UMass stripped of wins for financial aid issue
The NCAA is stripping Massachusetts of victories in men’s basketball and women’s tennis for overpaying 12 athletes about $9,100 in financial aid over three years, prompting criticism of the penalty from the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference, which is based in Newport News.
The NCAA announced Friday the Committee on Infractions had imposed a two-year probation on UMass that will end in October 2022, in addition to vacating results involving athletes who received what were determined to be a total of 13 inappropriate payments.
The school will also pay a self-imposed fine of $5,000. UMass plans to appeal the committee’s decision to vacate results from 2014-17 that include 59 basketball wins and a conference championship in women’s tennis.
A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade and UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford both took issue with the vacation penalty for what the COI conceded was a “misunderstanding,” according to the NCAA’s news release.
Kansas football coach Les Miles has been cleared to return to the Jayhawks after his positive test for COVID-19, but out of caution, he’s skipping the Jayhawks’ trip to West Virginia for Saturday’s game. The 66-yearold Miles announced last week that routine testing had returned a positive test.
The Southeastern Conference postponed next week’s game between Missouri and No. 10 Florida on Friday, the third league contest moved this week. The Gators had at least 21 players and coaches test positive for the coronavirus and dozens more quarantined because of contract tracing.
Defensive end Samdup Miller, safety Travis Whillock, quarterback Aidan Smith and tight end Jason Whittaker have opted out of Northwestern’s pandemic-shortened season, the school announced Friday.
Layne Hatcher threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns, starter Logan Bonner added 197 yards passing and three scores, and host Arkansas State (3-2, 1-1 Sun Belt) won 59-52 over Georgia State (1-2, 0-2) Thursday night in a game featuring 15 combined touchdowns.
Kansas forward Silvio de Sousa is opting out of the college basketball season, potentially ending what has been one of the most controversial tenures of any player to have joined coach Bill Self’s blueblood program.
UCLA will still be outfitted by Under Armour this season, even though the university is suing the apparel company for breach of contract.