Women’s b-ball target of 3rd athletics audit at USU Eastern in 2 years
March 3rd, 2013 Posted in OpinionBy Seth Richards
News Editor
USU Eastern Eagle
PRICE—For the third time in two years, the National Junior College Athletic Association is auditing USU Eastern athletics for academic eligibility.
The women’s basketball team is being audited by the NJCAA, says Eastern athletic director Dave Paur, following audits last year for Eastern’s volleyball and men’s basketball teams.
Every year the NJCAA randomly picks 10 percent of the association’s 500 teams to audit, as well as any team that is cast into the spotlight by competitors who suspect that a team has something to hide.
These audits require coaches, within 72 hours of initial notification, to provide the team roster, schedule, proof of high school graduation for all players, proof of full academic schedules and a plethora of documents proving the eligibility of international students to play.
Last year, the random pick chose the USU Eastern’s volleyball team, which had to forfeit two games because of the eligibility forms being filed late; coach Dave Paur suspects that another Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) blew the whistle on the men’s basketball team for having a player who had played two minutes professionally for a club in Russia.
This caused the men’s program to have their scores vacated up to that point for the entire season and post-season play last year.
Paur says the world of college and junior college athletics is just as ruthless as in professional leagues.
“College athletics is like crabs trying to get out of a jar,” he said. “They just pull each other down trying to get to the top. They’ll use anything they can to get the advantage. It’s the same with college teams.”
Regardless of whether the current audit is the result of a random pick or someone blowing the whistle on the USU Eastern women’s basketball team, Paur expects that the baseball team will be audited next year.
SP/TP
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