[Vision2020] NCAA Slaps EWU Football

[Tom Hansen]

Remember EWU's former head football coach Paul Wulff?

Washington State's new head football coach Paul Wulff?
http://wsucougars.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/wulff_paul00.html
 
Yep, that one.

Well . . .

Courtesy of today's (February 12, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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NCAA slaps Eastern football
Team banned from postseason, on probation
John Blanchette / Staff writer 

The 2009 football season won’t go into overtime at Eastern Washington 
University.

Citing ineffective rules compliance and former head coach Paul 
Wulff’s “inattention to certain aspects of his program,” the National 
Collegiate Athletic Association on Wednesday affirmed a number of 
penalties the Eagles had self-imposed for violations and hit them with a 
bigger one – a one-year ban from postseason play.

Eastern will be ineligible for the Football Championship Subdivision 
playoffs in which it participated three of the past five seasons – and 
expected to contend for again, given the return of 16 starters led by 
quarterback Matt Nichols, a former Big Sky Conference offensive most 
valuable player. The NCAA Committee on Infractions also placed the 
football program on three years probation.

The school’s self-imposed sanctions include the loss of two scholarships 
and a full-time coach each year through the 2010 season, and limits on the 
number of academic non-qualifiers accepted into the program.

The penalties weren’t confined to Eastern’s campus.

Wulff, now the head coach at Washington State University, will not be 
allowed to have contact – on or off the field – with his Cougars football 
team during the first three days of full-squad practices this August.

“Not only the school but the people involved in the violations should be 
reprimanded,” said Paul Dee, chairman of the NCAA’s Committee on 
Infractions, “and have penalties assessed regardless of the institution 
where they are located.”

In a teleconference late Wednesday, Wulff’s recounted the financial and 
resource limitations long endured by Eastern, blaming them for compliance 
problems.

“My part is that I regret that some things did slip through the cracks 
under my watch,” he said. “That is just the reality. I admit it and I 
addressed it. I think Eastern Washington is better for it now because 
they’ve implemented policies and procedures to protect the athletes, 
coaches and other personnel in the athletic department.

“At Eastern Washington, this has gone on for two decades. This isn’t 
anything new.”

In Cheney, acting EWU President John Mason said the school 
was “disappointed with the decision to levy a postseason ban and will be 
assessing our appeal options.”

Both Mason and EWU athletic director Bill Chaves also stressed that the 
school has taken measures to improve its adherence to NCAA rules, in 
particular the hiring of a full-time compliance director. A full-time 
administrative assistant for football is expected to be hired this year.

“Those steps were acknowledged by the committee,” Chaves said. “That 
assistance will help our staff in understanding the rules and monitoring 
and doing everything that needs to be done.”

Eastern’s players were told of the postseason ban at a Wednesday morning 
meeting. Linebacker Kyle Wilkins, who will be one of 18 seniors next year, 
insisted the team’s approach and motivation will not change but admitted 
it “takes a toll on the seniors.”

“It’s going to be in the back of your mind, from the off-season through 
the season and even to when I’m done,” he said. “Knowing that you can’t 
make the playoffs is a devastating blow, but you deal with it the best you 
can.”

The NCAA’s investigation began in 2007 after Eastern submitted a self-
report. The violations under Wulff, EWU’s head coach for eight years until 
2007 when he accepted the same job at his alma mater, were grouped into 
four categories by Dee during a Wednesday teleconference.

•During the academic years 2003 to 2007, 13 ineligible players were 
permitted to participate in practice activities. In addition, two players 
were provided housing and meals during preseason practice when they were 
not allowed to receive such benefits, and in 2007 an athlete was allowed 
to play in a loss to Portland State even after his involvement in a 
violation was discovered.

•The NCAA limit of 11 “countable” coaches was exceeded by two to four 
coaches per year. In some cases, student assistants – who don’t normally 
count against the limit – were not enrolled as full-time students. 

•Wulff, the committee concluded, “failed to promote an atmosphere of 
compliance.” It said that as he learned of violations, he didn’t report 
them, instead deciding to “not think twice about it … move on and move 
forward.”

“Be it head coach, athletic director or any employee of the athletic 
department,” said Dee, “when they become knowledgeable of a problem they 
have to notify the institution. That didn’t occur.”

•Eastern lacked control and monitoring in the conduct and administration 
of the athletics program. The NCAA noted that this was “exacerbated by 
consistent turnover” in leadership – the school had five directors of 
athletics and three presidents during that period.

WSU athletics director Jim Sterk said he was aware of Eastern’s issues 
during the process that resulted in Wulff’s hiring in December 2007.

“We checked with the NCAA and spoke with the faculty rep at Eastern and 
both kind of confirmed there were some secondary violations when Paul was 
the head coach,” Sterk said. “Paul was honest in the interview process and 
there was no deception, and he had great integrity. But there wasn’t a 
system in place (at EWU) to monitor, and the accumulation of violations 
rose to the institutional control level.

“I knew (sanctions against WSU) were a possibility, but in the end I was 
surprised. I felt like he tried to do everything right. It wasn’t a 
recruiting advantage, and that’s why they levied a penalty regarding him 
coaching on campus.”

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Not to worry, though, Cougs fans.

If you hang tough for just a few years, maybe Dennis Erickson will be 
available.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
to work."

- Roy Zimmerman


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