Bringing a close to more than a year of investigation, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions announced in a press conference Tuesday additional sanctions to be placed on the UW-Madison Athletics Department for its violations resulting from The Shoe Box scandal and improper housing procedures for prospective football players.
The decision places UW-Madison on NCAA probation for five years and decreases the number of grants-in-aid the football and men's basketball programs can offer.
In April, UW officials self-imposed punishments after performing an internal investigation into the situation.
Those sanctions included a $150,000 fine paid to the NCAA, a decrease in the number of scholarships available to men's basketball and football, letters of admonishment to 14 athletics coaches, and a freeze on the athletic director's salary. David McDonald was also named special assistant to the chancellor for athletics in July 2001 in an attempt to prevent further violations.
'The fact that any institution is saddled with a probation and is called out in front of its peers ... is significant,' said Thomas Yeager, chair of the NCAA Committee. 'The fact that for five years, anytime there's a 'Who's in Jail' list, the university's going to be on that list.'
Although Chancellor John Wiley said he did not agree with the additional penalties, he said UW-Madison officials had decided not to appeal.
'Obviously I thought we had taken all of the appropriate corrective actions ... but they disagreed,' Wiley said. 'Basically they adopted the same sanctions that we had self-imposed, just upped the numbers a bit.'
Also present at the press conference were UW football Head Coach Barry Alvarez, UW Athletics Director Pat Richter and UW men's basketball Head Coach Bo Ryan.
Alvarez said it was too early to tell what effect the ruling will have.
'If you have restrictions your opponent doesn't, you are at a disadvantage,' Alvarez said.
Yeager said part of the reason for additional penalties was the fact this was UW-Madison's third major NCAA violation in eight years.
'Return appearances before the committee of infractions are [an] unwelcome sight,' he said.
Yeager said the decrease in athletic scholarships was traditionally the most 'effective' penalty the committee issued.
'If you talk to the coaches, you'd probably think you'd cut off a limb,' he said, referring to the decrease in grants-in-aid. 'I guess only time will tell.'
When asked about the punishment, Yeager said UW-Madison was given the 'benefit of the doubt,' but due to the severity of the situation, the self-imposed sanctions were not sufficient.
'There's good deals, and there's really good deals,' he said, in reference to merchandise deals student-athletes received from The Shoe Box. 'These were hundred of kids involving thousands of dollars, and that's significant.'
All present said they were ready to put the issue behind them.
'We had an issue. We had to deal with it. We dealt with it. We'll move on,' Alvarez said.
Bo Ryan said he was not discouraged.
'Maybe we'll just prove them wrong,' Ryan said. 'Maybe we'll change history. ... Our stick will be a little smaller, and [we will] just have to swing a little harder.'
