CHICAGO -- The NCAA has censured the Big Ten and fined the league $75,000 for a rule that allowed seven universities to hand out the equivalent of 65 scholarships more than they were allowed during a four-year period, NCAA and Big Ten officials announced Monday.
It is the first time since 1974, when the Ohio Valley Conference was reprimanded for violating eligibility rules, that a conference has been censured or reprimanded for a major rules violation. It also is the first time ever the NCAA has fined a conference for a major rule violation, said David Swank, dean of the law school at the University of Oklahoma and chairman of the NCCA Committee on Infractions.
In a conference call from Norman, Okla., Swank said the rule in question dealt with computing equivalency scholarships and factoring in higher out-of-state tuition.
The Big Ten adopted the rule in 1978, rejected repealing it in 1984 and finally repealed it in 1990. Swank said the NCAA raised concerns about the rule shortly after it was adopted but the Big 10 for some reason never passed that concern on to member schools. Swank and Big Ten Commissioner Richard Delaney declined to lay blame on any individual.
The net effect was that seven Big Ten members -- Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana and Purdue -- handed out the equivalent of 65 scholarships more than they should have in a four-year period.
Each now must reduce their scholarships during the next four years -- Wisconsin by 4.9 each year; Illinois, 3.3; Michigan, 2.5, and Purdue, 2. 2. The remaining three schools had lesser amounts and no violations were committed by Northwestern, Michigan State or Ohio State, officials said.
Despite giving out too many scholarships, Swank said he doubted 'there was any serious competitive advantage to any school during the period of time when you consider the total number of scholarships granted by each of the Big Ten schools.'
Delaney, who said the scholarships in question account for less than 2 percent of all grants in aid, said the Big Ten will have to send back $75,000 of the $128,000 it had gotten from the NCAA for the 1993-94 year 'and then have to go back to our schools and ask for some help or eliminate some services.'
Delaney said he would recommend the overages be totaled for the seven schools involved 'and try to come up with some percentage and then ask the schools involved to make up the difference.'
When asked if that was fair since the schools were following the Big Ten rule and had not been told of the NCAA's concerns, Delaney said: 'They might say, 'No. Cut the services.' We are an association of 11 schools. We are them and they are us.'