Hattiesburg, MS (Sports Network) - The NCAA has put Southern Mississippi on four years of probation for failing to monitor the men's tennis program.
Two former Southern Mississippi men's tennis coaches were cited for unethical conduct for promising impermissible benefits to student-athletes. The NCAA also ruled that one of the coaches asked a player to lie during the investigation.
As a result, the NCAA gave the men's tennis program a one-year postseason ban.
The other penalties in this case include:
- Seven-year show-cause order for the former head coach and a six-year show- cause order for the former assistant coach. The public report contains further details.
- Prohibition of foreign tour participation for the tennis program until 2016.
- Vacation of all wins in which the former student-athletes competed while ineligible during the 2008-09 through 2009-10 men's tennis seasons (imposed by the university).
The program's probation period runs from Jan. 30, 2013 to Jan. 29, 2017.
