N.C.A.A. Punishes Missouri Teams for Academic Misconduct

The N.C.A.A. handed one-year postseason bans and other penalties to Missouri’s football, baseball and softball programs on Thursday after a two-year investigation revealed academic misconduct involving a tutor.

The penalties mean that the Tigers’ highly regarded football team will not be eligible for the Southeastern Conference title game or a bowl game next fall. The Tigers’ baseball and softball programs likewise will not be allowed to participate in the SEC or N.C.A.A. tournament.

The N.C.A.A.’s Division I Committee on Infractions found that the former tutor, Yolanda Kumar, admitted in late 2016 that she had “violated N.C.A.A. ethical conduct, academic misconduct and academic extra benefits rules when she completed academic work for 12 student-athletes.”

Kumar told the panel that she felt pressured to ensure the athletes passed certain courses, primarily in mathematics. But according to the committee’s report, “the investigation did not support that her colleagues directed her to complete the student-athletes’ work.”

N.C.A.A. investigators said Kumar completed course work offered by Missouri, courses offered by other colleges and a math placement exam required of all students. In one instance, she is accused of completing an entire course for a football player. The player’s name was not revealed.

Missouri was expected to address the penalties later Thursday.

The university began investigating after Kumar announced on social media that she had committed academic fraud. Earlier this year, Jim Sterk, Missouri’s athletic director, sent a letter to Kumar, which she also posted on social media, in which he confirmed that she had provided impermissible benefits and that she could no longer be associated with the athletic department.

The N.C.A.A. acknowledged the proactive steps that Missouri took in investigating the academic fraud, but the penalties handed down to the football, baseball and softball programs were severe.

Along with three years of probation and the postseason bans, the programs also must vacate any records from when the 12 athletes involved in the misconduct participated; they will have 5 percent reductions in scholarships for the coming academic year; and they received recruiting restrictions that included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, off-campus contacts and any communications with prospects, and 12.5 percent reductions in official visits and in-person evaluations.

The N.C.A.A. also fined the university $5,000 plus 1 percent of each program’s budgets.

Kumar has already been barred by the university from working for the athletic department. She also received a 10-year show-cause order from the N.C.A.A. that bars her from working with athletes.

While the case is expected to draw comparisons to recent academic misconduct at North Carolina, the N.C.A.A. said it differed in that “U.N.C. stood by the courses and grades it awarded student-athletes.”

“In support of that position,” the N.C.A.A.’s report said, “U.N.C. asserted that although courses were created and graded by an office secretary, student-athletes completed their own work. Here, by contrast, Missouri acknowledged that the tutor completed student-athletes’ work and, in most instances, this conduct violated its honor code.”

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