The Division II Committee on Infractions has placed Albany State University on probation for five years, reduced grants-in-aid in several sports, and imposed postseason bans for two years in football and women's basketball for violations of NCAA legislation governing financial aid and institutional control.

For six years, from 1993-94 through 1998-99, the university exceeded the maximum financial aid equivalency limits permissible under NCAA in legislation in several sports. Equivalencies were exceeded in football and women's basketball for at least five consecutive seasons. In football, for example, the overawards ranged from 7.59 equivalencies above the allowable limit to 15.61 above the limit during the six-year period.

The committee said it determined that major violations occurred because of the pervasiveness of the overawards, the lengthy period of time the overawards occurred and the competitive advantage gained by the university by having additional student-athletes on scholarship.

The committee said there was no evidence that the university willfully or knowingly attempted to violate Division II scholarship limitations.

The excess awards occurred because the university did not have compliance measures in place to adequately monitor the amounts of institutionally administered financial aid awarded to student-athletes.

Financial aid awards were credited after the completion of squad lists at the beginning of each sport season. Directors of athletics at the university, responsible for the review of financial aid equivalencies, did not review the updated squad lists. The university's financial aid office, which did not have responsibility regarding team equivalency limits, automatically awarded available aid to enrolled student-athletes as long as the aid did not exceed individual limits.

The committee found a lack of institutional control because it believes the university did not have sufficient controls in place to monitor the amounts of institutionally administered financial aid awarded to student-athletes.

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

* Hired a compliance officer and an assistant compliance officer to monitor the administering of the university's athletics program.

* Informed the current athletics director of the previous oversights about monitoring institutional financial aid awarded to student-athletes. The head coaches also received a letter mandating that squad lists be monitored on a continuous basis to ensure that equivalency totals are below NCAA legislative requirements during the academic year.

* Is utilizing the NCAA Compliance Assistant Software within its athletics department.

* Will provide additional oversight of its institutional controls through its Office of Internal Audits.

* Has provided revised copies of its athletics policy and procedures manual to athletics staff and all student-athletes.

* Will review issues related to financial aid equivalencies and eligibility lists at regular meetings of the university's athletics committee.

* Required the athletics department to submit a roster of the student-athletes that will constitute the distribution of the aforementioned reduced maximum equivalency awards before the beginning of the academic year.

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

* Placed the football, men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball programs on university probation for two years.

* Reduced by a total of eight the number of equivalency grants-in-aid awarded in the sport of football for the 1999-00 through 2002-03 academic years, thus limiting the institution to 28 equivalencies for each year of the specified period of time.

* Reduced by a total of two the number of equivalency grants-in-aid awarded in the sport of women's basketball for the 1999-00 through 2002-03 academic years, thus limiting the institution to eight equivalencies for each year of the specified period of time.

* Reduced by a total of two the number of equivalency grants-in-aid awarded in the sport of men's basketball for the 1999-00 academic year, thus limiting the institution to eight equivalencies for that year.

* Reduced by a total of two the number of equivalency grants-in-aid awarded in the sport of women's volleyball for the 1999-00 academic year, thus limiting the institution to six equivalencies for the current year.

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

* Public reprimand and censure.

* Five years of probation from March 9, 2000. The committee imposed this probationary period because of the lengthy period of time the violations occurred and the committee's belief that the university requires an extended time of NCAA scrutiny and compliance reporting requirements.

* The institution's football and women's basketball teams shall end their 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons with the playing of their last regularly scheduled, in-season contest and shall not be eligible to participate in any postseason competition, including a foreign tour, following that season. Also, during the 2000-01 academic year, the women's basketball team may not utilize exceptions regarding preseason contests and other exceptions to the maximum number of contest limitations.

* The university will further reduce football grants-in-aid by an additional four equivalencies annually beginning with the 2000-01 academic year and through the 2002-03 academic year. This limits the institution to 24 total equivalencies each year of the specified period under current rules.

* The university will further reduce women's basketball grants-in-aid by one additional equivalency beginning with the 2000-01 academic year and extending through the 2002-03 academic year. Under current rules, the school will be limited to seven total equivalencies each year during this period.

* The university will further reduce men's basketball grants-in-aid by one equivalency during the 2000-01 academic year. This will limit the school to nine total equivalencies during the 2000-01 academic year.

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

* At the end of the probationary period, the university's president will provide a letter to the committee affirming that the university's current athletics policies and practices conform to all requirements of NCAA regulations.

The committee said it imposed additional penalties because of the competitive advantage gained because of the violations, the length of time the violations occurred and the significant lack of institutional control.

The typical penalty for overawards in grants-in-aid is a reduction of grants equal to twice that overawarded. The committee said, however, that to impose such a penalty could, in effect, prevent the university from fielding teams in the affected sports. The committee said a one-for-one reduction also could unduly hurt the university's ability to conduct its athletics program, but said that some further grants-in-aid reductions from those imposed by the university were warranted.

The committee also said it did not impose all presumptive penalties available because of recent measures taken by the university to institute appropriate corrective measures and the meaningful penalties it self-imposed.

As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Albany 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, March 9, 2000.

The members of the Division II Committee on Infractions who heard this case are: Larry D. Blumberg, professor of mathematics/statistics, Washburn University of Topeka; Les Brinson, chair, professor of psychology, North Carolina Central University; Frederick B. Lacey, attorney and retired judge, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, Newark, New Jersey; Michael J. Marcil, commissioner, North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; and Kathryn F. Wilson, director of athletics, Moorhead State University.

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