Georgia Southern vacates 3 wins after NCAA investigation
Georgia Southern will vacate three wins – two from 2013 and one from 2014 – as part of the recently completed NCAA investigation into impermissible academic benefits in the football program.
The school announced Friday that wins over Savannah State and St. Francis from the 2013 season and a win over UL Monroe in 2014 will be stricken from the records. An ineligible student-athlete competed for the Eagles in those games. The athlete’s statistics will also be vacated. Stats from eligible athletes “will remain,” the school said in a release.
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Jeff Monken, who is now at Army, coached the games in 2013 while current Tulane coach Willie Fritz coached GSU in 2014.
The Eagles’ 2014 Sun Belt title will not be affected by the vacated win.
The NCAA concluded earlier this month that a former assistant compliance director and tutor improperly helped three football players with coursework. The program has been placed on two years’ probation and docked two scholarships. The probation runs through July 6, 2018.
A former assistant compliance director provided a student-athlete with a flash drive containing her previous work for a course in which the student-athlete was enrolled. The student-athlete later pulled an assignment from the flash drive and submitted it as his own work. When the professor discovered the work, the student-athlete and former assistant compliance director worked together to draft responses that stated the student-athlete was solely accountable. During the interview process, after initially denying the involvement of the former assistant compliance director, the student-athlete stated that the staff member provided him with the flash drive and instructed him to tell a false story.
The former assistant director not only violated the NCAA’s ethical conduct rules when she provided the student-athlete with impermissible academic assistance and influenced him to provide false and misleading information but also failed to cooperate with the NCAA enforcement staff’s investigation.
A former assistant director of student-athlete services also violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when she drafted and submitted 10 extra credit assignments on behalf of two football student-athletes. She obtained the student-athletes’ login and passwords, and submitted the assignments without the student-athletes’ knowledge.
“While it is disappointing to vacate these three victories, we get to put this chapter behind us,” said athletic director Tom Kleinlein. “The student-athletes on this year’s football team, and teams moving forward, are not affected by the NCAA’s ruling and our goals are still in front of us. In addition to graduating student-athletes and developing leaders, we look forward to competing for conference championships and bowl berths this season and in the future.
“Compliance and academic integrity are of the utmost importance here at Georgia Southern; we will continue to reinforce these values and ensure that our department is operating in a manner that consistently upholds the proud tradition of this University.”
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The Eagles went 9-4 in 2015 under Fritz and hired former UCF and Colorado State defensive coordinator Tyson Summers to take his place.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
