9/4/2019 | General

PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico University received confirmation from the NCAA that the school has officially completed it’s probationary period and is currently in compliance with all NCAA regulations.

The school received official documentation confirming that the probationary period prescribed on September 1, 2015 has ended and the institution has been restored to full rights and privileges of NCAA membership. Eastern New Mexico enforced a detailed Corrective Action Plan upon hearing of the four year probationary period that allowed the university and it’s athletic department to work towards achieving compliance with the NCAA.

Those steps the university and athletic department were tasked with included maintaining the full-time position of a compliance officer, hiring an athletic academic advisor and submitting yearly compliance reports to the NCAA. In addition, the school was required to create and implement compliance processes that verified full-time credits, academic and athletic eligibility and clearance for athletic competition.

“I was delighted to receive official confirmation from the NCAA that we had satisfied all the requirements of our probation and have had all of our rights and privileges restored,” Elwell said. “It is a testament to the integrity and hard work of administrators and coaches in our athletic department as well as our Faculty Athletic Representative and Registrar’s office that we have successfully emerged from probation.”

Eastern was placed on probation in 2015 after the NCAA worked with the school to investigate several alleged violations regarding player ineligibility. In August of 2012, Eastern officials first became aware that the institution permitted a number of student-athletes in the majority of sports programs sponsored by the university to practice, compete, receive travel expenses and/or financial aid at times when they were ineligible to do so between the years of 2008-2013.

“We are extremely pleased to hear about the NCAA’s recent decision,” Interim Athletic Director Dr. Jeff Long said. “It has been a total team effort as we have moved through this process and are looking forward to many years of future success in Greyhound Athletics.”

Despite the allegations, the athletic department has continued to compete at a high level and has continued to increase administrative support to coaches and athletes throughout the department.

“As a coach that has been here at Eastern New Mexico throughout this process, I have a lot of people that I would like to give thanks to for helping resolve the situation,” said head women’s basketball coach Josh Prock. “Dr. Gamble and Dr. Geiser were instrumental in giving us the pieces we needed in order to adhere to the guidelines set forth by the NCAA and that process has come to a successful end under Dr. Elwell, which we as a coaching staff are blessed by. It has been a total team effort of individuals that previously worked in our compliance department in Kristen Soukop, Rachael Johnson and Bryan Principe and individuals that still currently work for our department in Lora Ferguson and Matt Grawrock. I want to give special thanks to our most recent athletic director Dr. Greg Waggoner, as his leadership and guidance to us coaches during this period was invaluable.”