Schools

Pepperdine Loses Athletic Scholarships Due to Self-Reported NCAA Violations

After discovering various rule violations, Pepperdine Athletics will be on probation starting this fall.

Pepperdine University will lose athletic scholarships starting next year due to numerous self-reported violations of NCAA rules, according to the university.

"Since discovering our internal compliance issues and self-reporting them to the NCAA, we have fully cooperated throughout the review process," Pepperdine President Andrew K. Benton said. "We are confident we have made the corrections and improvements that will allow us to continue to successfully compete in full compliance with NCAA policies."

The NCAA Committee of Infractions accepted the penalties proposed by Pepperdine which include:

Find out what's happening in Malibuwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Three years of probation beginning with the 2012-13 academic year.
  • Scholarship reductions for baseball, men’s tennis, men’s volleyball, men’s water polo and women’s soccer through the 2014-15 season.
  • The vacating of all wins and team accomplishments during the 2007-08 through 2010-11 academic years for baseball (including an NCAA Championships appearance in 2008), men's tennis (including and NCAA Championships appearances in 2008, 2009 and 2010) and men's volleyball (including a NCAA Championships appearance in 2008), and the vacating of the individual records of the student-athletes who competed while ineligible.
  • Annual reports to the Committee of Infractions detailing the results of Pepperdine's new policies and programs.

The main area of the violations by Pepperdine was tied to the miscalculation of credits for athletes transferring onto campus. Also, Pepperdine gave too much financial aid to student-athletes in five sports, according to a report released by the NCAA.

"The violations were unintentional and the result of the financial aid staff receiving no rules training," the report states.

Find out what's happening in Malibuwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Committee on Infractions found that Pepperdine University did not seek reinstatement for a student-athlete who was ineligible, did not maintain squad lists and did not execute a certificate of compliance.

As part of the penalty, four of the five sports will see a 25 percent reduction in the number of scholarships in the fall.

“There was no intentional misconduct on the part of any coach or staff member and appropriate corrective measures have been taken,” Pepperdine Director of Athletics Steve Potts said in a news release.

Since finding the unintentional violations, Pepperdine has strengthened its NCAA compliance processes.

"At Pepperdine, we are committed to the highest standards of academic and athletic excellence and Christian values. Integrity, accountability and a strong culture of compliance with NCAA rules fall within that commitment,” Potts said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here