Arkansas loses two track and field titles

[rainbowgirl28]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3079118

Arkansas loses two track and field titles; sprinter Gay linked to probe

Associated Press
Updated: October 25, 2007, 7:30 PM ET


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas' renowned track and field program lost two national championships Thursday when the NCAA imposed stiff sanctions for violations involving sprint star Tyson Gay and a former assistant coach.

The Razorbacks also received three years' probation. University Chancellor John White said the school plans to appeal.

"As we previously acknowledged, the violations in this case primarily involved a rogue former assistant coach and one student-athlete over a short period of time," White said. "We are disappointed with the penalties imposed by the infractions committee and believe they are disproportionate to the violations."



The underlying violations were not egregious in and of themselves, but in combination they formed a major case.
--Josephine R. Potuto, chair of the Division I committee on infractions
Razorbacks coach John McDonnell has built one of the top college programs in any sport over more than three decades with the school. Arkansas has won 40 national titles in track and field and cross country, not counting the two that were taken away from the 2004 and 2005 men's outdoor track and field championships.
Arkansas had self-reported violations committed by former assistant Lance Brauman, who was convicted last year of embezzlement, theft and mail fraud. The convictions stemmed from his time at Barton County Community College in Kansas, part of a scandal that spawned charges against seven Barton County coaches and the athletic director and led to the firing of the school's president. Brauman was coaching Arkansas when he was convicted.

Neither the university's self-report nor the NCAA named Gay, who won the world championship this year at 100 and 200 meters. But Brauman's mail-fraud indictment identified the athlete, who transferred from Barton County to Arkansas.

"The violations involved unethical conduct by the former assistant coach, as well as an admitted failure to monitor by the university," said Josephine R. Potuto, chair of the Division I committee on infractions. "The underlying violations were not egregious in and of themselves, but in combination they formed a major case."

The school released a statement with White's response and said it would have no further comment pending its appeal.

The university had acknowledged that Brauman and his wife provided impermissible transportation for the athlete and helped arrange lodging for him during the summer of 2003, prior to his enrollment at Arkansas. The school also reported that Brauman or his wife helped the student enroll in a correspondence course in a way that constituted improper assistance, and that Brauman asked his sister-in-law to tutor the student and helped arrange for two people to serve as proctors for tests in the correspondence course.

"The university did a first-rate job in its investigation and cooperation with NCAA staff once there was information about the violation, and it appeared to the committee that the university has a genuine commitment to rules compliance," Potuto said. "On the other hand, the university is back before the committee for the third time in 10 years. It's a repeat violator for the second time."

The NCAA imposed sanctions against Arkansas in 2003. The school and NCAA found that from 1994-99 at least 20 football and basketball players were overpaid for part-time jobs at a truck service owned by a university booster.

In 1997, Arkansas was penalized for violations involving the men's basketball program, including improper assistance with correspondence course enrollment and improper tutoring for prospective student-athletes -- a scenario Potuto said was similar to the track and field violations.

"The committee has been saying over and over again that universities need to give attention to this issue," she said. "The university's own 1997 case involved prospects on campus prior to enrollment and a failure to pay attention to what they were doing."

Arkansas had said it would take its own punitive actions, including reducing equivalency scholarships in men's track and field. The NCAA said the school need not continue doing that.

"The committee felt that the penalty that was appropriate in this case was vacation of records -- because the student-athlete was a major contributor in the two national championships that the university won," Potuto said.

Arkansas must vacate all of Gay's individual meet results from when he competed for the track team.

Brauman resigned from his coaching position at Arkansas when he was convicted in July 2006. He served time in federal prison while keeping in touch with Gay and Veronica Campbell, another of his star pupils. He left them with enough workout instructions to last the entire time he was gone, and both were stars at the world championships.

Arkansas' athletic department must stay disassociated from Brauman, and if he seeks athletic employment with another NCAA school over the next two years, he and that institution will have to appear before the infractions committee to figure out if his duties should be limited.

Potuto said Arkansas' probation won't prevent the current track and field team from competing for NCAA championships.

"The team is fully able to do whatever it is that a team would do that's not on probation," she said. "It's a period in which the committee hopes and expects that there will be enhanced attention paid to compliance and other issues on campus."

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/media_and_e ... EM_ID=6100

NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions Penalizes University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Contact
Stacey Osburn
Associate Director of Public and Media Relations
317/917-6117

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized University of Arkansas, Fayetteville for major violations in its men’s track and field program. This case involved several violations of NCAA recruiting rules committed by one former assistant coach and one prospective student-athlete, including unethical conduct by the former coach and an admitted failure to monitor by the university.

Penalties for the violations involve vacating the men’s track and field records including two national championships; placing the university on probation for three years; accepting the reduction of the number of men’s track and field scholarships; and placing the former coach on a two-year show-cause order. Under this show-cause penalty, if the former coach seeks athletically related employment with another NCAA member school during the next two years, he and the hiring institution must appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether his duties should be limited.
In reviewing this case, the committee was particularly concerned that the university has had three appearances before the committee in the past 10 years, making the university a rare ‘double repeat-violator.’â€Â

[utVOLter]

Anyone else think these penalties are a little light?

Maybe I'm biased cause I go to Tennessee.... but I don't see any punishment for the actual act of cheating? No scholarship penalties? No ban from championship competition?

Forfieting the titles and records should be a given.... they cheated. Where is the actual punishment for the cheating itself?

To me, these minor penalties only reinforce the act of cheating. I mean, why not? The worst thing that happens is you get caught and have to give up the titles.

Seriously, COME ON! I realize that the current Arkansas athletes had nothing to do with these infractions. And they deserve a chance to compete. But I think the University of Arkansas is getting off too easy. If this were FOOTBALL it would be a much bigger deal. Alabama was banned from championship and bowl competition for 6 years for a SINGLE recruiting violation. Slap some punishments on Arkansas. Give the kids a chance to transfer out without eligibility loss. Make an example out of the university... its not right or fair to the rest of us in the SEC and the NCAA who follow the rules, but lose to the team who apparently doesn't.

Go Vols!

[SKOT]

The severity of a penalty in college athletics is almost always a touchy issue. There needs to be a penalty to discourage future infractions, but how is it ethically correct to penalize people that had absolutely nothing to do with the original violation?

I don't believe that it is ever fair to "make an example" out of someone while punishing them. Punishment should designed be to deter future infractions. Current punishment should not be designed to punish current offenders for the possible future actions of potential violators.

[zipsDIGSpv]

This is actually a pretty harsh penalty by the NCAA standards. Programs have been getting slaps on the wrist for pretty serious violations. This is as harsh a penalty that has been given out in a long time. I hope they continue to do it or coaches and administations are just going to keep violating the rules because they know they won't get in too much trouble.

[vault3rb0y]

I dont think these violations are being pushed by arkansas. They dont need that much help in winning, and its a shame that they happened, but i think it was more neglecting to notice and correct the problem than trying to break the rules to win titles. That would be pretty dumb considering they are usually #1 and know they have people breathing down their neck for a chance to slow them down. Not to say they werent wrong, but i dont think it makes them any friends being one of the top programs, if not the top, in the nation.