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NCAA: Southern gets 5 years probation after issues with athlete eligibility

7 years 4 months 1 week ago Wednesday, November 16 2016 Nov 16, 2016 November 16, 2016 11:35 AM November 16, 2016 in Sports
Source: WBRZ
By: WBRZ staff

BATON ROUGE – The National Collegiate Athletic Association reports that Southern University faces several penalties due to the university's lack of "institutional control" when it failed to monitor student-athlete eligibility, according to a Division I Committee on Infractions panel.

The university faces up to five years probation, a $5,000 fine, a reduction in scholarships and several other penalties. The panel reported that the university improperly certified more than 200 student-athletes during a six-period in all 15 university sports. The university also did not properly apply financial aid rules and did not comply with Committee on Academic Progress penalties.

According to the NCAA, the university's actions happened due to errors that occurred when academic records were transferred from an outdated system to a new system, poor record keeping within the athletics department and a lack of training and involvement by campus departments outside athletics in the certification process.

The issues resulted in 439 cases of improper certification for 218 student-athletes. A statement from Southern University System President-Chancellor Ray L. Benton was released following the NCAA report:  

"After a lengthy process, Southern University is pleased with the NCAA adoption of the University's self-imposed penalties submitted in response to the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions' decision regarding Southern University.

Over the past several years, the University and the Department of Athletics have been aggressively pursuing and implementing measures and investing resources to address deficiencies that contributed to previous inaccuracies and NCAA infractions. Corrective actions, including dedicating additional resources and adopting improved policies and procedures, have had a measurable and positive impact on our data collection, student-athlete certification, student academic performance, and compliance. The full list of corrective actions is included in today's NCAA report.

Today's outcome is the end of a long journey. Going forward we remain committed to investing to ensure we have the infrastructure to support a productive athletic program and strong institutional control and outstanding NCAA compliance. We appreciate everyone for the work and effort that brought us to this point."

To read the full list of penalties click here.

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