MALIBU, Calif. – The NCAA Committee on Infractions released its final report today on self-reported violations by Pepperdine, according to a press release from the University. Of the penalties issued, many were proposed by the University and then agreed to by the Committee on Infractions.
One area of violation was the over-awarding of financial aid to the baseball, men’s tennis, men’s volleyball, men’s water polo and women’s soccer teams. Another source of violations were related to the miscalculation of transferable hours for progress-toward-degree requirements for transfer student-athletes. The NCAA also found that Pepperdine did not seek reinstatement for an ineligible student-athlete, did not maintain squad lists and did not execute a certificate of compliance.
After discovering the initial and unintentional grant-in-aid violations in the spring of 2011, Pepperdine imposed a one-year postseason ban for the three teams that were over-awarded: baseball, men’s tennis and men’s volleyball. Since then, the University proposed the following penalties which were accepted by the NCAA:
1. Three years of probation beginning with the 2012-13 academic year.
2. Annual reports to the Committee of Infractions detailing the results of Pepperdine’s new policies and programs.
3. Scholarship reductions for the five aforementioned sports through the 2014-15 season.
4. The vacating of all wins and team accomplishments during the 2007-08 through 2010-11 academic years for the sports of baseball (including an NCAA Championships appearance in 2008), men’s tennis (including West Coast Conference titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and NCAA Championships appearances all three years) and men’s volleyball (including a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament championship in 2008 and an NCAA Championships appearance in 2008), and the vacating of the individual records of the student-athletes who competed while ineligible.
Said Director of Athletics Steve Potts in the press release: “At Pepperdine, we are committed to the highest standards of academic and athletic excellence and Christian values. Integrity, accountability and a strong culture of compliance with NCAA rules fall within that commitment. It is important to note that these NCAA compliance issues were self-discovered and self-reported. There was no intentional misconduct on the part of any coach or staff member and appropriate corrective measures have been taken to ensure that these types of mistakes will not be repeated.”
Since the violations were discovered Pepperdine has added to experienced individuals to the compliance staff in order to strengthen the University’s commitment to NCAA rules compliance. The case was resolved through the summary disposition process, a cooperative effort between Pepperdine and the NCAA that allowed Pepperdine and the NCAA’s investigative staff to submit the case to the Committee on Infractions.
“Since discovering our internal compliance issues and self-reporting them to the NCAA, we have fully cooperated throughout the review process,” Pepperdine President Andrew K. Benton said in the press release. “We are confident we have made the corrections and improvements that will allow us to continue to successfully compete in full compliance with NCAA policies.”
