NCAA punishes former Ole Miss coach Saunders, ULL

OXFORD - Former Ole Miss assistant coach David Saunders and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette were hit with multiple penalties following an investigation into Saunders’ time at the school, the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions panel announced Tuesday.

The committee found that Saunders helped five recruits receive fraudulent ACT scores at Wayne County High, lied to the NCAA about his involvement and failed to cooperate with an investigation. He also gave a total of $6,500 to a player over two semesters while at Louisiana-Lafayette, the committee said.

Saunders received an eight-year show-cause, which requires an NCAA institution that intends to hire him before Jan. 11, 2024 to argue before a panel why he should be hired without restriction. He joined Louisiana-Lafayette’s coaching staff in January 2011 after his third stint at Ole Miss.

Ole Miss became linked to the investigation when NCAA enforcement staff interviewed Saunders on Dec. 16, 2013 about “events that took place while that assistant was employed” elsewhere, according to the Committee on Infractions’ report, which added a football player “that institution recruited” was also part of the interview.

“During the interviews, the enforcement staff believed the former assistant football coach may have known of or may have been involved in NCAA rules violations concerning academic issues while at another member institution,” the Committee on Infractions’ report read.

An NCAA spokeswoman said she couldn’t confirm whether Ole Miss is being or will be investigated in regards to Saunders because of member rules. Ole Miss has not publicly commented on the case outside of athletic director Ross Bjork indicating it was hoping for a quick resolution on the matter.

Louisiana-Lafayette self-imposed a reduction of 11 scholarships over three seasons and the number of off-campus recruiting days and official visits the school can provide as well as vacating its 2011 season, which included playing in the New Orleans Bowl.

The Committee on Infractions placed the program on probation through Jan. 11, 2018, fined it $5,000, vacated games from the 2012-14 seasons in which ineligible athletes competed and added more restrictions on how much recruiting the team can do.

The NCAA presented its Notice of Allegations against Louisiana-Lafayette on May 22, 2015. The school responded on Aug. 20, 2015, with a 78-page response.

The response described the interview as covering events “while Saunders was employed by Ole Miss (or immediately thereafter) and [athlete’s name redacted] was being recruited by that institution.” It added Ole Miss legal counsel attended the meeting.

“Through the course of those interviews, it became apparent to (Louisiana-Lafayette associate director of athletics for academics and compliance Jessica) Lager that the enforcement staff was testing information that suggested Saunders knew of, or had been involved in, NCAA rules violations of an academic nature while employed at Ole Miss,” the response added.

Saunders worked for two years apiece as the assistant to athletic director for recruiting and coordinator of high school and community college relations from 1998 to 2002 at Ole Miss. He was also an assistant coach in 2006 and a football administrative assistant in 2010.

He was hired as an assistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 3, 2011, before being fired on Oct. 31, 2014. He has since become the head coach at Pearl River Community College.

The investigation at Louisiana-Lafayette “arose out of a different investigation at another member institution,” according to the Committee of Infractions’ report.

The Louisiana-Lafayette response to the NCAA’s allegations asserted that “a pattern of violations … trailed Saunders to” the school and that “it is evident that improper activity occurred in advance of (Louisiana-Lafayette) hiring.”

The response added “Ole Miss had requested information from ACT concerning student-athletes recruited to that institution (and coinciding with Saunders’ employment at Ole Miss).”

From 2011 to 2013, Saunders suggested five recruits who hadn’t received a qualifying score on the ACT, including some from as far away as south Florida, take the exam at Wayne County.

One student, the Committee on Infractions report said, had at least 108 of 215 possible answers changed, while another had at least 106 changed — 90 to the correct answer.

The Louisiana-Lafayette response said NCAA enforcement staff and Ole Miss legal counsel interviewed Ginny Crager, who was described as a former ACT test administrator at Wayne County and Saunders’ contact at the school, on Feb. 19, 2014.

Crager said “neither David Saunders nor anyone at Louisiana Lafayette University (sic) nor the University of Mississippi ever asked me to nor did I ever alter any ACT test” in an affidavit released by Louisiana-Lafayette to The Daily Advertiser following an open records request.

Wayne Co. HS responds to NCAA allegations of academic fraud

Ole Miss linked to NCAA investigation at ULL

Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.