NCAA: Football must forfeit two seasons

CSC’s football team must forfeit its wins for two straight seasons, but will retain all its scholarships and remain eligible for post-season play after the NCAA issued Wednesday its “public infractions report” on the school’s football fundraising violations discovered in 2011.

A press release issued by the college Wednesday afternoon, states the NCAA ruled that the football team “will vacate its wins during the 2011 and 2012 seasons and is placed under probation until Nov. 5, 2016.”

In 2012, current Head Coach Jay Long replaced former Head Coach Bill O’Boyle after O’Boyle was fired in December 2011 for his role in the football fund raising violations.

In his first year, Long led the Eagles to 9-3 overall, 8-1 in the RMAC and the NCAA Division II playoffs. Wednesday’s ruling vacates Long’s inaugural winning season to no fault of his own. In 2011, the team posted a 6-5 record overall, 6-3 in the RMAC.  Those six victories also are vacated.

“I’m glad it’s done,” Long said. “We still aren’t sure what all of this means for our seasons, and we are still looking to see what the effects will be.”

He said when he took the job here, his main goal was to continue the Eagle’s winning tradition and that’s what he will continue to focus on for the rest of this season.

Despite the forfeits, the football program will keep all of its scholarships and still be eligible for post-season play.

The ruling comes two years after the college reported the violations to the NCAA in October 2011. The violations centered around $16,000 raised in 2011 through a golf tournament organized by supporters of the CSC football program. When NSCS and college officials reported the then-possible violations to the NCAA, the NSCS issued a statement saying it and the college would fully cooperate with the NCAA.

The NSCS hired an independent auditing company, BDK of Lincoln. In its investigation, the auditing firm discovered four off-campus accounts kept by O’Boyle.

CSC’s President Randy Rhine said he is pleased that Chadron State received the decision.

“We know what we need to do and we will do it so we can move forward,” Rhine said. “We will do all we can to make sure we maintain a strong athletic department. I’m pleased that we didn’t lose any funding for our scholarships and that there are no restrictions on post-season play.”

NSCS Chancellor Stan Carpenter was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but said in a press release that he was looking ahead.

“While it is vital we learn from the NCAA investigation as we look toward the future of CSC, our primary focus has been and will continue to be providing quality academic and extra-curricular programs to benefit our students,” Carpenter stated in the release issued Wednesday.  “President Rhine’s insight and leadership continue to make Chadron a strong institution.”

NSCS General Counsel and Vice Chancellor for Employee Relations, Kristin Petersen, said Wednesday afternoon that Carpenter and the NSCS office had nothing more to add than what was stated in its press release.