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Southern Indiana basketball team gets probation
The NCAA has placed Southern Indiana's men's basketball program on one year's probation for numerous rules violations.
Coach Rick Herdes resigned in 2009 after the school ran an internal investigation and found the violations, which the NCAA said Friday included an assistant coach purchasing airline tickets for a player and a booster doing coursework for a player at risk to be ineligible.
Herdes had coached the Eagles since 2001, leading them to a 27-7 record in his final season. He was 200-59 in eight seasons, including a trip to the 2004 Division II title game.
The Great Lakes Valley Conference imposed a postseason ban last season, and the NCAA did not add to it because the school cooperated during the investigation.
The NCAA cited failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance by Herdes and unethical conduct by a former assistant. The school's probation ends Feb. 1, 2012.
Herdes said in a statement when he resigned that regardless of whether he knew about the problems, he was responsible for the coaching staff and the program.
Other punishments include vacating records, a $2,500 penalty for the Division II program in Evansville, and future limits on Herdes and the former assistant coach.
The NCAA said the majority of the violations centered on the assistant coach, who on two occasions provided extra benefits to a student-athlete valued at approximately $1,300. Later, the same former coach violated the principles of ethical conduct when he lied to investigators and submitted a falsified receipt during the investigation.
The committee found that Herdes failed to monitor the activities of the former assistant's involvement in the violations. The NCAA also said the former assistant arranged for fraudulent academic credit for a player when he asked a booster on two occasions to complete coursework for a player who was struggling in school.
The penalties were limited because the violations were all committed by staff no longer at the school, and the committee determined the university's self-imposed penalties and corrective actions in large part addressed the violations.
