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| NEWS Mississippi State football and men's basketball have been placed on NCAA probation.
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Football, Men's Basketball Placed on NCAA Probation
The NCAA is announcing today that Mississippi State will be penalized for academic misconduct in football and basketball.
247sports.com
Mississippi State athletics has been the subject of hot rumors over the past several weeks. The cold hard reality of those rumors are now known.
Genespage24/7 has learned that Mississippi State is being placed on NCAA probation for academic misconduct by student-athletes in two sports: football and men’s basketball. This penalty results from rules violations self-reported by Mississppi State, where a part-time student tutor is alleged to have completed some on-line coursework for student-athletes in those sports.
This is labeled as a negotiated resolution between the NCAA’s committee on infractions and the University. The probation period will be three years, which is in force for all Mississippi State sports over this time frame.
There are specific team penalties in the resolution. Mississippi State is vacating a number of wins from the 2018 football season and 2018-19 basketball season; a financial penalty; a number of recruiting restrictions; and scholarship losses in both those sports.
Men’s basketball will be docked one scholarship for the signing class of 2021. Football will lose two initial grants from both the 2021 and 2022 signing classes.
Within the two sports there are also penalties for the student-athletes responsible for the academic misconduct. Each will lose 70% of the complete playing season in their sport. For football this should work out to eight games during the 2019 season, and will be enforced on ten Bulldogs for their indiscretions.
The names of these ten players will not be publicly disclosed in any NCAA or University release due to student privacy concerns associated with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
However, it is surmised the basketball player involved and to be penalized is guard Nick Weatherspoon. A two-year starter for the Bulldogs, he was removed from the lineup prior to the February 16 game at Arkansas. The Velma Jackson High School product was withheld from competition for the remainder of the season including both the SEC and NCAA tournaments, after the University announced that he had been suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
Since the season’s end Coach Ben Howland has stated Weatherspoon is on the 2019-20 roster and expected to play point guard. It is believed he is to be credited with time served under the 70%-season penalty and complete his suspension by sitting out approximately ten games of the upcoming season, depending on how long the finalized 2019-20 schedule is.
With this situation uncovered by Mississippi State in the spring semester, the football player penalties will be served during this next season. Though usually referred to as suspensions the actual penalty is a loss of eligibility, with the number of games or seasons determined according to the NCAA’s formula.
Student-athletes found to have violated rules must serve the full penalty. They cannot be redshirted or sit out a season for injury to avoid losing the specified eligibility.
This situation was mitigated in large part to expedient action on behalf of University officials. The allegations regarding tutor misconduct were uncovered by the Office of the Provost on the Mississippi State campus, and reported to the office of president Dr. Mark Keenum.
University compliance officials worked in conjunction with members of the athletic staff and academic faculty to conduct a complete and thorough investigation of the matter. As part of their due diligence, administrators discovered irregularities related to the tutor in question as well as some consistency with IP addresses and on-line coursework.
With interviews completed and evidence compiled, Mississippi State self-reported the violations to the NCAA and Southeastern Conference and began working towards a resolution of the matter.
While these penalties are serious, not least the probationary period for all sports, it is believed that by taking a proactive approach the University was able to navigate the challenging matter without a post season ban in either sport. This contrasts with penalties invoked in similar situations involving academic misconduct.
Most recently in the SEC, the University of Missouri was involved with recent NCAA case which led to post-season bans in baseball, football and softball. While the cases have some similarities, the Missouri case involved a University staffer. This case at Mississippi State centered around a student tutor as part of a work study program.
Also of note, the Mississippi State indiscretions were uncovered internally and promptly reported to the appropriate authorities. The swift and decisive actions on behalf of the Bulldogs is believed to have prevented more and harsher sanctions available to the committee on infractions in such cases.
Mississippi State kicks off the 2019 football season next Saturday in New Orleans, against host school Louisiana-Lafayette in the Superdome. Game time is 11:00am.
Coach Joe Moorhead has been asked this preseason if any Bulldog players could be withheld from the opening game or other games for non-football reasons. The question arises from both rumors of this year’s events, as well as the announcement in 2018’s opening game week of a suspension of the starting quarterback.
