Eastern Washington put on probation

[RationalGriz]

And they are ineligible for the playoffs next season.

http://www.krem.com/topstories/stories/krem2-021109-ewu-sanctions.7090e24.html

[EdubAlum]

This sucks ass

Cheney, Wash.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released its findings from a two-year review of
activities involving the Eastern Washington University football team from 2003-07. The NCAA looked into a
series of secondary rule violations, which, taken in total, led to a major infractions case. The violations largely
centered on a lack of compliance to participation rules regarding academically non-qualified and ineligible student
athletes.
The university self-reported the violations to the NCAA in February of 2007.
In its report, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions accepted self-imposed measures the university already
implemented. Those measures began at the start of the current academic year and will be continually improved
and assessed. In addition, the NCAA levied a penalty on the football team which prohibits post-season play during
the 2009 football season and placed EWU on three years of probation, from 2009-2012. During the probationary
period, EWU will be required to file additional compliance reports with the NCAA.
After the arrival of EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo and Athletic Director Bill Chaves, who came to Eastern
in September of 2007, several new monitoring systems and resources for coaches were put in place to reflect
Eastern’s commitment to properly-managed athletic programs. At the time of the violations, many of those
resources were not in place, including checks and balances that may have helped avoid the violations from
occurring.
“We accept the NCAA’s findings and want to show, through our actions, that we embrace a culture of
compliance. We are, however, disappointed with the decision to levy a post-season ban and will be assessing our
appeal options.
“We have taken significant compliance measures to ensure we do not find ourselves in this situation again
and we were pleased to see the NCAA acknowledged that fact in its report. Those measures will allow us to
confidently move forward from this experience believing Eastern athletics are now best-poised to provide a
meaningful experience for our student athletes, while remaining competitive on the field,” Acting-President John
Mason said.
Please contact Sports Information Director Dave Cook at 509-359-6334 with inquiries.

[Uncle Rico's Clan]

Its too bad EWU is being punished for something that wulff did since he is now at a different school. I think they were a team that could contend for a playoff spot this year.xsmhx

[Rekdiver]

When are they going to give more death sentences to the coaches and not the schools?

[Shellin]

When are they going to give more death sentences to the coaches and not the schools?

I don't disagree that they should punish the coaches responsible, but I think we here at Washington State have suffered enough after last season :p

[bluehenbillk]

Wow, when was the last time a team got barred from postseason competition? Doesn't happen that often.

[Appinator]

This might be an easy question to someone, but why do schools self report these incidents? If the thought is that the NCAA will be more lenient, don't actions like these really negate their honesty?

[structgrizz]

Long time reader first time poster.

Let me get this straight.

A new President and AD come in and find possible violations. They report them to the NCAA voluntarily and the NCAA punishes the current student athletes by prohibiting them from the playoffs for one year.

Wow Typical NCAA wisdom at work there. Punish the Athletic Deppartment but don't punish the seniors that have given 4 or 5 years of their lives to the team.

I really enjoy reading the posts on this site. Their are some very knowledgeable folks here.

[jmufan999]

i agree they SHOULD punish the coach, but how can they? he is not criminally negligent, so you can't "throw the book at him." you couldn't even sue him, because you'd have to go after the university. and who is the person that would file such a suit? it would have to be the NCAA, and they're not going to sue a school.

they're not punishing Wulff (and having no contact with the team for the first three days of practice... is that really a punishment?) because there's really not a lot they can do. i'm actually surprised they're even doing THAT, because technically, if you see that (no contact with team) as a punishment, you're punishing the WSU players who are COMPLETELY uninvolved.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Yeeeouch.

I've got to believe that Wulff knew he was breaking the rules. And it looks like the problem wasn't that he made a mistake, it's that he covered it up when it was clear that he screwed up. EWU will pay a serious price for his actions.

xsmhx

[jmufan999]

and also, the self-imposed "limiting coaches from 11 to 10"... what does that have to do with anything? it's not really a punishment if you're going to save money by paying one fewer salary. that one doesn't really make a lot of sense. i'm guessing the university did as much punishing as they could so the NCAA wouldn't ban them from postseason play.

i feel bad for you EWU fans. i would definitely be upset if i was in your position.

