Arizona State Gets Two Years Probation
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:56 pmTEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona State was placed on two years' probation by the NCAA on Thursday for providing improper benefits to former football player Loren Wade and other irregularities in the athletic department's operations.
The penalty is the same as one already instituted by the Pac-10 and does not punish any of the school's athletic teams. The infractions initially were uncovered by an internal investigation by the university and were reported to the conference and NCAA.
``Everything that was pointed out in this investigation and in our own investigation has already been corrected,'' said Virgil Renzuli, Arizona State vice president for public affairs.
Gene Marsh, a law professor at Alabama, chaired the investigating committee. In a statement, Marsh said Arizona State should be commended for responded quickly when it found the violations and reporting them to the conference and the NCAA.
The NCAA found Arizona State guilty of a ``lack of institutional control,'' the only finding disputed by the university.
The investigation stemmed from the discovery that Wade had received improper help from a compliance assistant at the university.
The NCAA said the compliance assistant allowed Wade to use her car, arranged for his utilities to be opened under her name to save a $200 deposit, and allowed him to use her charge account for $900 toward the purchase of wheels and tires for his car.
The infractions surfaced in September 2004, and Wade was suspended for the season. In March, Wade was arrested for murder in the death of former football player Brandon Falkner outside a Scottsdale night club. Wade was taken into custody at the scene and remains jailed on a charge of first-degree murder.
The NCAA probe determined that 61 student-athletes had received excessive amounts of financial aid ranging from $4 to $833 because of ``inadequate controls over how financial aid is calculated and textbooks distributed.''
``All of these violations appeared unintentional and the student-athletes seemed unaware that they had received too much aid,'' Marsh said. ``However, the widespread and preventable nature of these violations compelled the committee to find lack of institutional control.''
The compliance assistant was fired shortly after the problems came to light.
The NCAA said that during the probationary period, which ends on Nov. 9, 2007, the university must audit all aspects of its distribution of financial aid and textbooks as previously ordered by the Pac-10.
The NCAA ordered the university to submit a preliminary report by Jan. 15 setting forth a schedule for completing the audit and implementing the necessary changes in the university's aid and textbook systems.
The penalty is the same as one already instituted by the Pac-10 and does not punish any of the school's athletic teams. The infractions initially were uncovered by an internal investigation by the university and were reported to the conference and NCAA.
``Everything that was pointed out in this investigation and in our own investigation has already been corrected,'' said Virgil Renzuli, Arizona State vice president for public affairs.
Gene Marsh, a law professor at Alabama, chaired the investigating committee. In a statement, Marsh said Arizona State should be commended for responded quickly when it found the violations and reporting them to the conference and the NCAA.
The NCAA found Arizona State guilty of a ``lack of institutional control,'' the only finding disputed by the university.
The investigation stemmed from the discovery that Wade had received improper help from a compliance assistant at the university.
The NCAA said the compliance assistant allowed Wade to use her car, arranged for his utilities to be opened under her name to save a $200 deposit, and allowed him to use her charge account for $900 toward the purchase of wheels and tires for his car.
The infractions surfaced in September 2004, and Wade was suspended for the season. In March, Wade was arrested for murder in the death of former football player Brandon Falkner outside a Scottsdale night club. Wade was taken into custody at the scene and remains jailed on a charge of first-degree murder.
The NCAA probe determined that 61 student-athletes had received excessive amounts of financial aid ranging from $4 to $833 because of ``inadequate controls over how financial aid is calculated and textbooks distributed.''
``All of these violations appeared unintentional and the student-athletes seemed unaware that they had received too much aid,'' Marsh said. ``However, the widespread and preventable nature of these violations compelled the committee to find lack of institutional control.''
The compliance assistant was fired shortly after the problems came to light.
The NCAA said that during the probationary period, which ends on Nov. 9, 2007, the university must audit all aspects of its distribution of financial aid and textbooks as previously ordered by the Pac-10.
The NCAA ordered the university to submit a preliminary report by Jan. 15 setting forth a schedule for completing the audit and implementing the necessary changes in the university's aid and textbook systems.
