FRESNO – Fresno State was placed on NCAA probation for four
years Wednesday for violations involving academic fraud, recruiting
and eligibility.
The NCAA Infractions Committee also found a lack of
institutional control.
FRESNO – Fresno State was placed on NCAA probation for four years Wednesday for violations involving academic fraud, recruiting and eligibility.
The NCAA Infractions Committee also found a lack of institutional control.
Fresno State banned its men’s basketball program from postseason play this past year after learning that a former team statistician and an academic adviser participated in a cheating scandal with three former players. The school also self-imposed a two-year probation and cut three scholarships from the men’s basketball program for other violations.
The committee required the university to vacate the record of its performance in the 2000 NCAA tournament and return 90 percent of the funds it earned for that appearance.
The NCAA said most of the school’s violations were found in the men’s basketball program, but added that some secondary infractions were uncovered in both the men’s soccer and women’s basketball programs.
The committee found that during the 1998-99 academic year, a men’s basketball player was provided financial aid without being enrolled in a full-time course program. The player also was certified as eligible for competition even though his academic record did not meet the requirements for such status.
The committee found that during the summer of 2000, a former academic adviser and a former statistician violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when they arranged to prepare course work for two other students who were completing their last semesters of eligibility, as well as for a men’s basketball prospective student.
The committee said it also found violations ranging from free meals being provided to numerous players by the owner of a local restaurant who is a representative of the school’s athletics programs, to improper cash stipends being dispensed to a player and his family.
The committee said the university’s self-imposed penalties represented “appropriate corrective actions.”
“However, given the nature, scope and seriousness of the violations, including the commission of academic fraud, improper academic certification practices and a failure to report evidence of violations, coupled with the significant competitive advantages gained and a lack of institutional control,” the committee concluded that the additional penalties were warranted, the committee said in a statement.
