Gene Stephenson says he’s filed his own appeal with NCAA over lost baseball victories

While former Wichita State baseball coach Gene Stephenson knows his chances of success are slim, he will try to appeal the NCAA’s decision to vacate as many as 74 victories from the 2012 and 2013 seasons when players received impermissible discounts on clothing.

“It’s probably 90 percent that they won’t accept it,” he said. “At least on paper … if you haven’t been cited for a violation, you can’t appeal. I went ahead and appealed anyway, because I think it’s that important.”

Stephenson, in a statement to The Eagle on Wednesday, said he filed an appeal with the NCAA through his lawyer last week. After stating that it intended to appeal, Wichita State president John Bardo on Tuesday said the university did not appeal by Friday’s deadline. Statistics compiled by the athletes, while judged to be ineligible after purchasing the clothing, will be vacated, as well 2013 NCAA Tournament appearance.

“It makes no sense to me,” Stephenson said. “They have nothing to lose, as far as I can see. The only people being hurt in this are the players and myself. It’s a big deal to the players and it’s a big deal to me.”

Bardo said that as WSU prepared to file it became clear it lacked the basis to make that move. In Tuesday’s statement, he said “I cannot conclude that the Committee on Infractions deviated from its authority or abused its discretion.”

“The only basis for appeal was that we didn't like the answer,” he said. “I still don't like the answer.”

Bardo said he understands the importance people will place on appealing as a way to show support for the baseball program and the athletes affected by the NCAA’s punishment. Following that emotion, he and his legal counsel decided, did not justify filing an appeal.

“I’m emotionally where everybody else is,” he said. “It was really clear in discussions with counsel that that is not a basis for an appeal. At the end of the day, standing up for students, standing up for our coaches means being honest and straightforward.”

The NCAA did not respond to a request for comment on Stephenson’s statement.

Last month, the NCAA placed the baseball program on one year of probation, levied a $5,000 fine and vacated victories from those two seasons in which players participated after receiving impermissible benefits. Current WSU coaches must inform recruits about the probation, which does not affect postseason play or scholarships. It expires in January 2016. Twenty-one players were found to have ordered merchandise through a baseball program account with an impermissible discount.

“If the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee will entertain my appeal, I will pursue it on behalf of my players to the best of my ability,” Stephenson said in a statement to The Eagle. “If my appeal is rejected, I want my former players to know I did everything I could do to protect the record of what they accomplished while at Wichita State University from the NCAA’s ridiculous and unwarranted record-book eraser. And if this penalty is never reversed, to my players: we all know what we did, and we will remain forever proud of it.”

Stephenson said he thinks the punishment is unfair because the NCAA ruled the violations were committed unintentionally. Neither Stephenson nor the current coaching staff were found responsible for the violations.

“(Players) paid the money back,” he said. “They served suspensions. We gained no competitive advantage.”

Stephenson said his lawyer was told by the NCAA that the appeal may not be taken up by the collegiate governing body because Stephenson himself was not found to have committed a violation.

“… I may not be permitted to appeal – even though I am clearly adversely affected by the vacation-of-record penalty,” Stephenson said in the statement.

WSU has not yet completed an inventory of which games included ineligible players. The Shockers won 74 games over the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the time period in which the NCAA found that those players improperly received discounts on non-baseball merchandise. The inventory includes determining when the players in question received the improper discounts.

On Tuesday, Bardo announced the university had reversed its decision to appeal the lost victories.

“After a careful review of the issues associated with an appeal of the NCAA Committee on Infractions’ decision in our recently completed baseball case, I have decided that it is not in the best interest of the university to proceed with such an appeal,” Bardo said in a statement. “This is not a decision that was made lightly or without proper counsel.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Gene Stephenson says he’s filed his own appeal with NCAA over lost baseball victories."