Drury penalized by NCAA — includes probation, loss of swimming national runner-up finish
Drury University athletics has been placed on probation, fined by the NCAA and will forfeit a national runner-up finish in men's swimming because of infractions stemming from the institution's "failure to monitor eligibility certification."
The NCAA announced Thursday it has placed Drury on three years of probation starting with the 2023-24 academic year. Drury was also fined $5,000 and it will vacate wins and records that occurred when student-athletes competed while ineligible.
Drury said it will have to forfeit the Drury men's swimming and diving team's 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and its 2021 NCAA Division II national runner-up finish. Drury will remain eligible for NCAA championships and can still host regional or national championship events.
"We discovered this issue soon after I was hired at Drury, and we immediately worked to comply with the NCAA and the GLVC to address the issues at hand," Nyla Milleson, Vice President and Director of Athletics, who began her tenure at Drury on Feb. 21, 2022, said in a release. "I understand the NCAA decision and we will continue to work through their guidelines to ensure this never happens again."
Drury's athletics director during the three-year period was Corey Bray, who departed the program to become the Director of Athletics at Oklahoma City University where he remains.
Drury announced Bray hired Anna Goodell as its assistant athletics director for compliance in 2019. She has since departed the university and was replaced by Karen Henson in May 2022.
"The school and enforcement staff agreed that the violations, in this case, occurred when the former director of compliance at the school — who felt overwhelmed by her responsibilities, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic — did not complete required eligibility checklists or check for initial eligibility and amateurism certification, as required by NCAA rules," the NCAA said in a release.
The NCAA said Drury incorrectly certified 50 student-athletes across 14 sports, adding up to 84 violations of NCAA rules. Those students competed while ineligible in 284 contests and received actual, and necessary, expenses while ineligible or not properly certified.
Women's basketball, the best-regarded sport at the university, was not listed in Drury's negotiated resolution with the NCAA. A document revealed that ineligible participation took place in baseball, men's basketball, men's soccer, women's volleyball and others.
Drury said it will continue to implement and conduct a comprehensive educational program on NCAA legislation and undergo an initial amateur and academic eligibility certification review during the length of its probationary period.
"We take full responsibility for all errors that led to these penalties, and I deeply apologize to our students whose athletic legacies have been impacted by this situation," Drury President John Beuerlein said in a release. "The Drury Athletics Department leadership addressed this issue the moment it was uncovered, and I applaud their swift action. While this was a product of omission rather than commission, as an institution, we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards of excellence and integrity."
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Drury athletics sanctioned by NCAA for failure to monitor eligibility
