A few hours after the NCAA released findings from its investigation into allegations that a former Missouri tutor had performed coursework for 12 student-athletes and slapped the football, baseball and softball teams with a one-year postseason ban, athletics director Jim Sterk pronounced his displeasure with the sanctions and said the university has begun the process of filing an appeal.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Sterk said he was "shocked and dismayed" when he learned of the sanctions being placed on Missouri. In addition to the postseason ban, the athletics department will be on probation for three years, and the football, baseball and softball teams will all face a five percent scholarship reduction. You can read about the rest of the decision here.
Sterk's outrage was based on the fact that Missouri not only self-reported the violations, which were found to be limited to a single tutor without direction from anyone else in the athletics department, but worked with the NCAA to investigate their legitimacy. He said the NCAA even recognized Missouri's compliance by "giving us exemplary cooperation in their report." He believes that cooperation should have been taken into account as a mitigating factor with respect to the sanctions.
"Once (the allegation) was brought to our attention, once we found out and reported, we moved swiftly and cooperated with the NCAA," Sterk said. "I certainly don' t think that these penalties are reflective of what we expected for self-reporting and that kind of cooperation."
In fact, Sterk echoed what has become a popular sentiment since the sanctions became public: that with this decision, the NCAA is incentivizing covering up allegations rather than cooperating. In its report, the NCAA differentiated between its decision in this case and an investigation into academic fraud at North Carolina by saying Missouri agreed that the former tutor's actions constituted a Level One infraction, whereas North Carolina stood by the classes it offered student-athletes. Earlier Thursday, David Roberts, the spokesperson for the NCAA Committee on Infractions panel that investigated Missouri's case, said Missouri's self-reporting was a "significant issue" that factored into the penalties.
"When a member institution comes forward and self-reports a violation and agrees to the prospect of a severe, Level One (violation), there are consequences that happen," Roberts said.
Sterk said he would still cooperate with the NCAA in future investigations, but that the ruling in Missouri's case sends the wrong message.
"I believe in doing things the right way and we're going to continue to do things the right way," Sterk said. "I think it has to be corrected on the other side so that it doesn't impact people in that way."
Sterk said that Missouri has retained the counsel of attorney Michael Glazier to assist with its appeal. Glazier worked with Missouri in investigating the initial allegations of wrongdoing by the former tutor. He said the appeal will focus on the athletics department's cooperation with the NCAA and seek less harsh punishments as a result of that cooperation, not dispute the violations or whether they constituted Level One infractions.
"I think it’s mitigating circumstances with this as a Level One, so should have been at the lower end of the Level One penalties," Sterk explained.
Sterk did not yet know how long the appeals process might take, but said it could take "months, maybe even up to half a year." The sanctions will not take effect until after the appeals process has been finalized, meaning if no ruling has come by bowl season next fall, the football team could participate in the postseason. Sterk said he didn't expect the baseball or softball teams to be impacted this year.
Sterk said he was blindsided by the sanctions announced Thursday. He said he expected a probationary period, and possibly the vacation of wins from contests that involved students who had received impermissible assistance from the former tutor, but did not expect a postseason ban or future recruiting sanctions. He believes the punishment handed down by the NCAA punishes the wrong people.
"The current student athletes who were involved with the tutor have already sat out contests," Sterk said. "We took appropriate action at that time so we felt we were doing the right thing at that point in time so that in the end the penalties wouldn't be as severe."
"We expect to win the appeal."
