CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The NCAA announced that Charleston Southern will be placed on 2 years probation among other penalties after an investigation found that the school failed to monitor its athletics program when it improperly certified 55 student athletes in 12 different sports over a 6 year period according to the Division 1 Committee on Infractions panel.
Other penalties include a loss of six scholarships for the football team over the next two seasons, vacating all records in which ineligible athletes competed in over the period of time and a $5,000 fine plus 0.5% of the athletics departments budget.
A school spokesman said all the school’s teams will still be eligible for postseason play through probationary period.
“Upon my arrival to CSU in June of 2018, I was made fully aware of the NCAA situation." Bucs AD Jeff Barber said in a statement. "The entire university fully cooperated with both the NCAA and the Big South Conference. I feel extremely confident that the necessary steps have been taken and we will continue our due diligence to operate at the highest level of compliance that we possibly can.”
“Many of the improper certifications resulted from the institution’s failure to verify student-athletes' final amateurism status with the NCAA Eligibility Center.” the NCAA report stated. “Some of the other certification issues stemmed from errors in percentage-of-degree completion, degree designation, full-time enrollment and transfer eligibility, among others. As a result of these errors, student-athletes practiced, competed, received athletically related aid and/or received actual and necessary expenses while ineligible.”
Read the Charleston Southern University Public Infractions Decision here.
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