NCAA puts Ball State women’s tennis program on probation for excessive practice

NCAA penalizes Ball State women’s tennis program

MUNCIE, Ind. — The NCAA has put the Ball State women’s tennis program on probation for three years over what it says were excessive practice requirements and the former coach’s attempts to have players lie to investigators.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on Wednesday also put limits on former coach Kathy Bull’s contact with players if she has another college coaching job in the next three years.

“The university understands and accepts the findings,” Ball State athletic director Tom Collins said in a statement.

Bull filed a federal lawsuit this week against the university, arguing administrators “intentionally trumped-up the allegations” against her.

Bull coached the Cardinals for 20 seasons before being fired last October. The NCAA described the violations under her watch as major and said they included her giving $125 loans to two players for their dorm room deposits last August.

The school had reduced its women’s tennis activity hours from 20 to 16 per week during the 2009-10 academic year, and will have just 18 hours per week in 2010-11. The penalties were self-imposed by the school.

According to the NCAA, the violations were not inadvertent because the coach took specific actions she knew were wrong and violations were committed on multiple days.