[eagle1]

I am really pissed off! I feel really bad for our seniors which have busted their balls for the team and school. They have their post-season taken away from them while Coach Wulff has 3 days of fall practice taken away. How is this fair for the NCAA to punish a bunch of kids that had nothing to do with the violations while slapping the hand of the violater (Coach Wulff). This team with the talented senior class could have made some noise in the Big Sky and had a legitmate shot at making the FCS playoffs but now all that is gone just like that. Sad day for EWU fans. xmadx

[Montanan]

overly tough on the seniors, sorry to hear abt this! as usual the NCAA's handling of the matter leaves much to be desired! xnonono2x

[coover]

and also, the self-imposed "limiting coaches from 11 to 10"... what does that have to do with anything? it's not really a punishment if you're going to save money by paying one fewer salary.

This is just a guess, but I would guess that ESU will not lose a salaried coach. All teams use volunteers who donate their time to the team, possibly hoping for a salaried job in the future.

ESU will have to do with one less volunteer, meaning that the coaches will have less time to give to each individual athlete.

[bpcats]

It is a shame for EWU. I thought that they would have a great shot at winning at making another playoff run with all their talent coming back and the defense getting better.

While I agree Wulff should be held accountable, it is naive to think that the athletic department doesn't bear some of the blame also. It is their job to make sure that programs are set up to help support the coaches when it comes to recruiting and reporting a student athlete's progress.

It didn't help that EWU was consistently looking for new AD's etc.

The Eagles still have a good shot at winning the conference and affecting the playoff picture overall.

[Keeper]

?
Will the Eagles be eligible for votes in AGS or Coaches or TSN rankings?

[th0m]

I don't see why not.

[GannonFan]

?
Will the Eagles be eligible for votes in AGS or Coaches or TSN rankings?

Not being able to partake in the playoffs has never prevented teams from being ranked before. If EWU is good enough, it won't be the case this year either.

[NoCoDanny]

Sorry, I don’t feel sorry for EWU, they cheated, got caught, and are being punished.

The coach doesn't operate in his own little vacuum. Every NCAA institution is responsible for having compliance officers on staff to review all policy and procedures to avoid this.

If EWU didn't oversee their coaches properly and allowed them the freedom to break rules that is on EWU plain and simple.

They practiced ineligible players, there is no way a compliance officer shouldn’t catch that. The athletic administration is as much as fault as the coach.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

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[lucchesicourt]

It is only 1 year, and they have had 3 years worth of playoff elgibility. What is worse than this is the 4 year requirement for teams moving from D2 to FCS. 4 years without being playoff elgible, not only eliminates the seniors, but also the juniors, sophomores and freshmen- a far worse penalty-and this is without doing anything against the rules. I can't say I feel sorry for any school who violates the rules. The coach responsible for the rules violation should receive the same penalty regardless of where he is coaching (there would be no penalty to the new team he is now coaching). The coach should not be allowed to coach in the playoffs for his new team. The coach's season would be over after the regular season. Any contact between the coach and team during the playoffs should result in the same penalty against the new school the following year.

[FCS Go!]

It is only 1 year, and they have had 3 years worth of playoff elgibility. What is worse than this is the 4 year requirement for teams moving from D2 to FCS. 4 years without being playoff elgible, not only eliminates the seniors, but also the juniors, sophomores and freshmen- a far worse penalty-and this is without doing anything against the rules. ....

Isn't the reason for the transition period to allow all the non-DI qualifiers to exhaust their eligibility? If the players were not DI eligible when they started school they shouldn't be able to sneak in the back door.

[Big Al]

Isn't the reason for the transition period to allow all the non-DI qualifiers to exhaust their eligibility? If the players were not DI eligible when they started school they shouldn't be able to sneak in the back door.

I suppose if you had some D-1 transfers, that would make some sense, I guess. However, a D-II athlete should be just as qualified to play as a D-1 athlete.

I think the real reason is it's a disincentive to prevent a massive influx of D-II schools into D-I so they can cash in on the men's basketball tournament.

[OL FU]

While I agree Wulff should be held accountable, it is naive to think that the athletic department doesn't bear some of the blame also. It is their job to make sure that programs are set up to help support the coaches when it comes to recruiting and reporting a student athlete's progress.

.


xnodxxnodxxnodx It is an issue for the institution. I know it sucks for those left behind and not involved, but the school that committed the violations has to be punished.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Ugliness xsmhx

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/cougars/399878_coug13.html


Wulff: EWU 'culture' at fault

Speaking in general terms about violations that took place under his watch, Wulff said, "You have to understand, at Eastern Washington, this has gone on for two to three decades. You have to understand this is nothing new.

"Things that slipped through the cracks are things that slipped through the cracks for 15 to 20-plus years. That's just the way it was."

...

