Tuesday, October 2, 2001
Badgers get probation in football, men's hoops
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin was put on five years' probation
and lost some football and basketball scholarships Tuesday after an
investigation found a shoe store gave unadvertised discounts to
athletes.
The NCAA, however, did not strip the school of any postseason
awards, including its 2000 trip to the men's Final Four.
The university disciplined itself in April. But the NCAA decided
to levy additional penalties because it was the school's third
major rules violation since 1994 and the number of athletes
involved, said Tom Yeager, a member of the NCAA Division I
Infractions Committee.
"This wasn't one or two athletes and someone bought them a Diet
Coke. This was hundreds of kids involving thousands of dollars.
That's significant," Yeager said.
The university had already put itself on three years' probation,
penalized itself $150,000 and stripped five scholarships over three
years -- four from football and one from men's basketball.
The NCAA reduced the number of football scholarships the
university can offer in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years from
25 to 20. It also ordered the school to cut a men's basketball
scholarship in 2003-04.
Chancellor John Wiley said the school will not appeal the
committee's decision, even though it strongly disagreed with the
additional scholarship reductions. "We want this to be over," he
said.
A report in the Wisconsin State Journal prompted the
university's investigation that found 157 athletes in 14 sports
violated NCAA rules by accepting at least $23,000 in unadvertised
discounts from The Shoe Box, a store 25 miles from Madison in Black
Earth.
In some cases, athletes received no-interest credit arrangements
that weren't generally available to other students.
All the athletes were ordered to pay a charity the amount of
their discounts. Others were suspended and ordered to perform
community service.
The university has since banned athletes, coaches and athletic
administrators from shopping at the Shoe Box.
The university also was disciplined for providing impermissible
housing benefits for football and basketball prospects between 1998
and 2000 and for failing to adequately monitor its athletics
program, especially since it had already committed two major
violations over the last seven years.
Yeager said the NCAA could have imposed even harsher penalties
than the additional reduction of scholarships but did not because
the three violations were so different from one another.
Yeager also credited the university for the actions it took in
April, saying they were a major reason why the committee did not
strip Wisconsin of its 2000 Final Four appearance.
"Once it was detected, the university moved very swiftly, very
decisively in trying to correct the problem and to establish
policies and procedures to greatly eliminate the possibility that
it can happen again," Yeager said.
As part of the corrective measures it took, the university
implemented a new education system for all coaches and players on
NCAA rules.
Wiley also reprimanded athletic director Pat Richter and
compliance officer Tim Bald for their failure to properly
investigate the accusations. Each violation occurred during
Richter's tenure, and his salary was frozen for one year.
The NCAA also ordered the school to reprimand football coach
Barry Alvarez for the improper housing assistance.
Alvarez said the punishment handed down Tuesday was a relief
compared with last year, when 26 players were suspended for one to
three games right before the Badgers' home opener. Picked as a
possible contender for the national title in the preseason,
Wisconsin struggled to a 9-4 record as Alvarez juggled his lineup
the first four weeks of the season.
"The worst is over," Alvarez said. "We know the restrictions
now. We have time to deal with it, time to address it."
