Boise State has decided to accept a scholarship penalty against its football program that the NCAA appeals committee considered “excessive” rather than continue an appeals process that already had lasted 13 months.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions said Wednesday that it was reaffirming the nine-scholarship penalty over three years, announced in September 2011. Boise State could have appealed to the Infraction Appeals Committee, the same panel that sent the case back to the COI for reconsideration upon agreeing to the school’s claims of excessive penalties and “abuse of discretion.”
“We will abide by the decision, but we are disappointed in the outcome and the lack of meaningful review,” Boise State President Bob Kustra said in a statement.
The decision finalizes the NCAA case, which covered violations in five sports from 2004 to 2009. The football team was cited for allowing incoming players to stay with members of the team — often on couches — during summer conditioning. The school also was cited for a lack of institutional control.
Boise State self-imposed a three-scholarship penalty in 2011, using 82 scholarships instead of the maximum 85. Coach Chris Petersen took another three-scholarship penalty this season, even though he could have waited for the appeals process to conclude. He didn’t want the penalties to last any longer than necessary. He will need to operate with 82 scholarships in 2013 before returning to a full allotment in 2014.
The football program also lost three preseason practices in 2011 and 2012 and was prohibited from using contact in three spring practices in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The school appealed the scholarship and spring practice penalties. The appeals committee upheld the practice penalties in June while instructing the COI to reconsider the scholarship penalty.
The COI dismissed the appeals committee’s suggestion that the penalties weren’t consistent with prior cases and suggested that the Broncos were fortunate not to get even more severe sanctions.
The report specifically mentions the possibility of a postseason ban.
“It is important to note that the COI considered, but did not impose, other, more serious penalties, each of which would be fully appropriate under the facts of the case,” the report says.
