Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993 TAG: 9311100102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Tech will not appeal the penalties, and coach Steve Taylor was smiling after the NCAA's announcement Tuesday afternoon.
"I'm happy," Taylor said. "It's unfortunate things happened when Todd was here, but I'm ready to move on. It's the best that could have come out of this."
Asked if his program would be stigmatized by being on probation, Taylor said: "If you start getting caught up in negative things, your program becomes a negative thing. We stay positive and we move on."
Tech, however, is under scrutiny. If major rules violations are found to have occurred in an athletic program within the next five years, that program could be shut down under the NCAA's repeat-violator rule, known as the "death penalty."
The committee on infractions also ruled that Tech must forfeit its 1990 Metro Conference men's cross country championship and educate its coaches and athletic department employees on NCAA legislation. Tech already does the latter, stemming from its football and basketball probation from 1987-89, but assistant athletic director Steve Horton said the program will be upgraded.
The committee said Tech's self-report, cooperation and self-imposed penalties resulted in the Hokies receiving less than the minimum penalties for major violations, which include postseason ineligibility and cuts in recruiting visits and off-campus recruiting.
Tech fired Scully, declared the athletes involved ineligible and returned the '90 conference championship trophy. The committee adopted those among its penalties.
"We thought the penalties were sufficient," said David Swank, committee chairman, who said the "death penalty" never was considered in this case.
"This case was a serious case," Swank said. "[But] it seemed inappropriate under the circumstances to have imposed the death penalty."
The NCAA found that Scully instructed athletes to compete under assumed names; submitted false participation sheets to Tech and the Metro Conference; used university funds to pay hotel and transportation costs for athletes competing in a club event; offered financial aid to runner David Tonkin before Tonkin had been release from his scholarship at Western Michigan; and lied to Tech during its investigation of the violations.
Scully, fired in May 1991, has denied knowingly breaking any rules. In July, he won an appeal from Tech's faculty senate, which ruled he had been fired without due process after he was the subject of a sexual-harassment complaint. The investigation that turned up the NCAA violations began after Scully had been fired.
Tech announced the violations Oct. 1, 1991, after a six-month-long investigation. The violations occurred mostly from 1988-90.
Dave Braine, Tech's athletic director, praised Horton's report to the NCAA, saying it was a factor in the lenient penalties.
"We feel good about the outcome," Braine said. "[We're] very lucky. We're just glad it's over."
by CNB