MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

More of the story:

http://www.d3sports.com/notables/2011/04/fontbonne-placed-on-probation

[theoneandonly]

From the St. Louis Post today

"The NCAA has placed Fontbonne University on probation for two years for "major violations" in its financial aid process.

The school, which competes in Division III, was using high school athletic participation as one of the criteria in awarding merit-based scholarships. Also, two former coaches (women's basketball and men's lacrosse) were on the school's committee that recommended financial aid for incoming students.

More than $48,000 was awarded to 23 student-athletes. The NCAA does not allow consideration of athletic participation in awarding aid in Division III.

The violations were ruled unintentional, and the sanctions are public censure."


Unintentional??   

Interesting that The St Louis Post can't post a single score from the SLIAC most days, but they caught this info...
But it is VERY disappointing to receive this kind of publicity....   I'll wonder aloud (note I use the verb wonder, not speculate) if this ties into Women's Coach Keith Quigley's surprise resignation???

Completely agree with the bolded sentence.

[Wydown Blvd.]

It's weirdly unintentional because it is such an cut and dry case. (Not the best English, but the best way for me to describe my thoughts on it).

Maybe I can understand if the members of the staff were on the admissions committee because at a smaller school admissions staff have many hats. Then, unintentionally broke NCAA rules by also being part of financial aid decisions. But, to specifically award financial aid for leadership in sports. Using sports as a criteria for scholly $$'s. That's breaking a basic D3 tenant and premise -- seems like a "umm. duh" moment to me, and ridiculous coming from an institution.

[y_jack_lok]

From the St. Louis Post today

"More than $48,000 was awarded to 23 student-athletes. The NCAA does not allow consideration of athletic participation in awarding aid in Division III."

While we are really only talking an average of just over $2,000.00 per student, that is money which could have gone to other students just as qualified in terms of leadership outside of sports. This is an important lesson for Fontbonne and important message to all D3 schools

[ziggy]

From the St. Louis Post today

"More than $48,000 was awarded to 23 student-athletes. The NCAA does not allow consideration of athletic participation in awarding aid in Division III."

While we are really only talking an average of just over $2,000.00 per student, that is money which could have gone to other students just as qualified in terms of leadership outside of sports. This is an important lesson for Fontbonne and important message to all D3 schools

From the article on d3hoops:

According to a school news release, Fontbonne officials have determined and demonstrated to the NCAA that the amounts awarded to student-athletes did not disproportionately favor student-athletes compared to the general student population.

In other words, the violation is not due to athletes receiving the awards, they are eligible like any other student. Since the awards were not given out to athletes disproportionately  there isn't any merit in suggesting there is any "cost" to the general student population. The infraction came as a result of the people sitting on the committee.

[kate]

Good morning, Ziggy - you make an excellent point.  It's so scary because no matter what the size of the institution, sports participants are definitely very visual to the outside community.  The adults involved really have to make sure they don't discriminate with the allocated monies.  Still, it's a real tough call & i feel sorry this morning for the school involved.

[y_jack_lok]

Yes, that is an excellent point. I overlooked that statement in the d3hoops article. All this goes to show that when some kind of violation occurs, even if the outcome does not show favoritism to student athletes, other rules stijll apply.

[allamericanredhead]

Baloney! I knew this was coming, but any complaint about FU was met with threats of banishment from this board.

This just scratches the surface of what has gone on at Fontbonne for years. Ask any of the revolving door of coaches who have gone through there in the last 10 years. The first two head women's ADs were both fired within a year for threatening Title IX investigations. They were both told you are young, make a fuss and we will bury you. Guess what sport got 70% of the funding in a school that has a 70% female enrollment? It was not a female sport!

Now FU brags to the NCAA that they have hired an AD with "an extensive background in NCAA enforcement." She is 26 years old and was four years out of FU when she was hired. She was teammates with some of the senior athletes! Where did she get this "extensive experience" - Work Study!

If you read the report, and if you listen to the spin the current FU big wigs are putting out, they are trying to blame most of it on McKinney, which is not fair. Was McKinney inept as an AD, definitely. It was a rudderless ship. But the Administration knew this, ignored complaints for years and did nothing. Now in typical Fontbonne fashion, they want to shoot a few foot soldiers and sweep everything else under the rug. Having Quiqley's picture on the front of this site is absurd. He has little culpability in the mess. FU is in big trouble beyond athletics. A 62% freshman retention rate? That is horrible, and it is based on FU stats, which are often BS. The firings need to start at the top, but they will not.

The biggest problem at FU is that they run an organization based on fear. No one is allowed an opinion and no one can question the status quo, even when it is in obvious violation of federal law. If you do, you are gone. That type of behavior and treatment of human beings will in the long run come back to bite you, and that is what is now happening. And like I said, if someone wants to really go in there and look, they have just scratched the surface. Better hope they can keep all the potential whistle blowers quiet.

Read the self-serving story on the FU website. Can't believe this is the kind of contrition the NCAA is looking for.

[Gregory Sager]

Baloney! I knew this was coming, but any complaint about FU was met with threats of banishment from this board.

What complete and utter nonsense. Your attempt to play the victim card is totally without merit.

Hopefan, throughout his years of being the primary contributor to this room, has never hesitated to pull the trigger with a complaint about Fontbonne when he felt the need, in spite of the fact that Denny challenged him every time he did so. The reason why you were singled out by Pat, and you're well aware of this, is because you harped on endlessly about Lee McKinney's coaching methods with regard to roster use and player retention, with the occasional sideswipe at Fontbonne's revolving door of minor-sport coaches. And Pat's complaint wasn't that you were crossing any lines in bashing Lee McKinney, it was that you kept going after him by saying the same thing over and over ad nauseam. It was as though Coach McKinney was the great white whale, and you were Captain Ahab.

One thing is clear, though: This new issue regarding the athletics personnel who were sitting on the FU admissions committee that awarded those leadership scholarships was not the particular hobby horse that you've been riding over the past six months. It's a completely different issue. This is thus not a "Gotcha!" moment for you to enjoy.

These new accusations you're making are serious ones, and you offer them without proof. I'd be inclined to give them some credence, given that you do seem to have a working familiarity with Fontbonne University, but, quite frankly, IMHO your endlessly repetitive vendetta against Lee McKinney has worked against your credibility.

[allamericanredhead]

I am defending Lee McKinney. It is the FU admn who is now trying to hang him out to dry. Read their response to the NCAA about removing McKinney from his AD duties in March, 2010. Who was aware of that? That is right when the NCAA came onto campus. Like that is going to make the problems at FU, which trust me, run very deep, go away? I repeat McKinney should not be the fall guy in this one and it is not right some of the things that the FU admn is now floating out there trying to appease the alums. As I said before, that is the FU way, shoot a few foot soldiers and sweep the rest under the rug. Heads should roll on Wydown from the top down, but it will not happen.

Better hope no one looks into how work study money was divided up.

[Wydown Blvd.]

The AP story on Fontbonne's violations was also on ESPN.com
Hate it when D3 schools make the news for the wrong reasons 

[hopefan]

I don't know anything about this subject, I will respectfully keep out of it.. but it is interesting reading....

[fightingscot14]

does anyone know anything about the blackburn athletic director search or basketball coach search?

[hopefan]

Poor Fontbonne... when it rains, it pours....

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/book-blog/article_776e6608-69c9-11e0-b372-001a4bcf6878.html?oCampaign=email

[y_jack_lok]

At least this has nothing to do with basketball. And who hasn't been fooled in life? If I remember correctly Dan Rather had to leave his job at CBS (and, ironically, 60 Minutes) for failure to do his homework for a story on George W. Bush's military service.