Southern University's Ban Continues

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Southern University couldn't get it done in time...

The improvements in their academic data that the NCAA wanted to have in place were not done in time for the winter sports to keep from being banned in the postseason upcoming...

Southern's men's basketball team have clinched at least a tie for the SWAC regular-season title and the women are in second place, a half-game behind Texas Southern with a few games remaining in the regular season. The men's team found at the decision at practice yesterday.

The NCAA requires information in and around the Athlete Performance Program and APR. The information initially given to the NCAA was incomplete and a full review and revision was requested. As a result, the athletic program was given a post-season ban that would be revisited for the winter sports.

But it didn't work out...

Reaction on campus is, obviously, rough...
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The NCAA and the university issued a joint statement that said, in part:

“The NCAA has informed us of the enormity of the challenge before us, but we continue to work exhaustively in our efforts to comply with their requests, and share in their goals to provide the best institutional support for student athletes,” said William Broussard, athletics director at Southern. “As stated in the initial press conference to announce the post-season ineligibilities due to the ongoing data review, the NCAA has partnered extensively with our coordinated, campus-wide effort to report data from previous years accurately, perform and recommend corrections, and re-design policies and procedures for reporting accurate data in the future.”

NCAA staff members began working closely with Southern in March 2013 in an effort to help the school resolve its data issues. Staff also expedited internal deadlines and continues to work on a compressed timeline in all matters related to the school’s athletic teams.

“Our staff is committed to working with Southern on its data issues,” said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs. “We hope the result of this collaboration is a fully-functioning, robust system of tracking retention and eligibility on Southern’s campus, to help student-athletes achieve academically and get the support they need to succeed.”