Moorhead said last Saturday evening that if there are any players to miss games, those will be revealed on a game by game basis either the day before or prior to kickoff time. No specific reason will be given for any game suspension, whether related to this situation or for more typical issues involving player conduct on or off the field.
It is understood Mississippi State has the choice of which eight games can be used for player penalties, whether to apply all penalties immediately or spread them around the schedule.
The next scheduled football press conference is Monday at noon.
In acknowledging this situation, Mississippi State issued statements from Dr. Keenum and director of athletics John Cohen today. Cohen said “Our staff at Mississippi State was proactive in our preventative measures, quick to respond, and worked in full cooperation with the NCAA enforcement staff. With all of the compliance training that our staff and student-athletes go through on a year-round basis, it is unfortunate that a student serving as a part-time tutor was able to lead our student-athletes astray. Nevertheless, we take full responsibility for these actions. Mississippi State will work diligently to continue a culture of compliance and continue to take proactive measures moving forward.”
Dr. Keenum said “Academic integrity is a core value at Mississippi State and that value guides our policies and decisions. Unfortunately, young people sometimes make poor decisions and those decisions have consequences. When the university learned of possible serious instances of academic misconduct involving student athletes and a student tutor employed part-time by MSU Athletic Academics, we were compelled to remove the student tutor from university employment, fully and independently investigate the matter, and then self-report the misconduct to the NCAA Committee on Infractions. These actions likewise have consequences for the university, but our commitment to operating a competitive athletic program within NCAA guidelines is unwavering – as is our commitment to integrity, transparency and accountability in all university conduct.”
It is believed this is fifth time in NCAA history for a negotiated resolution involving violations of any sort; and the first of its kind for academic misconduct.
More information will be added to this report as it becomes available.
The full NCAA release:
A former Mississippi State student and part-time athletics department tutor committed academic misconduct in an online general chemistry course to aid 10 football student-athletes and a men’s basketball student-athlete, according to a negotiated resolution agreement approved by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel.
The university and the NCAA enforcement staff agreed that the former tutor completed multiple assignments, exams and, in some instances, nearly the entire course for student-athletes. The university determined the activity violated its academic misconduct policy.
As a result of the academic misconduct, the agreement said eight football student-athletes and the men’s basketball student-athlete competed while ineligible.
The agreement said the former tutor violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when she did not participate in an interview with the enforcement staff to discuss her involvement in the conduct.
This case was processed through the new negotiated resolution process. The process was used instead of a formal hearing or summary disposition because the university and the enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The former tutor refused to participate in the process.
The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.
The university and the enforcement staff used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level I-mitigated penalties for the university. The enforcement staff also used the guidelines to identify a penalty for the former tutor. Those penalties, approved by the Committee on Infractions, are detailed below:
- A fine of $5,000, plus 1% each of the football and men’s basketball budgets.
- A reduction of two football scholarships during each of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years.
- A reduction of one men’s basketball scholarship during the 2020-21 academic year.
- A reduction of four football official visits from the program’s four-year average of 40 visits during the 2019-20 academic year.
- A reduction of two men’s basketball official visits from the program’s four-year average of 10 visits during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 rolling two-year period.
- A prohibition of football unofficial visits during one home contest for the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years.
- A prohibition of men’s basketball unofficial visits during two home contests for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.
- A reduction of football evaluation days by two in the fall 2019 and 10 in spring 2020.
- A reduction of men’s basketball recruiting-person days by six in the spring of 2020.
- Three years of probation.
- A vacation of records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 45 days of the public decision release.
- A disassociation of the former tutor.
- All involved student-athletes must conduct one rules education session on the consequences of academic misconduct.
- Participation in the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals program review and Academic Integrity Assessment process.
- A 10-year show-cause order for the former tutor. During that period, any NCAA member school employing her must restrict her from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply.
planomateo
Member
Welcome to CFB Joe.
BamaFan334
Member
Sounds exactly like what happened in Chapel Hill, only a thousands times less worse.
planomateo
Member
This kinda shit really pisses off Jim Harbaugh...he's tired of competing with the Mississippi State's.
