Eligibility issues hound Greyhounds

Eligibility issues continue to hound the Greyhounds, with several football players likely being held out for Eastern New Mexico University's game Friday at Cowboys Stadium.

In most cases, university officials note that athletes, who have also been held out from previous games, have done nothing wrong, and are waiting for reinstatement from the NCAA clearinghouse. The athletes were missing paperwork required to be kept by the college's compliance office, and the errors were caught by Kristen Schmitt, who started this year as the college's compliance officer.

University President Steven Gamble said he didn't know the number of athletes being held out when the Greyhounds (1-1) take on University of the Incarnate Word in a 2:30 p.m. (MDT) game in Arlington, Texas.

The game is part of the Lone Star Conference Football Festival, with all nine LSC football squads playing over the weekend at the stadium.

"The ineligibility situation is not resolved, and it won't be for a while," Gamble said. "We're going through it sport by sport, and football is the first one we're doing. If I knew the exact amount, I'd tell you. There will be some student-athletes that will not compete on Friday because I'm not certain of their eligibility."

Athletic Director Jeff Geiser said athletes were being reinstated Wednesday afternoon, but any athlete not cleared by 6 a.m. Thursday won't be on the team bus.

"Coach (Josh) Lynn is not playing with a full deck, but he understands and accepts it," Geiser said. "He's a positive guy, and he's going to coach his butt off no matter what."

Gamble said in many cases, athletes who have been at the university did not have paperwork on file that certified their amateur status. But he added that other athletes have issues that raise academic flags.

"The NCAA has to look at the paper and say they're good to go," Gamble said. "That's not something we can deal with internally. Probably the great, great majority, they're going to say, 'Yes, they're eligible.'"

Gamble and Geiser would not name what players would be ineligible; Geiser would only say they range from freshman who likely wouldn't play Friday anyway to veteran Greyhounds.

With ENMU playing in a showcase event, one for which it has other departments arranging travel packages to Arlington with hotel rooms and tickets to a Texas Rangers baseball game, Gamble agreed the timing was unfortunate.

"We feel bad that we're in this position," Gamble said. "We'd feel bad if it were a home game or an away game, if they were playing in Dallas or they were playing in Portales."

When asked if the eligibility issues could result in the Greyhounds vacating wins from this season or previous campaigns, Geiser said he wouldn't speculate.