National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jan 20, 2010 3:22:01 PM

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Georgia Southern University for major violations involving the school's men's basketball program.

The case centers on unethical conduct by members of the men's basketball staff stemming from academic fraud and the provision of false and misleading information. The committee also found that the university failed to monitor its men's basketball program.

Penalties in this case include two years of probation, scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and a vacation of records. A former assistant coach received a five-year show-cause order and a former director of basketball operations received a two-year show-cause for his involvement.

The show-cause penalties limit these individuals' recruiting and other duties at their present and any future employing institutions.

During the 2007-08 academic year and 2008 summer and fall academic terms, the former assistant coach provided substantial portions of course work, and in some instances completed course work, for two men's basketball student-athletes. This assistance included providing answers; participating in required online chats for one of the student-athletes; and providing papers, essays, and tests for both student-athletes. 

In addition, the former assistant coach directed the former director of men's basketball operations to be responsible for one of these student-athletes' required course work. This impermissible assistance included submitting substantial portions of course work, including writing papers, essays and short-answers and completing tests. The former director of operations recalled writing two or three papers, eight to 10 pages long, and spending many hours in the library researching topics.

The committee also found the former assistant coach knowingly furnished the NCAA with false and misleading information about his involvement in and knowledge of the academic-fraud allegations when questioned by the university and NCAA enforcement staff on two separate occasions.

The committee found the university failed to monitor its men's basketball program. The committee noted several factors for this finding, including that it assigned the former assistant coach with oversight responsibility of academics for the men's basketball program. The committee stated in its report, "This responsibility went beyond normal boundaries for a coach and included unfettered access to the men's basketball student-athletes' online academic accounts and contact with professors." Among other factors, the committee found the evidence reflected that the university's compliance program resources were limited, resulting in a lack of time and personnel to monitor the former assistant coach.

The penalties, some of which were self-imposed by the institution and adopted by the committee, include:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Two years of probation (January 20, 2010, to January 19, 2012).
• Five-year show-cause order for the former assistant coach (January 20, 2010, to January 19, 2015).
• Two-year show-cause order for the former director of basketball operations (January 20, 2010, to January 19, 2012).
• Reduction of basketball scholarships by one for the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years.
• During the 2009-10 academic year, the number of official recruiting visits for men's basketball shall be reduced by four from the maximum of 12 (self-imposed by the university).
• Vacation of all wins in which the two academically ineligible student-athletes competed during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 men's basketball seasons (self-imposed by the university).

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Paul Dee, lecturer of law and education at the University of Miami (Florida) and formerly the institution's athletics director and general counsel. He is the chair of the Committee on Infractions. Other members are Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly director of athletics at Hampton University; Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference USA; Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at University of Notre Dame; Brian Halloran, attorney; and James O'Fallon, a law professor and faculty athletics representative for University of Oregon.