IUPUI to vacate wins in 6 sports after eligibility violations

NCAA orders IUPUI to vacate wins in 6 sports

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA says it has found major infractions involving all 14 sports at IUPUI.

The NCAA said Tuesday that IUPUI allowed erroneous eligibility certification for 97 student-athletes from 2003-04 through 2006-07, demonstrating a lack of institutional control and a failure to monitor by the university.

A former academic adviser was cited for unethical conduct for his refusal to cooperate with the NCAA during its investigation.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will receive three years’ probation and lose some scholarships. It will also vacate 18 victories by the men’s basketball team in 2003-04; 14 wins by the women’s basketball team in 2006-07; and 40 victories by the volleyball team from 2004-06.

This marks the end of a process that began almost 2½ years ago for IUPUI. The school says it discovered the violations in June 2007, investigated them, and then submitted a report about them to the NCAA on Oct. 3, 2008.

That report outlined steps IUPUI had taken and identified penalties IUPUI imposed on itself. Those sanctions were adopted by the NCAA without any additional limitations being imposed on its programs.

“IUPUI is pleased that the NCAA enforcement staff and Committee on Infractions agreed with the results of its internal investigation and has accepted its corrective actions and self imposed sanctions,” IUPUI spokesman Rich Schneider said in a release. “IUPUI has emerged much stronger from a compliance perspective and is confident that the corrective actions it implemented more than 16 months ago are replete with appropriate checks and balances in both the areas of academic advising for student-athletes and the monitoring of continuing eligibility to prevent future violations.”

The university noted that no IUPUI student-athletes, coaches or athletics department administrators knew of the violations.

Violations involving athletes include not enrolling in a degree-seeking program, not meeting progress toward degree requirements, insufficient minimum enrollment standards and competing after graduating by re-enrolling in the same baccalaureate program. The violations resulted in some of the student-athletes practicing, competing, and receiving athletic scholarships or travel expenses while not eligible to do so.

Approximately 75 percent of the involved students were either eligible or would have been eligible had they received proper academic advising.

The committee also found that the university failed to monitor the eligibility certification process. Specifically, it failed to provide NCAA rules education and training for key university staff. Although the university had an eligibility committee in place, it did not meet during the four years of the violations.

IUPUI said the issues were resolved through the summary disposition process rather than a formal hearing because the school and the NCAA agreed on the facts in the case.