University hires new compliance assistant AD

~ Santos has a law degree and worked as intern for the NCAA in membership services.

Southeast Missouri State University his hired Jayson Santos to fill the vacancy as assistant athletic director for compliance, the university announced Monday.

Santos begins his duties today.

He is a journalism graduate from the University of Texas and obtained a law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston.

Santos worked as an intern in membership services with the NCAA office in Indianapolis.

"We feel fortunate to be able to hire Jayson Santos," Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said in a news release from the university. "Santos has a law degree and a year of experience working at the NCAA office. He knows compliance and he knows the NCAA systems."

At the NCAA, Santos provided rules interpretations for NCAA member institutions and the general public. He analyzed and processed initial eligibility, progress-toward-degree and administrative review subcommittee waivers, according the university's news release.

While at Texas Southern, Santos served as intern for the athletic department, including sports information, game-day operations and compliance. Santos also worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to a release on the NCAA Web site.

As an undergraduate student at Texas, Santos worked three years for the student television station. He anchored and produced his own sports television show.

Southeast's compliance position became vacant following the 2005-06 school year when Alicia Scott resigned.

She had been the assistant AD for compliance and student services for 10 years, but the university planned to redefine the position to work fulltime on compliance.

The restructuring was one of the recommendations made in a status report issued by the Ohio Valley Conference from its investigation of NCAA violations committed by the university's women's basketball programs.

During the investigation, seven areas of violations were uncovered in the women's basketball program and one violation in men's basketball of allowing transfer students not yet eligible to play to travel with the team over the last two seasons.