Penalties on Athletics upheld by NCAA
SJSU players failed to meet
academic eligibility standards
Mark Powell
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: News
The NCAA officially denied an appeal by SJSU intended to retract a 2007 decision to lay historical penalties on the athletic program for failing to meet certain academic standards, according to a university athletics news release Tuesday.
Scholarship reductions for football, men's soccer, and women's basketball reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last May were upheld after the teams were unable to reach the minimum progress score, which is 925, according to the NCAA Division I 2005-2006 Academic Progress Rate Public Report.
SJSU President Don Kassing said the baseball team was also hit with scholarship reductions.
The release published on the SJSU Athletics Web site stated that the progress violations refer to players who were ruled ineligible for 2003-04 and 2004-05 stints - before current Athletic Director Tom Bowen and head football coach Dick Tomey arrived.
"I'm disappointed," Kassing said. "We needed to do more institutionally, in terms of an academic support system."
Kassing said the university had been "slow to figure that out," and that changes in personnel kept SJSU from being prepared for the Academic Progress Rate.
Kassing said, among other aspects, the Academic Progress Rate denotes student-athletes who face academic problems as either "0-for-1" or "0-for-2."
Student-athletes designated as "0-for-1" are ineligible to play but have not left the university. Those designated as "0-for-2" are ineligible to play and have also left the university.
According to the release, 58 football players, including 49 recruited prior to Tomey's hiring, were labeled "0-for-2" during the period in question. The release states Tomey honored the scholarships of those players, contributing to NCAA sanctions.
Ryan Simone, who played football for SJSU under Tomey and former coach Fitz Hill from 2003 to 2006, said the SJSU Athletics administration facilitates ways for student-athletes to be assisted in their academics.
"Football players have something every morning called 'O.G.' or 'Operation Graduation,'" Simone said. "Whenever players are enrolled in classes they have to show their notes. They have to show what they are learning."
Scholarship reductions for football, men's soccer, and women's basketball reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last May were upheld after the teams were unable to reach the minimum progress score, which is 925, according to the NCAA Division I 2005-2006 Academic Progress Rate Public Report.
SJSU President Don Kassing said the baseball team was also hit with scholarship reductions.
The release published on the SJSU Athletics Web site stated that the progress violations refer to players who were ruled ineligible for 2003-04 and 2004-05 stints - before current Athletic Director Tom Bowen and head football coach Dick Tomey arrived.
"I'm disappointed," Kassing said. "We needed to do more institutionally, in terms of an academic support system."
Kassing said the university had been "slow to figure that out," and that changes in personnel kept SJSU from being prepared for the Academic Progress Rate.
Kassing said, among other aspects, the Academic Progress Rate denotes student-athletes who face academic problems as either "0-for-1" or "0-for-2."
Student-athletes designated as "0-for-1" are ineligible to play but have not left the university. Those designated as "0-for-2" are ineligible to play and have also left the university.
According to the release, 58 football players, including 49 recruited prior to Tomey's hiring, were labeled "0-for-2" during the period in question. The release states Tomey honored the scholarships of those players, contributing to NCAA sanctions.
Ryan Simone, who played football for SJSU under Tomey and former coach Fitz Hill from 2003 to 2006, said the SJSU Athletics administration facilitates ways for student-athletes to be assisted in their academics.
"Football players have something every morning called 'O.G.' or 'Operation Graduation,'" Simone said. "Whenever players are enrolled in classes they have to show their notes. They have to show what they are learning."
Be the first to comment on this story