MOBILE, Ala. — The NCAA on Tuesday found the University of South Alabama men’s tennis program committed major NCAA violations, placing the program on three years of probation and banning it from the 2010 postseason.
The penalties, announced by the NCAA at 2 p.m. Tuesday, also include a reduction in scholarships and the vacation of past wins and championships.
Penalties
- Three years of probation.
- A postseason ban for the 2010 men’s tennis team.
- Scholarship reductions limiting South Alabama to 2.72 men’s tennis scholarships per year through 2011, down from the normal 4.5.
- Forfeiture of past wins and championships.
- Permanent disassociation of former head coach Scott Novak from the program.
- A four-year show-cause order for Novak.
Under the show-cause order, if Novak seeks athletically related employment at any NCAA member institution during that period, he and the hiring school must appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions to determine whether his duties should be limited for a designated time.
Findings
The violations cited by the NCAA include unethical conduct by the former head coach, the university’s failure to monitor, impermissible financial aid and loans, improper certification of student-athletes and an impermissible reduction of an athletic scholarship.
Impermissible Financial Aid
According to the NCAA, the former coach provided more than $12,000 in impermissible financial aid to five international men’s tennis student-athletes over six years. On various occasions before or during their enrollment, he promised four of those players more financial aid than he was able to award.
The four athletes believed they had received full scholarships based on the coach’s representations. To cover the difference, the former coach gave them cash or made payments on their university student accounts, causing South Alabama to exceed its men’s tennis financial aid limits from the 2000-01 academic year through 2004-05.
The NCAA also found that the former coach gave one of the students $3,000 in cash so he could obtain an international visa.
Refusal to Cooperate
The former coach refused to provide the NCAA enforcement staff with information relevant to the investigation and declined interview requests on eight occasions over approximately six months, according to the NCAA.
Scholarship Reduction
The NCAA found that the university improperly reduced the financial aid of a men’s tennis player. The student had been awarded a 71 percent scholarship for the 2004-05 academic year, with 35 percent of it administered during the fall 2004 semester. Before the spring semester began, the university terminated the scholarship for the rest of the academic year and did not notify the student of his opportunity for a hearing to contest the reduction.
Failure to Monitor
The NCAA concluded that South Alabama failed to monitor the conduct and administration of its men’s tennis program. It also found the university failed to monitor aspects of its athletics program involving international student-athletes, including the administration of financial aid award notifications and the failure to properly certify the amateurism of 27 student-athletes in 10 sports.
Repeat Violator Status
South Alabama was considered a repeat violator because it appeared before the Committee on Infractions in 2001 for violations in its men’s basketball program. Because the university had a previous major infractions case within five years of the latest violations, it was subject to harsher penalties, which resulted in the 2010 postseason ban for men’s tennis.
Gottfried Responds
Athletic director Joe Gottfried described the case as an embarrassment for the university and said the penalties were largely in line with expectations and with measures the school had imposed on itself.
“The penalties were pretty much what we expected or self-imposed,” Gottfried said. “We have taken the proper steps to make sure that this will not happen again. It’s obvious that it sets our men’s tennis program back.”
Gottfried pointed to the program’s current leadership. “We’ve got an outstanding coach now in Nick Brochu and we can get back to the level we were before these infractions took place,” he said.
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
