DMN Not FB but TCU on probation for track

OldTimer · September 23, 2005

TCU handed probation for track violations

05:01 PM CDT on Thursday, September 22, 2005

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA placed TCU's athletic program on probation for two years Thursday for violations by track coaches that included taking a final exam for an athlete and giving others money to pay for moving expenses and taxes.

The NCAA said the violations happened between 1997 and last year, when Monte Stratton was TCU's track coach. Stratton was fired in September after the NCAA and the school began an investigation of the program.

Penalties against TCU include forgoing postseason team competitions in 2005-06 and 2006-07, although individuals will be allowed to compete. The university also reduced its men's track scholarships by 20 percent to just more than 10 full scholarships for the next two years.

"The former head coach's purpose in providing these inducements and benefits was to gain an unfair competitive advantage," said Gene Marsh, chairman of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. "These impermissible activities were used to recruit, retain and ensure the eligibility of a significant number of world-class student-athletes."

The NCAA said that 16 of the 22 athletes involved in the violations finished in the top 10 in 43 events at the Division I indoor and outdoor track championships. Those results now must be vacated.

Among the violations cited by the NCAA were a former assistant coach taking a final exam and writing a paper for an athlete in 1997 and other assistant coaches during 1999-2004 either writing or editing admissions essays for recruits.

The NCAA also said that from 2000 to 2004, the coaching staff made several $100 monthly payments to foreign athletes to help them pay federal taxes and other payments ranging from $109 to $700 to help athletes pay off-campus housing costs. Stratton also directed his staff to give recruits thousands of dollars in cash, merchandise and airline tickets, the NCAA said