Wulff said the lack of NCAA compliance assistance available at Eastern during the 2003-07 period in question factored heavily into rules violations. That sentiment was supported by the NCAA, current Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves (who was hired in the fall of 2007) and Beau Baldwin, the former Eastern assistant who replaced Wulff as head coach when Wulff left to coach the Cougars last season.

Wulff, whose entire 15-year coaching career was spent at Eastern until last season, said some of the violations cited by the NCAA were committed when Wulff served as an assistant coach under Dick Zornes and Mike Kramer. The NCAA's five-year window for investigations has expired in the cases of Zornes and Kramer.

"I just kind of followed what Mike Kramer had done and Dick Zornes had done, kind of the culture of Eastern Washington," Wulff said.

Boy, did HE throw EWU under the bus - as well as the coaches he worked under. He just burned every bridge at the institution that made him. xmadx

[Ronbo]

It is only 1 year, and they have had 3 years worth of playoff elgibility. What is worse than this is the 4 year requirement for teams moving from D2 to FCS. 4 years without being playoff elgible, not only eliminates the seniors, but also the juniors, sophomores and freshmen- a far worse penalty-and this is without doing anything against the rules. I can't say I feel sorry for any school who violates the rules. The coach responsible for the rules violation should receive the same penalty regardless of where he is coaching (there would be no penalty to the new team he is now coaching). The coach should not be allowed to coach in the playoffs for his new team. The coach's season would be over after the regular season. Any contact between the coach and team during the playoffs should result in the same penalty against the new school the following year.

I would think that rule could be changed if the schools involved agreed to clean up all the D-1 non qualifiers off the team or somehow get them qualified.

[FCS Go!]

I would think that rule could be changed if the schools involved agreed to clean up all the D-1 non qualifiers off the team or somehow get them qualified.

Maybe, but letting non-qualifiers practice, workout and be coached in the team's system for a few years before making the jump gives them an advantage not available to established D-I teams. Kicking the non-quals off the team seems like the only "fair" option but I doubt any coach or AD would think that a good idea for the teams reputation or team morale.

[Green26]

As I said earlier, EWU has made a living off of bringing in non-qualifiers that other Big Sky schools couldn't or wouldn't admit. EWU has been able to rehabilitate these players, many or a number of whom have been good players. We can now see that they were letting some of them practice, in violation of ncaa rules. I feel sorry for the current players and team, but not for the institution, which allowed and fostered this. This wasn't a player or two slippping through the cracks.

Does anyone have more information on the too-many-coaches issue? What was the story with that?

[Green26]

This article sheds some more light on the violations, including the too-many-coaches one. It's well worth reading.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/cougars/399878_coug13.html

[JayJ79]

Its too bad EWU is being punished for something that wulff did since he is now at a different school. I think they were a team that could contend for a playoff spot this year.xsmhx

Coaches are employees of their schools. So the schools have the responsibility of oversight to some extent, as far as compliance to the rules.


However, I do think that the former coach, in situations such as this, should be fined a portion of their salary from the years in which the offenses took place. That would be a punative measure against that coach, but wouldn't unjustly punish the school that had since hired that coach in question.

[already123]

good news for NAU!

[Uncle Rico's Clan]

good news for NAU!

I don't think this is good news for anyone, if anything it weakens the Big Sky conference.

[already123]

maybe....unless the rest of the conference sees it as an opportunity to step their game up

[FCS Go!]

good news for NAU!

If EWU (and potentially Weber St) finish first or second in the conf. it essentially makes the Big Sky a one bid playoff conf.

[lucchesicourt]

UCD went through the 4 year transition period and every player was already D1 qualified for ALL D1 levels of play. The UC requirements are much higher than those required for D1 sports. But, even though all players were qualified, UCD still had to go through this penalty period. IMO this is wrong to do for all qualified teams. This transition is a death penalty to all current athletes on the team, and why?

[lucchesicourt]

It seems it doesn't matter whether the players are qualified or not. The UCD players were ALL qualified and they still had to go through the 4 year transition period. The UC standards are much higher than those for D1 (FBS) sports.

[W. DeMontague]

Eastern will appeal the postseason ban.

http://goeags.cstv.com/genrel/022109aab.html

[eaglesrthe1]

Eastern will appeal the postseason ban.

http://goeags.cstv.com/genrel/022109aab.html

Appeal to the same people who placed the ban in the first place? Good luck.

[Bill Hanson]

I do not see EWU getting the ban lifted.

[already123]

Would you rather miss the playoffs because of reasons you can control or make the playoffsand get smashed in the first round, thus aiding the "big fluffy sky" [nonsense] debate...