NCAA hands out penalties related to academic standards

INDIANAPOLIS -- Teams at 65 schools -- including Texas, Tennessee and West Virginia -- failed to meet the NCAA's new academic standards and now face the loss of scholarships for their poor grades.

But don't look for any of the biggest names in football or basketball on the list released Wednesday by the NCAA of those lagging behind in the classroom.

The only school in the six biggest conferences to be sanctioned in football or men's basketball, the primary moneymakers for most athletic departments, was DePaul of the Big East. It could lose one scholarship in men's basketball next year.

Nationwide, 99 teams could lose scholarships as early as next fall. The new academic points system requires each team to meet minimum requirements or face the potential loss of scholarship money when academically ineligible athletes leave school. No school can lose more than 10 percent of its scholarships. And if the ineligible scholarship athlete stays in school, the NCAA will not take the scholarship away from the athlete's team.

Sacramento State had the most teams affected (six) and could face the loss of as many as 2.3 scholarships in football. Prairie View A&M in Texas was among the hardest-hit schools. As many as 10 athletes in five sports could lose scholarship money, including 5.3 scholarships in football alone.

The NCAA also released a list of schools that consistently outperformed its baseline standards. Among those were Brown, Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, the three U.S. military academies and William and Mary.

North Carolina and Illinois, the two teams that reached last year's NCAA men's basketball championship game, were both among the top 10 percent academically in that sport.

Overall, NCAA officials were pleased with the improvement made since last year when about 6 percent of sports teams made the list. Fewer than 2 percent of teams were penalized this year.

"We want people to know that if you're going to play our games, you're going to be a student," NCAA president Myles Brand said.

Brand said a statistical adjustment, similar to the margin of error in public opinion polls, helped some schools avoid the list. Kevin Lennon, the NCAA's vice president of membership services, said 63 schools also received waivers based primarily on their institutional mission statement; 16 were rejected.

The NCAA may not be so forgiving in the future when the statistical adjustment is phased out and repeat offenders become subject to harsher penalties such as postseason bans and the loss of tournament money. Some university officials hope that sends an even stronger message.

"Obviously, if you received a penalty in this round, you need to find out what's wrong," said Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford. "Those institutions need to get better and get better quick because those adjustments will get smaller and eventually go away."

OVC schools hit hard

Football teams fared the worst, followed by baseball and men's basketball. Nine women's programs were sanctioned, compared with 90 men's teams.

Six schools -- Florida A&M, Jacksonville State, Murray State, Nicholls State in Louisiana, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Tennessee-Martin -- all received the maximum penalty in Division I-AA football, 6.3 scholarships.

Jacksonville State, Tennessee-Martin and Murray State compete in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Only seven teams in the six power conferences -- Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern Conference and Pac-10 -- were sanctioned.

Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas of the Big 12 and Tennessee of the SEC -- posted insufficient scores in baseball. West Virginia of the Big East was penalized in men's wrestling and Mississippi of the SEC was sanctioned in men's indoor track. None would lose more than 1.17 scholarships.

Forty-three football teams fell below the cutline, with 23 sanctioned. Baseball was second with 40 teams missing the cutline and 21 facing penalties; and men's basketball was third with 37 teams failing to make the grade and 17 receiving sanctions.

Brand said baseball has been hit harder, in part, because transfer rules do not force baseball players to sit out one season before continuing their college career. All players are also draft eligible after their junior season.

"The baseball community is aware of the issue and one problem is that baseball, more than football or basketball, sends players off to the pro leagues before their senior years," Brand said.

Eight schools did not complete their forms in time for the announcement, including two schools -- Tulane and the University of New Orleans, that were hit hard by Hurricane Katrina last fall. They are expected to be filed by March 15.