SFA placed on probation by the NCAA

Photo by
Darla S Tamulitis,
La Vita Loca Photography
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

By James Jacobs

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON TEXAS (May 21, 2020) The SFA Lumberjacks stunned the basketball world last November dropping the number one ranked Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. On Wednesday, the NCAA felled the Lumberjacks with a three year probation verdict for six years of poor judgement in their academic certification procedures.

Warned back in 2013, the SFA "powers that be" failed to heed the warning and now it has once again cost the student athletes. Not only does it leave a blemish on their accomplishments but athletes in four sports will see their victories taken away; an NCAA tournament win and vacated conference championships.

Ryan Ivey, the school’s athletic director, said the certification errors date back to 2013 and were discovered last spring after the departure of two associate athletic directors who were responsible for rules compliance and academics. 

To be fair, the errors occurred under the guidance of former AD Robert Hill who retired in 2018. Administrators erred by counting all semester credit hours to determine academic eligibility instead of counting only credit hours that led to a degree.

The certification errors affected 82 athletes across football, men’s basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball, women’s golf, men’s and women’s track & field and men’s cross country.

Under the terms of the probation, SFA forfeits most notably its Southland Conference titles for men’s basketball in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18 and the first-round win in the 2016 NCAA Tournament against West Virginia plus 29 football wins as well as dozens of baseball and softball wins. This in addition to fines and penalties totaling almost $100,000.

In an unprecedented move, the NCAA agreed to postpone the one year basketball probation till the 2012-2022 year so that current juniors would not potentially leave the school and jeopardize their chances of graduatiing. In addition, the team will not forfeit its win over Duke.

In the aftermath of the failures, the school has revamped it certification process and will hire a certification officer who does not work for the athletic department.

The negotiated deal allows the school to avoid a full blown investigation.