NCAA takes 11 wins from SEMO men's basketball team

The NCAA stripped the Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team of 11 wins when the Division I Committee on Infractions announced its report Thursday.

The vacation of wins highlighted the penalties imposed on the Redhawks program for major and secondary violations in the men's basketball program. The program also saw a reduction in scholarships and recruiting visits.

"Obviously this is embarrassing," Southeast athletic director John Shafer said. "We're not going to dwell on the penalties. We're going to dwell on the responsibility of doing things the right way."

Former Southeast men's basketball coach Scott Edgar and former men's assistant coach Ronnie Dean also received penalties from the committee.

This was the second time in just over a year that the Committee on Infractions forced the university to vacate wins. The university's athletic department was placed on two years' probation and the women's basketball program was forced to vacate wins from the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons in the committee's June 2008 report on other major violations in the athletic department.

In Thursday's report, the committee said it was "troubled that the institution has appeared before the committee on two occasions in a one-year period of time."

"This is a really serious issue because of the repeat violations clause in the NCAA bylaws," Southeast president Ken Dobbins said. "That's important because I think the committee was fair considering we had been there only a year ago."

It was the fourth time that Southeast went before the committee. It also appeared in 1998 for a case involving men's basketball and in 1979 for violations in men's basketball and men's track.

The committee wrote in its report released Thursday that men's basketball staff members observed offseason pickup games and strength and conditioning drills, provided impermissible benefits to two players and that Edgar and Dean acted unethically -- all major violations.

The committee wrote that its problem with the staff observing offseason workouts was that the workouts were supposed to be voluntary.

"If you have coaches appearing at the beginning or the end of a weight lifting session or conditioning session or a coach appearing during a scrimmage, the impression is that they are there to do more than to see how everybody's feeling," said Paul Dee, chairman of the committee. "They're there to see who's present and who's not present, and that takes away the voluntariness."

Edgar's unethical conduct stemmed from his knowing involvement in violations and providing misleading information to the university and enforcement staff, the committee wrote. It also wrote that Dean knowingly engaged in rules violations, which it deemed unethical conduct.

Thursday's findings included an extension of the probationary period for three years. The university's athletic department now will be on probation until June 17, 2013.

The committee also wrote that the university must vacate wins from the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons in which the players who received impermissible benefits played. But the university won't lose any wins from the 2006-2007 season because the player involved in that benefit, identified by multiple sources as Calvin Williams, did not play that season after transferring from the University of Colorado.

Williams was driven to Memphis, Tenn., by Dean so he could go to Atlanta to see his newborn child. The committee wrote that it believed Edgar told Dean to drive Williams.

The university will lose 11 wins from the 2007-2008 season because the player involved in that benefit, identified by multiple sources as Brandon Foust, played in 11 wins before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

According to the committee's report, Edgar gave Dean three $100 bills to give to Foust in August 2007 to pay $239 in institutional fees so he could enroll in classes.

The committee also issued a public reprimand and censure. The other penalties imposed by the committee were self-imposed by the university. Those included a reduction in men's basketball scholarships from 13 to 12 for the 2009-2010 season, a reduction in the number of off-campus recruiting opportunities by 15 for the 2009-2010 season and reducing by 28 the number of times the strength and conditioning staff can supervise men's basketball players during the offseason.

Edgar was given a three-year show-cause period that makes it difficult for any NCAA institution to hire him. His activities as a coach would be restricted and his new employer could face NCAA sanctions, which makes it a large gamble for any institution to hire him until the three-year show-cause period ends.

Dean was given a one-year show-cause period.

The women's basketball program wasn't left out of the committee's report. It found that a booster paid $7,078.61 for a former player's tuition during the 2007-2008 school year. The former player, who was an international student and played during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, had exhausted her eligibility when the booster paid the tuition in three installments.

The booster was banned from associating with the athletic department for three years. The penalty was self-imposed by the university.

Dobbins said he planned to talk with Chuck Smrt of the Compliance Group, who helped the university prepare for the hearing, about the university's options. Dobbins said they would determine if the university should appeal the penalties.

"Chuck Smrt, he's wonderful," Dobbins said. "And we're going to ask him, 'Is this a reasonable penalty in relationship to other findings?'"