Missouri AD mad at NCAA after Mississippi State ruling: Our penalties ‘were excessive and inconsistent’
Mississippi State was placed on three years NCAA probation on Friday following an investigation that revealed a tutor committed academic misconduct for 10 football players and one men’s basketball player in exchange for cash, among other sanctions.
That news, naturally, didn’t sit well with the Missouri athletic department.
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Missouri was hit with a one-year postseason ban in January for very similar academic misconduct violations after a tutor completed coursework for multiple Tigers athletes. The university has since appealed the ruling, and is awaiting a decision that’s expected to come next month.
Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk again claimed that the postseason ban handed down against his university was “excessive and inconsistent” following the Mississippi State ruling on Friday.
“In response to many questions we have received in regard to today’s NCAA infractions case decision involving another Division I institution, it is important to note that the University of Missouri did not have the opportunity to utilize the NCAA’s new negotiated resolution process because our case was already in process when the organization’s membership adopted it,” Sterk said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“We believe that the penalties imposed in the recently decided and factually similar case (at Mississippi State) further illustrate that the penalties imposed on Mizzou were excessive and inconsistent with previous case precedent. We have never wavered from our stance or the merits of our appeal and remain hopeful it will be successful.”
There are a few differences in the two cases, however. Mississippi State’s case was handled through the “new negotiated resolution process” instead of a formal hearing. The NCAA also said that the “negotiated resolutions may not be appealed” and “do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.” The “new negotiated resolution process” went into effect in January, only weeks before the NCAA announced Mizzou’s sanctions.
Missouri will have to wait at least until next month to find out if its appeal was successful. One thing is clear, however: The Tigers still aren’t happy with the NCAA — and its latest ruling against Mississippi State certainly didn’t help.
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