Dear Manhattan College Community:
At the end of the last academic year, Department of Athletics administrators brought to our attention information regarding the possible ineligibility of one student-athlete. Upon our initial administrative review, it was determined that multiple student athletes' eligibility were mistakenly certified and that the College's administrative process of certifying student-athlete eligibility was unsound. Manhattan College retained Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, outside experts in NCAA infractions cases, to independently audit our compliance program and to identify the weaknesses. The NCAA enforcement staff was also notified of the matter and joined the outside auditor in its effort to determine the facts. During the past eleven months, this joint effort has identified and corrected the problem, and provided appropriate ways to further strengthen the College's athletic academic certification program. By NCAA rule, however, the entire investigation was confidential and, consequently, only College personnel with a need to know of it were aware of the confidential investigation.
As a result of this effort, and after developing a complete understanding of the issues, the College followed an NCAA process of Negotiated Resolution, through which we agreed with the NCAA enforcement staff on the facts, the violations and the sanctions, which were then approved by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. Based on that approval, I am now able to discuss the investigation with the entire Manhattan College community.
Ultimately, the independent investigation concluded that Manhattan College did not maintain an academic certification system that incorporated the appropriate checks and balances from both athletics and academic affairs personnel. More specifically, from 2018-2019 through 2021-2022, the institution improperly certified 26 student-athletes across six sports (baseball, men's basketball, golf, men's soccer, softball, and track and field) as eligible, resulting in 32 violations of amateurism, progress-toward-degree and transfer bylaws. Twenty-three of the student-athletes competed while ineligible. No former or current student-athletes or current or former coaches, had any knowledge of the improper certifications. Nevertheless, regardless of intent, NCAA bylaws were violated when ineligible student-athletes participated in competition.
For these violations, the College has been placed on two years of probation; fined $5,000; faces a public reprimand; and must vacate any team victories and individual records for the numerous competitions during which ineligible student-athletes from those sports competed. Please note that no ineligible students have competed on behalf of Manhattan College during the 2022-2023 academic year.Â
Additionally, during the eleven-month investigation of the eligibility certification process, two infractions in the softball program were discovered that resulted in penalties against the head softball coach, a former assistant coach and recruiting penalties against the program. Those violations were identified as NCAA Level I and Level II and were also handled through the same Negotiated Resolution process.
I would like to apologize to our student-athletes, coaches, staff, opposing teams, alumni, athletic fans and the entire Manhattan College community for this unacceptable institutional failure. While today is a difficult day for Manhattan College, it bears repeating that, per our NCAA membership responsibility, we self-reported our potential violations to the NCAA enforcement staff, we worked cooperatively with them throughout the process, we acknowledged our responsibility where we fell short and we accepted the consequences for our actions. In addition, we implemented several internal changes to our eligibility certification processes, made personnel changes, and dedicated additional resources to our overall compliance efforts to help ensure there are no further lapses in our systems. As a result, we are a stronger institution today and already provide a better environment of NCAA compliance.
Sincerely, Brother Daniel Gardner, FSC PresidentÂ
