College Football: Major violations for St. Aug's

Associated Press

RALEIGH — The NCAA has penalized the athletics program at Saint Augustine's for a lack of institutional control and other major violations.

The Division II Committee on Infractions said Monday that the school allowed 29 ineligible athletes — 15 of them in football — to compete from 2003-04 through 2007-08.

It must vacate all wins in which it used the ineligible players, pay a $2,500 fine, reduce the number of scholarships in seven sports and will be on probation until 2011. Those reductions in 2009-10 and 2010-11 affect the football, men's basketball, softball, volleyball, men's tennis, men's track and women's track teams.

A school spokesman referred requests for comment to Director of Athletic Operations Lewis Card, who did not immediately return a telephone message.

The NCAA said some ineligible athletes received impermissible benefits in the form of scholarships and travel expenses. Some were taking part in their 11th semester of full-time enrollment, one beyond the maximum allowed in Division II. Others were participating in a fifth season or had "deficient" grade-point averages, and the governing body said the school made mistakes while certifying transfers.

The NCAA blamed the school's faulty certification system, which led to errors on eligibility forms, and said the people in charge of tracking eligibility were not educated in its rules. The school showed a lack of instutional control by failing to report an ineligible football player taking part in three games, the NCAA said. It ordered Saint Augustine's to start an external review of its compliance system.