After a year-long investigation, the NCAA Division II Committee on Infractions imposed penalties on ACU’s track and field program and football program for violating several NCAA regulations.

Infractions include: failure to monitor by the university and head track and field coach, impermissible inducements, extra benefits and paid visit violations.

Penalties for the infractions will consist of a two-year probation (Feb. 12, 2009 – Feb. 11, 2011), vacation of records, recruiting restrictions, athletics scholarship reductions and a financial penalty of $2,500.

Specifically, the university will have to vacate all of the football team’s wins from the 2007 season, the year the Wildcats finished 10-3 and lost to Chadron State 76-73 in the second round of the NCAA playoffs. All records from that season will be reconfigured.

Scholarships for the men’s and women’s track and field teams will also be reduced from 12.6 to 10.5 for the next two years.

The university will also have to limit the number of international student-athletes to five players on the roster of any athletics team during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

“To be clear, we maintain that these infractions do not include intentional violations,” said Royce Money, president of the university, in a university press release. “While we had systems in place at the time of the infractions, this investigation has led us to strengthen our compliance education.”

ACU initially self-reported an infraction to the NCAA in 2007. Jared Mosley, ACU director of athletics, said in a university press release that the university began implementing changes immediately after becoming aware of the infractions. He also said the Department of Athletics has distributed information on what ACU student-athletes can and cannot receive from outside sources. Read the compliance statement here: http://www.acusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8900&ATCLID=1505975

The NCAA cited that the majority of violations were committed by the head track and field coach Don Hood. Some of the violations included signing the guarantor line on the leases of two prospective student-athletes and giving them free running shoes. Hood was also reported as helping organize and attend holiday parties where 15 international student-athletes received gifts from alumni and university athletics representatives.

“I want to reiterate my personal commitment to running a sound athletics program through the corrective measures that we have taken,” Mosley said in a press release. “I believe our university is in a much better today as a result of this process. We have been reviewing and implementing steps we feel necessary to help in the education of our coaching staff, student-athletes, friends and supporters.”

The university has 15 days to appeal the NCAA-imposed penalties, and Money said the university will try to appeal the penalties imposed on the football program.

Read the official NCAA release here: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=45403