Some Cal Poly sports records will be vacated after NCAA denies book stipend appeal
Some of the records of Cal Poly student-athletes from 2012-2015 will be officially wiped off the books after the NCAA denied the university’s appeal of a textbook stipend infraction.
The university says that it’s “deeply disappointed” in the decision handed down on Thursday over a violation it described as a self-reported accounting error.
The university committed a rules violation when it provided an $800 stipend instead of financial aid that covered the exact book costs to some students between 2012 and 2015, even though Cal Poly discovered the problem and self-reported to the NCAA.
According to an April 2019 NCAA ruling, Cal Poly’s stipend exceeded the actual cost of books for 72 athletes by a total of $16,180 — ranging from $5 to $734 — causing 30 of those athletes to go over their individual financial aid limits.
The university did nothing wrong, Athletic Director Don Oberhelman said, under its interpretation of the rules, other than exceeding the financial aid limits of the 30 athletes.
The punishment was a $5,000 fine, two years of probation and, most significantly in the university’s view, the vacating of the team and individual records in the affected sports, meaning some of the Mustangs’ wins and losses and individual accomplishments over a three-and-a-half year period could be tossed from the NCAA’s books.
“This flies in face of common sense, and we believe the NCAA is being very hypocritical by throwing the book at us and treating other schools differently,” Oberhelman said in a phone interview on Thursday. “I’m proud of the university. This was a minor mistake, and we owned it. But we’re being treated exactly the same as if we lied. How is that an appropriate system of justice?”
Oberhelman added that students should not be punished for a technical rules violation they had no knowledge of committing.
Not all former Cal Poly athletes will be punished
Though Cal Poly misapplied stipends to 265 former athletes, according to the NCAA, more than two-thirds didn’t receive any extra benefit beyond the cost of their books.
It’s still unclear how many Cal Poly teams and athletes will need their records vacated, but it won’t be all of 265 ex-Mustangs athletes the NCAA cited in its infractions report, Oberhelman said, and it will likely be less than 30 under Cal Poly’s interpretation.
Cal Poly has about 550 student-athletes, and not all teams were provided book funds in the same way. Cal Poly’s 2014 Big West Conference champion men’s basketball team was not cited, for example, and the university’s first NCAA March Madness tournament berth will not be affected.
The university will need to review individual and team cases identified under the violation to determine which records are tossed.
Vacating means records will be stricken by the NCAA and affect how the university can document accomplishments on its website and promotional materials.
Cal Poly will likely have to remove records from its posted content, or use an asterisk to explain the violation, Oberhelman said.
“We are deeply disappointed by the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee’s decision to vacate the hard-earned individual records of some of Cal Poly’s former student-athletes over a relatively minor accounting error,” the athletic director said in Thursday’s statement. “In our view, the NCAA has sidestepped its responsibility to fairness and sensible treatment of the very student-athletes the association is supposed to protect.”
Joe Protheroe, Cal Poly’s all-time career leading rusher, may be one of the athletes affected by the final NCAA decision, though that hasn’t been determined yet if his marks will be stricken.
“I think the NCAA is being to harsh on Cal Poly with this punishment,” Protheroe said in an email in October. “I understand mistakes happen. I am thankful for the opportunities I was given at Poly so I can’t be mad. I just think the NCAA is being unreasonable for such harsh punishment on such a small mistake that Cal Poly reported themselves.”
Cal Poly contends other schools weren’t punished
In most cases, the student-athletes’ aid was processed incorrectly, but “no violations occurred for the vast majority” because they didn’t exceed their financial aid limits, athletic director Don Oberhelman said in October.
The university appealed the decision on Oct. 24 in front of a five-person NCAA committee, and the body then deliberated before issuing its response.
In its argument, Cal Poly cited other cases in which larger schools didn’t receive the same punishment for similar offenses, including a University of Nebraska case.
“Throughout the process, the NCAA has repeatedly chosen to ignore prior cases that have facts nearly identical to those that occurred at Cal Poly,” Cal Poly stated.
The University of Nebraska case Cal Poly cited included more money in over-awarding textbooks ($27,869) and involved a greater number of student-athletes.
“In that case, the NCAA did not require Nebraska to vacate individual student-athlete records,” the statement noted. “Given this clear precedent, we find it incomprehensible that the NCAA is forcing Cal Poly to vacate the records of completely innocent student-athletes.”
Also, the NCAA compared Cal Poly’s case to universities with much more serious violation charges, including Louisville, which was rocked by a scandal that involved prostitutes.
“The NCAA actually compared Cal Poly’s textbook error to cases at other universities that involved athletic staff members securing prostitutes for recruits, writing papers for student-athletes, lying to investigators, and intentional acts designed to gain a competitive advantage,” Oberhelman stated. “Nothing like that has occurred at Cal Poly.”
Oberhelman said one result of the NCAA’s handling of this case is that it could have a chilling effect, so that other universities won’t come forward and self-report when they believe they have committed an error.
“At Cal Poly, we believe we owe it to our 550 student-athletes and our university to uphold honor and integrity in everything we do, and we believe in self-reporting any and all issues as they arise,” Oberhelman said. “The question is whether today’s action by the NCAA encourages or discourages a culture of compliance and integrity throughout the membership nationally.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 9:59 AM with the headline "Some Cal Poly sports records will be vacated after NCAA denies book stipend appeal."
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