INDIANAPOLIS, May 8 (UPI) -- The men's basketball program at Michigan has been banned from postseason play for another year.
Under a ruling issued by the NCAA on Thursday, the school also faces a reduction in scholarships.
The ruling comes more than seven years after the NCAA began an investigation into rules violations committed when former booster Ed Martin paid men's basketball players $616,000.
The one-time Detroit autoworker, who died in mid-February, admitted loaning the money to Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor, and Louis Bullock, who played for the Wolverines in the 1990s.
Under the NCAA ruling, the Wolverines will be prohibited from playing in the postseason for the 2003-04 season, lose four scholarships over a four-year period, and get four years of probation that will conclude in November 2006.
It also requires the university to disassociate for 10 years the four players involved, or show cause why such an action should not be taken.
"This is one of the most egregious violations of NCAA laws in the history of the organization," said Thomas Yeager, Chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
Michigan officials conceded guilt regarding Martin on Nov. 7, 2002, when school President Mary Sue Coleman announced self-imposed penalties, including two years of NCAA probation, a $442,000 fine, a one-year ban from postseason play, and the removal of four banners from Crisler Arena, where the Wolverines play home games.
"We have always accepted responsibility for the concerns raised by the NCAA and by the Infractions Committee in its report," said President Mary Sue Coleman at a news conference. "We agree that these were very serious infractions. However, I am disappointed that the committee's action has the effect of punishing our current, uninvolved student-athletes with an additional one-year ban on postseason play. This contradicts one of the core principles of the NCAA."
In determining the appropriate penalties to impose, the NCAA said it considered the institution's self-imposed sanctions and corrective actions. The NCAA agreed with and adopted the actions taken by the university, noting they represented meaningful self-imposed penalties.
The NCAA said the case remains one of the most serious ever to come before the Committee on Infractions. According to the report, the case represents the largest acknowledgement of cash payments in the history of NCAA infractions.
Coleman said the university will appeal the NCAA's ruling that bans the Wolverines from postseason play next season.
