The
university is a repeat violator, having appeared before the committee
in 2002 for violations in its football program. At the time of the 2002
case, the university was also a repeat violator due to a 1999 case
involving its men’s basketball program. As stated in its report,
“Although the committee commends the institution for self-discovering,
investigating and reporting the textbook violations, it remains
troubled, nonetheless, by the scope of the violations in this instance
and by the institution’s recent history of infractions cases.”
Of
the 201 student-athletes that received impermissible benefits, 22 were
identified by the university as “intentional wrongdoers,” as they were
aware they received improper benefits. These student-athletes – 14 of
whom were members of the men’s and women’s track and field programs -
exploited the university’s textbook distribution system for scholarship
student-athletes to acquire textbooks and materials of value greater
than $100 for girlfriends, friends and other student-athletes.

The
value of the impermissible benefits obtained by these intentional
wrongdoers ranged from a low of $32.30 by a women’s track
student-athlete to a high of $3,947.19 by a football student-athlete.
The committee noted that the four highest amounts, ranging from
$2,714.62 to $3,947.19, were obtained by football student-athletes.
The
second type of infraction involved student-athletes who unintentionally
received the impermissible use of non-required textbooks and materials.
Among the student-athletes who unintentionally violated NCAA rules,
about 125 received benefits that totaled less than $100 each.

The
committee found that the scope and nature of the violations demonstrate
that the university failed to effectively monitor the student-athlete
textbook distribution system. Although the university had created and
implemented a system to control the textbook distribution process for
NCAA compliance, it fell short in three areas, the committee explained.
First, the university did not provide adequate rules education on the
textbook issuance process for employees and student-athletes. Second,
the university did not sufficiently monitor the textbook process before
the textbooks left the store to prevent violations. Third, the
university did not sufficiently monitor the textbook process afterwards
to detect the violations in a timely fashion. The student-athletes were
able to bypass the process in place for textbook purchases made with
athletics aid, were not restricted by any purchase limits and not
required to show photo identification.

As a result of
the violations, there was a sharp increase in the total cost of books
and supplies over a two-year period. Specifically, there was a
30-percent spike in charges between the 2004-05 academic year and the
2006-07 academic year. Had the university been carefully monitoring
these numbers, the committee said, it seems likely this increase would
have been investigated.
Finally, the committee notes that the
university was unable to produce any records prior to the 2005 fall
semester. As a result, the university could not ascertain whether
violations of this nature may have occurred prior to the fall of 2005.
Therefore, the scope of the case was limited to violations that
occurred after that date.
The penalties imposed by the committee are below. Additional details are available in the public report.

 Public reprimand and censure.

 Three years of probation (June 11, 2009 to June 10, 2012).


Vacation of all wins in which any of the seven football
student-athletes identified by the university as “intentional
wrongdoers” competed while ineligible during the 2005-06 through
2007-08 academic years. Further, in the sports of men’s tennis, men’s
track and women’s track, the individual records of the 15
student-athletes identified as “intentional wrongdoers” shall be
vacated and team point totals shall be reconfigured accordingly. This
includes regular season contests, postseason contests and any NCAA
championship competition. The university’s records regarding all of the
involved sports, as well as the records of the head coaches of those
sports, will reflect the vacated records and be recorded in all
publications in which these records are reported, including, but not
limited to, university media guides, recruiting material, and
university and NCAA archives. Finally, any public reference to these
vacated contests, including conference championships, won during this
time shall be removed from athletics department stationery, banners
displayed in public areas and any other forum in which they may appear.

 The university shall pay a fine of $43,900 to the
NCAA. This figure represents an approximate value of the benefits
obtained by the “intentional wrongdoers” ($21,950) multiplied by a
factor of two.