The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Middle Tennessee State for major violations in its women’s volleyball program. The case involved ineligible participation by a volleyball student-athlete and a failure to monitor by the institution and the former head coach.

Penalties for the violations include two years of probation, a vacation of wins, a reduction in scholarships and a two-year show-cause order for the former head coach.

Under the show-cause penalty, should the former head coach seek athletically related employment with any NCAA institution during this period, the individuals and the hiring institution must appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether her duties should be limited.

The case was resolved through the summary-disposition process rather than a formal hearing before the Committee on Infractions. Summary disposition is used when the institution, the NCAA enforcement staff and involved parties agree to the facts of the case. The former head coach on numerous occasions declined to participate in the summary-disposition process. The Committee on Infractions reviewed the agreement and the penalties recommended by the institution.

The case centered on an international volleyball student-athlete who graduated from high school in 1997. She turned 21 years old in 1998 and was invited to try out for a European volleyball team in 1999. She signed a contract to compete with the team and played in eight contests from August through October 1999. By the terms of her contract, she was to be paid more than $1,000 per month by the team, which marketed and identified itself as a professional volleyball club.

Her participation with the professional team rendered her ineligible for NCAA competition when she enrolled at the institution in 2003, but she was allowed to compete as a member of the institution’s team for three academic years.

The student-athlete stated during the investigation that she – acting on instructions from a graduate assistant coach who recruited her and instructions from the former head coach – did not mention on her NCAA General Amateurism and Eligibility Form her contract with the European team, the games she played in Europe or that she was paid to participate. Both the former head coach and the institution failed to monitor the volleyball program, according to the facts of the case. When initially provided information regarding the student-athlete’s possible participation with a professional team, the former head coach did not investigate the information or pass it on to the institution’s compliance personnel. Instead, she decided on her own that the student-athlete was eligible and allowed her to compete.

Even though the former head coach kept information regarding the student-athlete’s past participation from the institution’s compliance office, the committee found that other clues should have led the institution to investigate the student-athlete’s eligibility status.

These factors included the student-athlete’s enrollment at the institution at the age of 25, more than six years after she graduated high school in 1997. Institutional personnel should have further investigated this gap in her post-secondary activities, the committee said. In addition, the committee said the institution failed to provide rules education to the volleyball coaches in 2003.

The penalties in the case are as follows:

•         Public reprimand and censure.

•         Two years of probation effective May 22, 2008, through May 21, 2010.

•         Two-year show-cause penalty effective May 22, 2008, through May 21, 2010.

•         Vacation of all wins in which ineligible student-athlete competed during the 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years. All individual records of the student-athlete shall be vacated, as well. The institution shall reconfigure the records for volleyball, as well as the record of the former head coach, to reflect the vacated records. The vacated results shall be included in all publications and public reference in which athletics performances are referenced, including but not limited to media guides, recruiting materials, Web sites, institutional and NCAA archives. Finally, any public reference to tournament performances won during this time shall be removed including, but not limited to, athletics department stationary and banners displayed in public areas such as the arena in which the women's volleyball team competes.

•         Reduction of volleyball scholarships by four over the next four academic years (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12). The reduction can be taken at the institution’s discretion over the four-year period. These grant reductions are independent of and supplemental to any action that may be or has been taken by the Committee on Academic Performance through its assessment of contemporaneous, historical or other penalties.

•         Institution is prohibited from signing any international volleyball student-athletes during the 2008-09 academic year.

The Division I Committee on Infractions consists of conference and institutional athletics administrators, faculty and members of the public. The committee independently rules on cases investigated by the NCAA enforcement staff and determines appropriate penalties. The committee’s findings may be appealed to the Infractions Appeals Committee.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case are Josephine Potuto, the Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law and chair of the committee; Paul Dee, director of athletics at the University of Miami (Florida), and formerly the institution's general counsel; Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., attorney; Gene Marsh, James M. Kidd Sr. Professor of Law at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa School of Law; Andrea Myers, athletics director emeritus, Indiana State University; Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly director of athletics at Hampton University; and Thomas Phillips, attorney with the Austin, Texas, office of the law firm Baker Botts and formerly the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.