Institution: Mississippi Valley State University

Date: March 13, 2020

Violation Summary: Pursuant to Bylaw 19.5.12.4, this negotiated resolution has no precedential value. A former Mississippi Valley women’s soccer head coach arranged and provided impermissible travel fees and expenses to a student-athlete before she enrolled at the university. The university, the former head coach and NCAA enforcement staff agreed that the former head coach impermissibly facilitated payment for a prerequisite for obtaining a student visa to study in the United States when the student-athlete had trouble paying for it online herself. The former head coach also impermissibly paid for the student-athlete’s flight from her home country to Memphis, Tennessee, after she had difficulty booking the flight herself. The agreement notes the student-athlete paid the former head coach back soon after arriving in the United States.

Penalty Summary: Three years of probation; a $5,000 fine plus 1% of the women’s soccer budget for the 2019-20 academic year; a seven-week ban (not consecutive) of unofficial visits and no complimentary tickets; a10-week ban (not consecutive) of off-campus recruiting; a one-year show-cause order for the former head coach. During that period, he must attend an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar in 2020 and was prohibited from all off-campus recruiting activities from Jan. 6 through Feb. 2, 2020. Additionally, he must be suspended from the first four games of the 2020-21 academic year or 20% of the maximum number of allowable contests; a two-game reduction during the women’s soccer regular season for the 2020-21 academic year; and a vacation of records in which the women’s soccer student-athletes participated 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.

Involved Sports:
Women's Soccer

Case Level: II

Involved Penalties:

---