INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA---Tennessee State University has been placed on probation for three years and grants-in-aid have been reduced in several sports for violations of NCAA legislation governing financial aid, recruiting, extra benefits, institutional control and ethical conduct.
One aspect of the case involved financial aid violations that occurred from the 1993-94 through 1996-97 academic years. During this time, 34 student-athletes in the sports of football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track, women's volleyball, women's tennis, and softball received athletics financial aid that exceeded full grants-in-aid limits. The total dollar amount was $16,542. The university also exceeded team limitations on financial aid equivalencies in three sports during the same period.
The violations were self-reported by the university. It was determined that the excess awards occurred because some financial aid sources were not included in the calculation of institutionally administered financial aid and there was no coordination between the athletics and financial aid departments to include all sources of aid.
Many of the amounts over awarded were small, but the committee determined the violations were major because there was a pattern of neglect in the management of financial athletics aid and because of the large total dollar amount involved. The university proposed financial aid penalties for some of the violations in 1997, and they were accepted by the NCAA, but the university took no action to impose them.
Among other violations, the university failed to provide appropriate written notice to many student-athletes about the renewal or nonrenewal of their athletics aid during two academic years, improper transportation and complimentary tickets were provided to student-athletes in the football program, and improper recruiting contacts were made by members of the football coaching staff.
For example, in mid-1996, football staff members contacted an enrolled student-athlete at another university to encourage the individual to transfer to the university without first obtaining a release allowing such a conversation to occur.
The committee also found a lack of institutional control, specifically with the conduct and administration of the university's football program. The university failed to monitor distribution of the head football coach's complimentary tickets; failed to complete squad list forms, which led to excess financial aid awards to student-athletes; and failed to investigate possible NCAA rules violations.
In addition, the committee determined that an assistant football coach failed to cooperate and violated the provisions of ethical conduct by providing false and misleading information to university investigators and the NCAA's enforcement staff.
As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Tennessee State is subject to the NCAA's repeat-violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case, January 5, 2000.
The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case are: Jack Friedenthal, committee chair and professor of law, George Washington University; Richard J. Dunn, professor of English, University of Washington; Frederick B. Lacey, attorney and retired judge, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, Newark, New Jersey; Gene A. Marsh, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park, Jr., attorney and retired judge, Brown, Todd & Heyburn, Lexington, Kentucky; Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association.
Entire Report of NCAA Committee on Infractions
 Front Page |  Newsroom Index |