WRAL Sports Fan

College Football

St. Augustine's College placed on probation for three years

Oct 6, 2008

Indianapolis — The NCAA Division II Committee on Infractions has penalized St. Augustine College for major violations in its athletics program, the organization announced Friday. According to the report, the infractions, which included a lack of institutional control, began in the 2003-04 academic year and continued through 2007-08.

St. Augustine's was found to have allowed 29 student-athletes to practice or compete while ineligible to do so. Of the 29 ineligible student-athletes, 15 participated in football.

As part of the penalties adopted and imposed by the committee, the Falcons will be placed on probation for a period of three years, beginning on October 3, 2008, and concluding on October 2, 2011, and will have to pay a $2,500 fine to the NCAA.

In addition to the probation sentence, the school will also have to forfeit all wins (regular and post-season) in which an ineligible student-athlete participated, and remove their individual records from the books.

The judgment goes on to say that St. Augustine's will lose scholarships in the sports of football, men's basketball, softball, volleyball, men's tennis, men's track and women's track, for the academic years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, and that the school must initiate an external review of its campus compliance system "by a competent reviewer as soon as one can be scheduled."

The news of the penalties came on the same weekend as the Falcons' big rivalry win in football over Shaw.

St. Augustine's beat the Bears Saturday afternoon, 27-16, handing the school its first conference loss of the season.