The University of Akron Athletics
NCAA Infractions Information
NCAA Infractions Information
On August 19, 2021, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions (COI) announced that the University of Akron’s athletics department had engaged in a Level I violation when a former associate athletics director provided impermissible benefits to a total of nine football student-athletes between January 2015 and January 2020.
Specifically, the former associate athletics director provided cash loans from his personal bank account after the football student-athletes’ scholarship distributions were delayed. The nine loans totaled $5,900, and the former employee required the student-athletes to sign repayment plans for each loan, which were drafted on university letterhead.
The loans received by these student-athletes violate the NCAA’s extra benefits legislation, leading to the student-athletes being ineligible for competition. This resulted in four student-athletes competing in 21 games during the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2019-20 seasons; the wins in these games have been vacated.
Further, the COI determined that the former associate athletic director violated the NCAA’s ethical conduct regulations due to the fact that he was the department’s senior-ranking compliance official and “should have known” that the loans were an impermissible benefit.
The Level I sanctions leveed upon the University of Akron include the following:
- Two years of probation.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A two-year show-cause order for the former associate athletics director. During that period, he must attend NCAA Regional Rules Seminars, and any NCAA member school employing him must restrict his involvement with NCAA financial aid legislation by requiring direct oversight from the athletic department's senior leadership on financial aid-related responsibilities.
- A vacation of all records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public release of the decision.
- A comprehensive compliance review of Akron's athletics department by an outside agency with athletics compliance expertise.
The University of Akron is committed to fulfilling these sanctions and doubling-down on our commitment to NCAA compliance. Being on probation requires that UA provide annual updates to the Office of the Committee on Infractions, and those reports will be updated on this page after submission to ensure transparency throughout our probationary period.
For more information regarding the Level I violation: NCAA Press Release of the Decision | Committee on Infractions Full Decision | Preliminary Report (October 2021) | Year One Report (August 2022)
