Tennessee State University has been placed on probation for three years and grants-in-aid have been reduced in several sports for violations of NCAA legislation governing financial aid, recruiting, extra benefits, institutional control and ethical conduct.

One aspect of the case involved financial aid violations that occurred from the 1993-94 through the 1996-97 academic years. During this time, 34 student-athletes in the sports of football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track, women's volleyball, women's tennis and softball received athletics financial aid that exceeded full grants-in-aid limits. The total dollar amount was $16,542. The university also exceeded team limitations on financial aid equivalencies in three sports during the same period.

The violations were self-reported by the university. It was determined that the excess awards occurred because some financial aid sources were not included in the calculation of institutionally administered financial aid and there was no coordination between the athletics and financial aid departments to include all sources of aid.

Many of the amounts over-awarded were small, but the committee determined the violations were major because there was a pattern of neglect in the management of athletics financial aid and because of the large total dollar amount involved. The university proposed financial aid penalties for some of the violations in 1997, and they were accepted by the NCAA, but the university took no action to impose them.

Among other violations, the university failed to provide appropriate written notice to many student-athletes about the renewal or nonrenewal of their athletics aid during two academic years; improper transportation and complimentary tickets were provided to student-athletes in the football program; and improper recruiting contacts were made by members of the football coaching staff.

For example, in mid-1996, football staff members contacted an enrolled student-athlete at another university to encourage the individual to transfer to the university without first obtaining a release allowing such a conversation to occur.

The committee also found a lack of institutional control, specifically with the conduct and administration of the university's football program. The university failed to monitor distribution of the head football coach's complimentary tickets; failed to complete squad list forms, which led to excess financial aid awards to student-athletes; and failed to investigate possible NCAA rules violations.

In addition, the committee determined that an assistant football coach failed to cooperate and violated the provisions of ethical conduct by providing false and misleading information to university investigators and the NCAA's enforcement staff.

The university imposed a number of corrective actions, which were considered by the committee. Among the actions, the university:

Placed the athletics department directly under the control of the institution's president rather than under the office of the vice-president for student affairs.

Terminated the former compliance coordinator, effective June 21, 1999, and hired a replacement.

Issued a letter of reprimand to the head football coach and barred his participation in one conference football game in the fall of 1998. The coach was placed on probation from 1998 to 2000 and is required to attend NCAA rules compliance seminars for two years. The head coach's salary was frozen for the 1999-00 academic year, and he was not permitted to recruit off-campus for the 1999-00 academic year.

Issued a letter of reprimand and placed an assistant coach on probation beginning in the fall of 1998. The coach was suspended for one conference football game in 1998. Effective July 1, 1999, the assistant coach was removed from his coaching position and reassigned to a department outside of athletics. His employment status was to be reviewed in December 1999.

Reassigned a former director of athletics to a position outside of athletics. Terminated the succeeding director of athletics in January 1999. On August 16, 1999, appointed a new director of athletics.

Reorganized the athletics department and implemented new policies and procedures.

Established a new policy on financial aid procedures.

Implemented new procedures to track and monitor countable aid to prevent over-awarding.

Revamped the university's complimentary ticket policy to track all ticket authorization and disbursements.

Hired an associate athletics director for compliance.

Implemented a rules education program with monthly newsletters, rules seminars, and an NCAA compliance Web site.

Determined to hire a compliance assistant to support the compliance coordinator.

Created the position of coordinator of scholarships, responsible for coordinating financial aid for athletics.

Installed NCAA compliance software to monitor financial aid awards.

Required athletics and financial aid personnel to attend NCAA training seminars on financial aid.

The committee adopted as its own the following penalties proposed or self-imposed by the university:

Reduce by three the number of official paid recruiting visits for football to 38 for the 1999-00 and 2000-01 academic years.

Reduce by two the number of football grants-in-aid to be awarded during the 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 academic years.

The committee agreed with and approved of the university's actions but imposed the following additional penalties:

Public reprimand and censure.

Three years of probation from January 5, 2000.

A further reduction in the number of official paid visits for football to 36 during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years.

The institution will further reduce grants in football by .56 during 2000-01; 2 during 2001-02; and 1.65 during 2002-03 to account for the football grant reductions pledged to be imposed in 1997 that were never applied. Therefore, based upon the average number of football equivalencies at the university for the past five years -- 60.3 -- the university will be limited to 57.8 equivalencies for 2000-01, 56.3 for 2001-02 and 56.8 for 2002-03.

In men's golf, reduce grants-in-aid equivalencies by .02 for one year no later than the 2000-01 academic year.

In men's tennis, the institution will reduce grants-in-aid equivalencies totaling .96 for one year no later than 2001-02.

The university will continue to develop and implement a comprehensive education program on NCAA legislation and submit periodic reports to the NCAA.

The university's president will recertify in a letter to the committee that all of the university's current athletics policies and practices conform to all requirements of NCAA regulations.

As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Tennessee State 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, January 5, 2000.

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case were: Jack Friedenthal, committee chair and professor of law, George Washington University; Richard J. Dunn, professor of English, University of Washington; Frederick B. Lacey, attorney and retired judge, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, Newark, New Jersey; Gene A. Marsh, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park Jr., attorney and retired judge, Brown, Todd and Heyburn, Lexington, Kentucky; Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association.

A copy of the complete report from the Division I Committee on Infractions is available on NCAA Online at www.ncaa.org.