The NCAA Division III Committee on Infractions has placed Southern Vermont College on two years of probation for a lack of control over its athletics program and for unethical conduct in its women’s rugby program.

Additional penalties include a vacation of wins for teams on which ineligible student-athletes competed, a one-year postseason ban for the women’s rugby program for the 2009-10 academic year, a four-year show-cause order for the former rugby head coach and required attendance for institutional personnel at an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar. 

The show-cause penalty means that if the former head coach seeks athletically related employment with any NCAA institution during this time period, the individuals and the hiring institution must appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether his duties should be limited.

This case was resolved through the summary-disposition process, a cooperative effort in which the involved parties submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in writing. The process can be used instead of a formal hearing when the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and involved individuals agree to the facts of the case and the penalties the university proposes.

A number of major violations occurred between 2004-05 and 2007-08 as a result of the institution’s lack of control over its athletics program. The committee found the institution’s systems for certifying eligibility were inadequate, leading to numerous student-athletes competing before completing mandatory NCAA forms or before being certified as eligible.

Also, required institutional forms were not completed or retained on file. For example, over two academic years, the women’s rugby squad was allowed to begin practicing before any of its members had completed mandatory forms or been certified as eligible. Further, during the 2007-08 academic year, three student-athletes were allowed to compete despite being ineligible due to poor grades.

Finally, the institution did not assure that playing-season declarations were completed and on file before the baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s soccer teams began play during the 2007-08 academic year.

Other violations occurred as a result of unethical conduct on the part of the former head women’s rugby coach and a women’s rugby student-athlete. The former head coach, despite being told specifically by the athletics administration that the student-athlete was ineligible, allowed her to participate in four contests during the 2008-09 academic year. The coach also allowed a second student-athlete to compete in one contest in the fall of 2008 after being told she was ineligible.

In her interview, the first student-athlete acknowledged that she had knowingly competed under another name and that she may have been ineligible at the time. The second student-athlete refused to cooperate in the investigation.

The penalties in this case are as follows:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Two years of probation from September 23, 2009, through September 22, 2011.
• Vacation of all wins in which two women’s rugby student-athletes and two men’s soccer student-athletes were allowed to compete with deficient grade-point averages. Also, the institution shall vacate all participation in NCAA postseason competition by teams on which ineligible student-athletes competed. Further, the individual performance of a women’s cross country student-athlete who competed in a meet with a deficient grade-point average shall also be vacated. In addition, the institution shall reconfigure the records of the head coaches in the affected sports to reflect the vacated performances, and the vacated records/results shall be included in all publications in which athletic performances are referenced.
• A four-year show-cause order for one former head coach from September 23, 2009 through September 22, 2013.
• Preclusion from postseason competition for the women’s rugby program for the 2009-10 academic year.
• The institution’s athletics department advisory committee shall send at least two members of the committee each year to an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar. The faculty athletics representative, the director of athletics and the compliance coordinator shall also attend an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar during the term of probation.

The institution has indicated that it will not petition for the reinstatement of eligibility for either women’s rugby student-athlete. Should the institution subsequently decide to seek reinstatement for either of the student-athletes, the committee reserves the right to revisit the penalties imposed in this case.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case are Mary Jo Gunning, the athletics director of Marywood University and chair of the committee; Keith Jacques, attorney at Smith Elliott Smith & Garmey; and Dea Shipps, associate commissioner and senior woman administrator at the Eastern College Athletic Conference.