NCAA hits Long Island U athletics with 3 year probation following eligibility violations

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Long Island University allowed more than 1,000 student-athletes to compete or practice while ineligible to do so, a newly released report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) found.

The investigation determined that the school improperly certified hundreds of student-athletes in over 30 sports between the 2020-21 and 2023-24 academic years.

In total, initial eligibility certifications for 240 student-athletes were not completed before they practiced and of those, 176 impermissibly received benefits.

An additional 658 student-athletes competed and 111 practiced without having the required forms.

The report found the violations occurred mainly following the 2020-21 merger between Long Island University-Brooklyn and Long Island University-Post, which left one compliance staff member responsible for managing eligibility for 35 sports.

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The report came the same week the softball team won its second consecutive NEC regular-season title, two months after the men's basketball team made it to the big dance and six months after the football team made history by defeating Eastern Michigan for the program's first-ever FBS win.

According to the report, Long Island University self-reported the issues back in the summer of 2024.

The school and NCAA agreed to several penalties including three years of probation, vacation of team and individual records in sports in which ineligible players competed during the four years, including baseball, football, men's basketball, men’s golf, men’s soccer, softball, men’s indoor and outfield track and field, women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, and women’s volleyball, a $30,000 fine plus 3% of the budgets for the four highest-budgeted sports programs involved in the violations and a two-week ban on all recruiting for each sport during the first year of probation.

The probationary period does not include a ban on the postseason or television appearances, according to the NCAA report.

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