Golf tourney may be key to NCAA investigation

The Eagle has learned proceeds from a fundraising golf tournament designated specifically for the CSC football program and stored in an off-campus account appear to be the center of the NCAA investigation of the program.

The tournament, titled “Last Chance for Glory,” raised about $30,000 over the past four years, including $16,000 in 2011, for the football program, according to a July press release appearing on CSC’s athletic department web site.

Former CSC football players Mike Brownfield and Cody Beguin, both of Omaha, Trevor Moon of Buffalo, Wyo., Pat Nickodemus of Lakewood, Colo., and Joe Planansky of Ft. Collins, Colo., “began the Last Chance for Glory tournament in 2008 to help raise funds for the CSC football program,” the release states.

In a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon Brownfield confirmed that the account existed, but said he was not sure how much he could say about it, given the current NCAA investigation.

“I was the treasurer on that account,” he said. He also declined to elaborate about which officials from CSC knew about the account or when they discovered its existence. “I think it would be prudent not to comment on that,” he said.

In its Oct. 13 press release NSCS and CSC officials said the investigation centered around, “football fundraising activities and various financial transactions not part of the College Foundation.”

When asked Wednesday afternoon whether an off-campus football fundraising account was the center of the investigation, Nebraska State College System Chancellor Stan Carpenter said, “How did you find out about that?”

Carpenter then added, “We said before we weren’t going to comment on the investigation until we get our report back, so I’m not at liberty at this point to chat with you about that.”

NCAA regulations state that “A member institution’s area alumni organization may be considered a bona fide part of the institution, provided such an organization is accredited by the president or chancellor of the institution.”

Carpenter confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the Last Chance tournament operates independently from the college.

“That [the “Last Chance for Glory” golf tournament] was run, as I understand it, by an alumni of the institution on his own. He was not affiliated with the college,” Carpenter said.

He added that he expects the NCAA to be on campus in the next several weeks, but could not state exactly when.

“We’re at a point of having the NCAA come out here in several weeks – not exactly certain when – to conduct their investigation,” Carpenter said, “so until that’s done, we don’t have much more we can talk about.”

The NCAA regulations dealing with alumni organizations and fundraising are found in the NCAA Division II Manual, section 13.14.5.