NCAA Appeals Committee Reduces Penalty for Alabama State U.

The NCAA’s Division I Infractions Appeals Committee has reduced a penalty imposed on Alabama State University last year for major rules violations in its football program.

In December the Division I Committee on Infractions placed the university on five years’ probation for breaking NCAA rules on recruiting, student aid, eligibility, and academic fraud. Alabama State appealed the ruling, asserting that the five-year probation was “excessive” and constituted an “abuse of discretion.”

Yesterday the appeals committee issued a decision that reduced the penalty from five years to three. The infractions committee failed to consider a two-year probation the university had already imposed on itself, the appeals committee stated.

The reduced probation period will conclude in December 2011. —Libby Sander