bar Association.

A copy of the complete report from the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee is available upon request or online at NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org).