Stephen F. Austin State University

Dear Faculty and Staff:

This has certainly been a challenging time for all of us, and our thoughts continue to be with you and your families. Together, as a world, as a nation and as a university community we are confident that we will get through this and thrive once again.

However today, I write to you on a different matter, difficult news regarding our athletics program. I write this under the premise of our Athletics Department’s core values: Accountability, Excellence, Integrity, Innovative and Teamwork, as that is what you deserve. I want to be very transparent with you as in a matter of minutes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), will announce publicly a Negotiated Resolution agreement with Stephen F. Austin regarding several NCAA rules infractions concerning student eligibility that occurred from 2013 to early fall 2019.

Let me begin by sharing with you the origins of the matter:

In short, the primary issue was that during the spring of 2019, a newly hired member of our athletic department discovered that the process by which our student-athletes were being certified as academically eligible was not properly accounting for all NCAA requirements. Former department personnel responsible for the certification process were incorrectly counting all semester credit hours to determine academic eligibility instead of counting only degree-applicable credits, as prescribed by NCAA rules. This error and other similar errors resulted in student-athletes being improperly certified for competition over a period of six years, from 2013 to 2019. The improper certifications meant that student-athletes competed while ineligible. This ineligibility occurred in the sports of football, men’s basketball, baseball, softball, women’s golf, men’s and women’s track & field and men’s cross country.

After identifying these errors, the university immediately reviewed the academic standing of all current student-athletes in the fall of 2019 and, when warranted, filed for and secured student-athlete reinstatement eligibility by the NCAA, clearing them for competition. We proactively contacted the NCAA about these issues and an investigation ensued. While the NCAA complimented our athletics staff on their transparency and self-identification of these violations, sanctions will occur.

The sanctions agreed upon by the NCAA and Stephen F. Austin include the following:

• Three years of probation;

• Public reprimand and censure;

• A fine of $5,000 plus one-half of one percent of the total budgets for football and men’s basketball;

• The return of the university’s financial share from the 2016 NCAA Tournament;

• The forfeiture of all records and contests in which an ineligible SFA student-athlete competed, which includes 26 football victories from 2013-2018; 117 men’s basketball victories from 2014 to 2019; 112 baseball victories from 2015 to 2019; 31 softball victories from the 2018 season; and adjusted conference championship scores from women’s golf, women’s track and field, men’s cross country and men’s track and field.

• Included in the vacation of wins are conference championships in men’s basketball in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18, as well as the program’s First Round win in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The banners recognizing those achievements will be removed from William R. Johnson Coliseum.

• A 2.5% reduction in financial aid awards (scholarships) in football for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022; a 5% reduction in baseball in 2021-2022 and the loss of one scholarship in men’s basketball in 2020-2021;

• Since adjusted Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores fell below the 930 threshold, three sports will be ineligible for postseason play: football (2020), men’s basketball (2021-22) and baseball (2021).

The athletic department personnel responsible for these violations are no longer a part of SFA Athletics. I also want to make it clear that these violations occurred before our current leadership in athletics arrived and I know the athletics administration has been fully transparent with the NCAA and has been working hard to identify any and all violations. I have full confidence in our Athletic Director and new compliance personnel and have worked very closely with them to put measures in place that will significantly reduce the risk of this type of violation from occurring again. These measures include the hiring of an assistant to work with our compliance officer for eligibility checks and identifying a lead NCAA eligibility staff member in the Office of the Registrar who will be housed outside of the athletics program. Additionally, I have revamped our Athletic Council to have broader campus representation, increased faculty membership, and greater external oversight.

Make no mistake, this is a “black eye” on the university. With my extensive background in NCAA athletics and compliance, I will be making sure that athletics oversight remains a top priority so we can all be proud of the way we do things at SFA - the right way!

We will overcome this setback. So, let’s come together, support our student athletes and show the world how strong we are as Lumberjack Nation.

Axe ‘em,

Scott A. Gordon
President