The NCAA's Division I Infractions Appeal Committee announced on Wednesday that it is upholding punishments levied against UMass' women's tennis and men's basketball teams over impermissible financial aid.
Last year, the Committee on Infractions took away wins that involved athletes that received improper benefits on the teams from 2014 to 2017, including the 2017 Atlantic 10 conference championship in women's tennis, because the school provided too much in financial aid to 12 athletes. For former UMass tennis player Brittany Collens, the ruling reaffirmed her belief that the NCAA isn’t acting in college athletes’ best interests.
"When they do something as, you know, kind of outrageous as upholding their decision when a lot of people thought they would have ruled in our favor, I think it's disappointing for our team and for us," said Collens, who has been vocal about the case. "But I think it's going to better help athletes in the future and so I'm trying to just focus on that."
UMass administrators, coaching staff and athletes were not aware of the infractions at the time, which totaled to just over $9,000 to 12 student-athletes over three years, according to a statement from UMass Athletics. But regardless, the NCAA said those penalties made the athletes ineligible for competition and led to the vacating of wins, despite an appeal from UMass earlier this year.
It's a decision that drew ire from UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford.
"I am profoundly disappointed with the outcome of our case and the manner in which we arrived at the final decision handed down by the IAC today," Bamford said in a statement. "As a practitioner who believes deeply in our collegiate model and the ideals of fair play, it is unfathomable to me that these committees vacated a tennis championship because two student-athletes unknowingly received $252 beyond the cost of attendance allowable amount, for instance.”
Collens, one of the two athletes on the tennis team who unknowingly received the extra money, is still proud of what she accomplished at UMass Amherst, even though her team's 2017 conference championship no longer exists in the record books,
"We know what we did on court," she said. "And so I'm trying to just think of it like, they can't take that away from us."
Now, she's become an advocate of change in college sports. And Collens' experience led her to meet with lawmakers about pushing the NCAA to better protect athletes.
"It's not always about just getting our title back," she said. "It's about talking about the really important stories of athletes who are experiencing mental, physical and sexual abuse every day in college athletics."
The ruling from the NCAA comes as it has acknowledged name image and likeness rights of athletes, and after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in June that the NCAA cannot prevent schools from providing certain education-related benefits to athletes — a ruling with big implications for the future of athlete compensation.
But Collens still sees the possibility for a positive outcome in the long run.
"I am very hopeful for change, I just don't think it's coming from the leadership at the headquarters of the NCAA," she said. "I think it's going to come from the fans, the athletes and Congress. That's kind of how it's been so far, and I think that's going to continue."
