By Shaun Banther
The Eastern New Mexico University Athletic Department has arranged for a compliance analysis through the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Compliance Blueprint program in response to the previously reported violations.
The Blueprint Program is a voluntary, free service. A NCAA representative reviews the athletics compliance programs of the universities who choose to participate.
The Blueprint program was created to work in coordination with a mandatory Institutional Self-Study Guide, according to a NCAA News article by David Pickle. Immediately following the self-study, institutions are able to further evaluate their compliance program.
Athletic Director Jeff Geiser said that ENMU decided to participate in the program before it is required to in order to assist in the infractions issue and “to conduct a thorough self-study.”
“We believe that since our self-investigation, we’ve taken numerous corrective actions in policy and personnel which has resulted in a fully engaged compliance program,” Geiser said. “This will be a way for us to measure where we are at with our compliance system.”
The department has recently finished a 68-page compliance manual.
“It covers every gamut of a fully engaged compliance program,” Geiser said. “We didn’t have this till this year, so it will be key in our compliance review.”
The NCAA will send an evaluator April 24-25 to speak with ENMU staff and representatives, as well as analyze the compliance program at the university, said Geiser.
After the review is complete, the NCAA evaluator will provide feedback to the university on what modifications can be made to enhance the compliance structure.
“Students and faculty need to know the measures we are taking to ensure these violations don’t happen to Eastern New Mexico University again,” Geiser said, “and the compliance review will give us an indicator of just how far we’ve come.”
“We believe that we now are operating how an institution should have been operating before we had these violations,” Geiser said. “I’m optimistic that we’ve made tremendous strides in terms of our compliance program.”
ENMU has offered self-imposed penalties to the NCAA after playing ineligible student-athletes from 2008-2013. Those penalties are vacating all victories from 2008-2012 in eight sports—football, baseball, men’s basketball, softball, women’s soccer, volleyball, and women’s basketball—as well as vacating 2012-2013 victories in football, baseball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and volleyball. ENMU also has proposed to vacate championship team finishes in men’s and women’s cross country from 2008-2012, and men’s and women’s track and field from 2009-2013.
ENMU’s compliance issues fell into four categories. First, each student must sign a certificate of amateurism stating that the athlete is not being paid or receiving any other sort of benefits. Second, student-athletes must have a degree plan by the end of their fourth semester, and courses the student-athlete takes from that point on should adhere to that degree plan. Third, 75 percent of the student’s credit hours must be earned during the Fall and Spring semesters. Twenty-four credit hours must be completed in a year for eligibility, and 18 of those hours must be completed during Fall and Spring semesters. Fourth, the Greyhounds and Zias played athletes who were academically ineligible because they did not pass enough credit hours.