Irish among schools feeling wrath of NCAA
Observer Staff Report
Notre Dame was far from the only university to find itself in trouble with the NCAA in 1999. Excluding schools appealing previous cases, 11 different Div. I and II schools received sanctions from the NCAA.
Alabama, Kansas State, Wisconsin, California State-Fullerton, Purdue, Bucknell, Michigan State, Morgan State, Arkansas-Little Rock and Notre Dame were the 10 Div. I schools to be investigated and found to be in violation of NCAA rules while Saint JosephÕs College was the only Div. II school guilty of NCAA violations.
Nine of the 11 schools sanctioned by the NCAA received major violations while just two schools were assessed with secondary violations. Only Morgan State and Arkansas-Little Rock escaped with secondary violations.
In the cases of Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Michigan State, the enforcement committee recommended to the infractions committee that the violations were secondary. In each case the infractions committee, made up of volunteers from member institutions and law firms, overruled the enforcement committee that consists of NCAA employees.
Head or assistant coaches were implicated in nine of the 11 cases. Kansas State and Notre Dame were the only schools where members of the coaching staff or administration were found to be innocent of violations.
Violations committed by coaches ranged from using boosters to secure an illegal loan for a prospective student athlete (Alabama) to holding practices out of season (St. JosephÕs).
Seven cases involved illegal recruiting. Only Notre Dame, Kansas State, Wisconsin and Morgan State did gain a recruiting advantage from their violations according to the NCAA.
Alabama, Kansas State, Wisconsin and Michigan State all fell under the category of Òrepeat offendersÓ since they each had committed separate major violations in the past five years.
Punishments for the violations ranged from extension of probation imposed by previous violations (Michigan State) to reduction of scholarships available. The most severe reduction in scholarships occurred at St. JosephÕs where two scholarships were stripped from the menÕs basketball program for the 1999/2000 season. Five of the 11 schools, including Notre Dame, lost scholarships as part of their punishment.
Notre Dame was one of three programs with violations to occur within the football program. The NCAA also reprimanded Kansas State and Morgan State's football programs.
All News Stories for Wednesday, January 19, 19100
