UL-Lafayette vacates 2011 season following NCAA probe of recruiting infractions

The NCAA is accusing a former UL-Lafayette staffer of tampering with test scores to try and get recruits into the university.

The Cajuns have already self-imposed various penalties, most notably vacating the 2011 season, which included nine wins and a New Orleans Bowl victory over San Diego State.

Former assistant coach David Saunders is at the center of the wrongdoing related to manipulating ACT scores for at least six players and cash payments to one recruit.

He's accused of directing six recruits on three occasions starting in February 2011 to a specific testing center at Wayne County High School in Mississippi. From there, he arranged for then-Wayne County High ACT supervisor Ginny Crager to complete and/or alter answers to boost test scores, according to The Advertiser's Tim Buckley.

It's unclear what role head coach Mark Hudspeth played in the incident, as all the recruits were signed following his first season in 2010.

The school released a statement, saying it's going to give the NCAA whatever it needs during the ongoing investigation.

"We take the allegations very seriously and have fully cooperated with the investigation," athletic director Scott Farmer said. "We've been committed to finding the truth as much as the NCAA."

School president Joseph Savoie echoed Farmer's statement.

"Our university strives to comply with NCAA standards and maintains a comprehensive rules compliance program. We do not condone misconduct and take any suggestion of wrongdoing seriously," Savoie said.

UL has acknowledged the ACT-related accusation, but refutes that any cash exchanged hands in the ordeal.

Beyond giving up the 2011 season, the school also considered imposing a 2015 postseason ban, but that won't be the case.

Here's a list of other self-imposed sanctions:

• Terminating Saunders;
• A two-year probation period;
• Reducing initial football grants-in-aid (scholarships) by three in 2016-17 and three more in 2017-18;
• Reducing total grants-in-aid by five in 2015-16, by three in 2016-17 and by three in 2017-18;
• Reducing off-campus recruiting by 40 days in 2015-16 and ’16-17;
• Reducing official visits by recruits to 44 in 2014-15 and 38 in 2015-16;
• Withholding unnamed players from competition.

The university released the NCAA's Notice of Allegations and UL's response following "a request for public records."