ENMU working under NCAA deadline

Eastern New Mexico University has a deadline of May 1 to file a report with the NCAA over academic irregularities in its athletic department for the 2012-13 school year.

Another report, going back to the 2008-09 school year, is due by Aug. 1, ENMU athletic director Jeff Geiser said.

Irregularities uncovered by the school early in the fall have affected the eligibility of athletes in every sport at the school to varying degrees except for rodeo, which does not come under the NCAA umbrella.

"The most important thing is we have self-reported," Geiser said. "If we end up forfeiting any wins we had with (the use of) ineligible players, we'll take our punishment and move forward.

"We reported every violation, as minor as it could be up to as major as it could be. We're going to be a better and stronger athletic department because I'm 100 percent confident (now) we're operating the way we should have been."

ENMU president Steven Gamble said between 100 and 120 athletes have been affected.

"Some have multiple violations, so we have a lot more violations than that," Gamble said. "We want to get this behind us. It's kind of like a cloud hanging over us."

Geiser said the system that was in place over the past few years didn't have the checks and balances it needed and probably had more to do with creating the problems than any individuals. Any athletes in question this year have been held out of competition.

"The system was not functioning very effectively," Geiser said. "We had the director of compliance working with the regulations. I don't know if you can find fault with people as much as the system."

Kayne Gutierrez had been ENMU's director of compliance, but left in June 2012. Kristen Schmidt was hired as to the position, and began to find some irregularities.

The school then created a new position, director of eligibility coordinator, and moved her in that post while putting former assistant athletics communication director Rachel Johnson into the director of compliance slot.

They have been responsible for going through records and trying to ensure student-athletes are making acceptable progress towards a degree, and both drew high praise from Geiser and Gamble for their efforts.

"These two young women are working so hard on this," Geiser said. "I can't compliment them enough."

A number of the eligibility issues are of a technical nature, and were cleared up with a signature. Others had to do with student-athletes not having a required degree plan in place by the end of their fourth semester.

"We've found no indication of a coach or players manipulating the system," said Gamble, who also believes ENMU will end up having to forfeit some wins over recent years.

He said while the school unknowingly played some ineligible players in the recent past, that hasn't been the case this year.

"We think we're back in order now," he said. "I'm almost certain we're no longer using ineligible players."

Gamble said he doesn't think ENMU has undergone anything like this in the past.

"It's my understanding we've had individual cases (investigated), but nothing like this," he said.