U. of Memphis Gets Two Years’ Probation

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has placed the University of Memphis’s women’s volleyball and men’s track-and-field and cross-country programs on two years’ probation for violating rules on practice sessions and failing to investigate academic fraud.

In a report issued in October, the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions found that, during the three spring semesters from the 2000-1 to 2002-3 academic years, the head coach of the women’s volleyball team broke NCAA rules barring mandatory individual instruction by requiring team members to participate in additional individual training and conditioning sessions.

The coach, who was identified in the student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, as Carrie Yerty, also conducted mandatory strength and conditioning tests before they were allowed by NCAA rules and caused athletes to exceed limits set on out-of-season conditioning sessions.

The committee also penalized the men’s track-and-field and cross-country teams for failing to investigate when two students falsified their foreign transcripts to qualify for competition.

Because both the NCAA and the university agreed on the facts of the violations, the case was handled through a process known as “summary disposition” rather than through a formal hearing.

Under the terms of an agreement between the university and the NCAA, the volleyball team must adhere to a reduced-practice schedule, while the men’s track and cross-country teams will lose three scholarships for the next two academic years.

“This is a matter that we take very seriously,” R.C. Johnson, the university’s athletics director, said in a written statement. “We worked diligently with the NCAA on these issues and have taken steps to correct any shortfalls.”

http://chronicle.com Section: Athletics Volume 52, Issue 11, Page A46