Brown Football Punished For Recruiting Violations

Brown University's football team will be ineligible for the Ivy League championship this fall after recruiting violations, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents announced this week. The decision marks the first time in Ivy League history that a sports team has been declared ineligible for a league championship.

The penalty comes after a two-month investigation by Brown concluded that Executive Director of the Brown Sports Foundation David Zucconi, as well as coaches of several Brown teams, offered outside financial aid to recruited athletes.

The scholarships were to be underwritten by the Brown Sports Foundation, a not-for-profit booster club unaffiliated with the university.

Ivy League rules stipulate that all scholarships to students be strictly need-based, with no athletic scholarships given to recruits.

"The League's prohibition against any special financial aid for athletes is perhaps the most fundamental of all League rules, which is why the Council determined to make clear that the remedies for violations of this rule will be severe," said Columbia President George Rupp--who is also the chair of the president's council--in a press release.

According to Assistant Director of the Ivy League Brett Hoover, games with Brown next year will count towards the Ivy League standings, but if Brown finishes first, the second place team will be the champion. Brown shared last year's league championship with Yale after both finished the season 9-1.

As another part of the punishment, Brown's football team will be allowed to recruit ten fewer athletes over the next two years, and Zucconi will be prohibited indefinitely from contacting prospective student-athletes. Brown is currently conducting a review of the Brown Sports Foundation as well.

In April, Brown imposed several penalties on its athletic department, including restricting the number of recruiting trips by coaches, and placing official letters of reprimand in three coaches' personnel files.

Brown also found improper recruiting among the women's volleyball and men's basketball and soccer teams, but only Brown's football team will be ineligible next year.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association investigated Brown this spring but did not impose any further penalties.

Interim Brown President Sheila E. Blumstein said in a press release that the university accepts the Ivy League's punishment.

"Brown has always championed the principles of the Ivy League, and we recognize our responsibility to affirm these principles as we move forward," Blumstein said.

Brown and Harvard athletic officials refused to comment on the decision.