South Carolina State’s football program will have a slight reduction in scholarships for the 2024 season following the NCAA’s ruling regarding eligibility certification infractions committed by the university. The NCAA ruled that the university failed to properly monitor student-athlete eligibility during the 2021-22 academic year across 3 sports. According to the resolution, South Carolina State suffered a ransomware attack that impacted its ability to properly track student-athlete eligibility.
During the 2021 season, two football student-athletes not enrolled as full-time students competed in SCSU’s regular season games between September 4 and November 20. In 2022, one of the athletes also competed in two games on September 10 and November 19 despite being ineligible. Six of the Bulldogs’ seven wins in 2021 will be vacated according to the resolution. Those victories occurred against Bethune-Cookman on October 2, Morgan State on October 16, Delaware State on October 23, North Carolina Central on October 30, Howard on November 6, and Norfolk State on November 20 will be vacated. For the 2022 season, SCSU’s win against Bethune-Cookman on September 10 will be vacated.
Vacating the wins for the football program would also impact former head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough’s record, as noted in the NCAA’s resolution. Pough had a head coaching record of 151-93 but his new record would be 144-93 with the 7 vacated wins removed. The football program will see a scholarship reduction of 2.5%, which means they can award no more than 61 for the 2024-25 academic year. Additional penalties against the school include one year of probation, a $10,000 fine, and similar scholarship reductions to the women’s basketball and women’s soccer programs.
South Carolina State competed in and won the 2021 Celebration Bowl against Jackson State. The Bulldogs won the game 31-10 but will not have to vacate the game according to the NCAA’s resolution as the two student-athletes did not compete in the Celebration Bowl. South Carolina State currently sits at 1-1 in the 2024 season with a close 22-18 loss to Florida A&M in the opener and a close 23-20 win against The Citadel in week two.
Photo Credit to South Carolina State University Athletics
