Records show big rise in athletic textbook charges

TUSCALOOSA | The National Collegiate Athletic Association on Wednesday notified school officials of the consequences of a scandal involving textbook purchases in the University of Alabama Supply Store by student-athletes, 602 days after an employee first discovered the questionable charges.

Student-athletes were inappropriately acquiring textbooks and academic materials for other students who were family or friends, even though the books and materials were either eventually returned at the end of the semester or charged to their accounts.

UA has not revealed the number of students involved, investigated or interviewed. Neither has the cost of the textbooks been disclosed, although Supply Store records show a jump in excess of $100,000 in student-athletic bookstore charges between 2004-05 and 2006-07.

“The university substantially admits that the infractions occurred, and acknowledges that it failed to adequately monitor its student-athlete textbook distribution system,” UA said in its response to the NCAA allegations, although the violations were self-reported.

The discrepancies were discovered on Oct. 17, 2007, when a store employee noticed questionable textbook charges in excess of $1,600. Two days later, on the eve of the Alabama-Tennessee game, Alabama’s compliance department informed the Southeastern Conference and NCAA of the situation, and five football players were suspended indefinitely. Antoine Caldwell, Glen Coffee, Marlon Davis, Marquis Johnson and Chris Rogers missed four games before they were reinstated, during which the Crimson Tide spun into a four-game losing streak, including a home defeat to Louisiana-Monroe.

“It’s poor judgment on the players’ part, and you’ve heard me say this before, that we can’t tolerate poor judgment and

you need to do what’s right,” football coach Nick Saban said after the team’s victory over Tennessee. “When you don’t do what’s right, most of the time there are serious consequences for it.”

The NCAA on Nov. 21, 2007, sent Alabama a notice of inquiry, which was upgraded to possible major violations on May 19, 2008. At the urging of the NCAA, the investigation was expanded to include the fall 2005 semester, with the review dating back to 2003.

During its investigation, the school discovered a second violation, that student-athletes were also receiving recommended or other materials suggested by instructors but not considered mandatory. Anyone with remaining eligibility was ordered to make restitution.

All athletes acquiring materials worth $100 or more were declared ineligible and eventually reinstated after petitioning the NCAA. Their number has not been released.

Jon Dever, assistant director of Athletic Student Services, and Teresa Shreve, director of the Supply Store, were reprimanded. School officials appeared before the Committee on Infractions on Feb. 20, 2009.

Alabama’s probation and repeat-violator status with the NCAA expired on Feb. 1, 2007.

The most recent sanctions stemmed from a recruiting scandal, which resulted in 22 penalties (12 of them self-imposed), and allegations that booster Logan Young, a wealthy Memphis businessman, had paid about $150,000 to a high school football coach to influence star defensive tackle Albert Means to accept a scholarship to play for the Crimson Tide.

The NCAA sentenced the school to a two-year bowl ban, five years probation and the loss of 21 scholarships over a three-year period.

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.