In February 1994, the University of Maine discovered that five graduate student-athletes were not enrolled in a minimum of six credit hours, as required by NCAA rules. The field hockey, football, track and field, and men's ice hockey teams were affected by the discovery. Then-UMaine NCAA compliance officer Linwood "Woody" Carville made the discovery on Feb. 14, 1994, according to a report issued by the university the following month. On Feb. 17, Carville told then-Athletics Director Michael Ploszek. Ploszek turned and informed President Frederick Hutchinson and the university's faculty representative to the NCAA, George Jacobson. According to the report, Ploszek met with Hutchinson and Jacobson on Feb. 18 and told them about the situation. Hutchinson told Ploszek to look into whether the student- athletes involved could take "special classes" to restore their eligibility. Hutchinson asked Ploszek to report back to him on Feb. 22. Meanwhile, the hockey and indoor track and field teams were preparing to compete on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20. Ploszek didn't tell the coaches of either team about the problem. According to the university's report, "reponsible parties appeared so traumatized that they waited too long before acting in a timely manner." Ploszek admitted he made a mistake in not telling the coaches of the teams that were competing that weekend. Jacobson said he didn't suggest calling the coaches or the NCAA. The coaches interviewed for the university's March 1994 report into the matter each said they did not know about their athletes' being ineligible until Feb. 24. Now the interesting part. In August 1992, Carville received a memo from the NCAA informing him that a student-athlete enrolled in a graduate program can take six credit hours. This was in response to a football player's inquiry about whether he could play a fourth year even though he had graduated. But despite the rule interpretation by the NCAA itself in 1992, the applicable rule is quite clear: "A student may compete while enrolled in a full-time graduate program as defined by the institution, but in any event not fewer than eight hours." _____________________________________________________________________ Ryan Robbins "Nothing in fine print is ever good news." University of Maine -- Andy Rooney _____________________________________________________________________ [log in to unmask] ____________________________________________ http://maine.maine.edu/~rrobbi32/____________________________________ HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.