Sterk: Mizzou working to appeal NCAA postseason bans

The NCAA handed down penalties to the University of Missouri including a postseason ban for the 2019-20 football season.

The Mizzou baseball and softball teams also face a postseason ban in 2019.

The penalities result from the conclusion of the investigation into a former MU tutor completing classwork for 12 MU athletes, in order to keep them eligible.

MU athletic director Jim Sterk released a statement stating, “The Committee on Infractions has abused its discretion in applying penalties in this case, and the University will immediately appeal this decision that has placed unfair penalties on our department and programs. It is hard to fathom that the University could be cited for exemplary cooperation throughout the case, and yet end up with these unprecidented penalties that could unfairly and adversly impact innocent current and future Mizzou student athletes.”

Sterk said later in a conference call with reporters that Mizzou is already working on an appeal. The university was surprised at the severity of the punishment because of its level of cooperation, he said.

“I certainly don’t think these penalties are reflective of what we expected for self-reporting and that kind of cooperation and through the appeal process we’ll have an opportunity to correct this action,” Sterk said.

Sterk told reporters the process could take months, possibly up to six months, and the penalties will be on hold during the appeal process.

Sterk and MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright held a telephone news conference to take questions. Audio of the conference is available in the player below.

According to a NCAA spokesperson, an appeals process would take months.

Head football coach Barry Odom said in a statement posted to his Twitter page repeated the sentiment expressed by other school officials.

“The committee’s decision is completely unjust and unfair — to our team, to our staff, and to our alumni,” Odom said in the statement.

FOR MY TEAM! #MIZ pic.twitter.com/w2kG42I3jU

— Barry Odom (@Coach_Odom) January 31, 2019

MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright said in a statement, “Under Jim Sterk’s tremendous leadership, he has instilled a culture of intergrity and purpose in our program and has been a champion for academic excellence.”

Streaming audio of the telephone news conference with the NCAA is available in the player below.

The penalties handed down from the NCAA to Mizzou include:

Three years of probation. A 10-year show-cause order for the former tutor. During that period, any NCAA member school employing the tutor must restrict her from any athletically related duties. A 2018-19 postseason ban for the baseball and softball programs. A 2019-20 postseason ban for the football program. A vacation of records in which football, baseball and softball student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the matches impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 45 days of the public decision release. A 5 percent reduction in the amount of scholarships in each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year. Recruiting restrictions for each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year, including: A seven-week ban on unofficial visits. A 12.5 percent reduction in official visits. A seven-week ban on recruiting communications. A seven-week ban on all off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations. A 12.5 percent reduction in recruiting-person or evaluation days. A disassociation of the tutor. Details of the disassociation can be found in the public report (self-imposed by the university). A fine of $5,000 plus 1 percent of each of the football, baseball and softball budgets.

Click here to see the full release.

The NCAA did not name the tutor involved during its investigation, however, this coincides with the ongoing investigation relating to former MU tutor Yolanda Kumar.

The tutor completed work for 12 student-athletes in courses offered by MU, other schools and a math placement exam. She completed work for six student-athletes in two different math courses at the university. Missouri determined three of the student-athletes violated the university’s honor code. The university was unable to determine if two of the student-athletes violated the honor code because of lack of information and the sixth student-athlete was unresponsive to the inquiry.

In the NCAA’s release regarding their investigation into the tutor it states, “During her interview with the university and the NCAA enforcement staff, the tutor reported the way in which she was assigned one particular student-athlete to tutor was changed, and an academic coordinator contacted her directly to let her know the student needed to pass a course to graduate. She continued that she felt pressure to make sure the student passed and resorted to completing the student-athlete’s coursework, the committee said. The activity repeated itself with other academic coordinators and other student-athletes, so the tutor continued to complete varying degrees of academic work for student-athletes, according to the report.”