Morgan--NCAA Work Toward Improved Athletics Program

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- During an Academic Performance Plan (APP) data review of Morgan State University (MSU), as the NCAA routinely conducts with other universities, the NCAA Academic and Membership Affairs staffers alerted Morgan's Athletics Department of the discovery of multiple progress-toward-degree violations. The review began in 2015, was completed in 2016, and was followed by an extensive investigation and hearing process.
 
It was determined that during the 2012–13 to 2015–16 academic years, a total of 94 student-athletes, out of an annual pool of nearly 300, competed and received expenses while ineligible or not properly certified. In addition, the University failed to withhold these student-athletes from competition before the reinstatement of their eligibility. These violations pertained to the football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams, as well as the men's and women's track and bowling teams. At the time, the University's Athletics Department faced systemic deficiencies in the areas of reporting structure and senior staff knowledge related to NCAA academic support and compliance.  The department also suffered from instability caused by high staff turnover, the absence of a formal rules education process, and a lack of sufficient academic support staff.  There was a single academic coordinator with oversight of 300 student-athletes.
 
The University cooperated fully with the NCAA during its investigation and vowed to further examine its athletic program. Morgan officials pledged to disclose any additional NCAA infractions to take aggressive action toward a remedy. Since learning of the violations, MSU has voluntarily taken corrective action to strengthen its program for student-athletes. These steps have resulted in the entire football team improving its Academic Progress Rate (APR), along with an increase in the grades of student-athletes. Also, the University has received the welcomed support of the NCAA in the form of a nearly $890,000 Accelerating Academic Success Program Comprehensive Grant award, which is being used to fund student-athlete success and support many of the corrective actions Morgan has put in place. Those steps include:

• Hiring a new athletic director, who has a strong background in academics and NCAA compliancy, to assist in overhauling the Athletics Department;
• Adjusting the reporting structure to have the athletic director report directly to the University president as well as serve in the president's cabinet, which is consistent with the best practices of Division I athletics;
• Adding a new position in the Office of the Registrar to oversee the certification process of student-athletes;
• Instituting a new compliance office, in which the deputy athletic director has direct responsibility for compliance oversight and the rules education process for athletics and the campus;
• Implementing a mandatory monthly rules education workshop for all coaches and staff;
• Installing an APR projection database that enables the Athletics Department and its head coaches to gauge team academic progress and forecast APR scores by semester;
• Moving the review of the academic certification process and APP data to an external entity to protect the integrity of the process;
• Adding a dedicated athletics assistant registrar to review all certifications and the results from the University's newly integrated degree auditing software;
• Partnering with the Academic Enhancement Program (AEP) to provide tutorial assistance for student-athletes; and
• Increasing academic support staff from one to five dedicated persons, who will ultimately enhance the student advisor-to-student-athlete ratio while encouraging more one-on-one academic support.

The infractions listed do not reflect the way in which Morgan generally conducts its affairs nor do they represent the University's tradition of excellence in the classroom and on the playing field. Morgan is dedicated to the success of all student-athletes and our commitment to providing the appropriate resources to ensure compliance with all NCAA rules and regulations is unwavering. For this reason, the University accepted the initial findings of the NCAA investigation, recognized the severity of the infractions and elected to self-impose significant and appropriate penalties, such as:

• Relinquishing six football counters (2016–17), one men's basketball scholarship (2017–18), two women's basketball scholarships (2016–17 and 2017–18), equivalency scholarships in men's track (2016–17 and 2017–18) and equivalency scholarships in women's bowling (2018–19);
• Imposing an off-campus recruiting ban for the fall 2017 semester on men's basketball, women's basketball, softball, men's and women's tennis, bowling and men's and women's track;
• Imposing a recruiting ban for the fall 2017 semester, limiting the football program to 21 evaluation days during the month of November;
• Reducing official visits for men's and women's basketball to 15 during the next two years (2017–18 and 2018–19);
• Reducing official visits for football to 30 during the next two years (2017–18 and 2018–19);
• Imposing a three-year probation period; and
• Applying a self-imposed fine of $5,000 (to remain at the University for reinvestment in compliance and additional rules education).

In addition to the aforementioned self-imposed penalties, the NCAA Division I Infractions Panel imposed the following additional penalties on the University's athletic programs. The committee decided that Morgan State University shall:

• Be publicly reprimanded and censured;
• Receive four years of probation through Dec. 18, 2021;
• One-year postseason ban for softball, tennis and football;
• A $5,000 financial penalty plus one percent of the 2017-18 budgets of the football, softball and women's tennis programs;
• During the 2018-19 academic year, scholarship reductions of five percent in the 10 sports where violations occurred; and
• Recruiting restrictions in the 10 sports, including a seven-week ban on unofficial visits and off-campus recruiting, official visit reductions, and communications restrictions.

In the lead up to today's announcement from the NCAA, the University's Athletics Director Ed Scott and President David Wilson made the decision to appeal the judgment of the Infractions Panel.  The University was granted an expedited hearing this past November in Indianapolis. At that hearing, the University presented a strong case to challenge the NCAA's verdict, and to seek relief from those penalties deemed as excessive, unwarranted or unfair. As a result of the presentation, the University was successful in convincing the NCAA Infractions Panel to reevaluate and lessen a number of penalties in key areas. These included: 

• Reducing the number of affected sports banned from post-season play from 10 to just three (football, women's tennis and softball)
• Decreasing the number of probation years from five to only four
• Confining a 1% financial penalty to only the three sports penalized as opposed to 10 sports

Despite the infractions and resulting penalties imposed, Morgan remains committed to its responsibility to students, faculty, alumni, supporters and also the NCAA, to operate its athletic programs in a manner that is consistent with the highest principles of intercollegiate athletics and in adherence to our institutional values. This commitment includes the obligation to be forthcoming and thoroughly transparent in our response, regardless of consequences, whenever the University learns of any possible transgressions in conduct that run contrary to those principles.
 
Our pledge is to quality education, integrity, honesty and fairness in all University endeavors, which requires that we adhere to a higher standard. We are troubled by the notion that past mistakes will negatively impact the University and our students. And, as we move forward, we will use this experience as a learning opportunity, one that builds upon and does not stain an otherwise rich and impressive academic and athletic history.
 
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS