Vaquero football program slapped with sanctions

Santa Barbara City College’s football program has been hit with numerous sanctions in response to an investigation into recruiting violations.

A release sent to SBCC staff, students and potential student-athletes on June 18th said that the program “has violated several areas of the California Community College Athletic Association/Commission on Athletics Constitution and Bylaws (CCCAA/COA), specifically having to do with the recruitment of student-athletes.”

The sanctions were handed down by the Southern California Football Association, the governing body of the American Pacific Conference. The SCFA and APC were in their first years of existence in the 2008 season, and the Vaqueros will now have to forfeit their APC co-championship. They will also have to forfeit the six games they won on the year, be put on probation for the upcoming season, and be excluded from the upcoming postseason.

In a phone interview Monday, SCFA Commissioner Jim Sartoris started by saying he was appreciative of SBCC’s cooperation with the investigation. The school self-reported the violations last fall.

“The college has cooperated to the fullest extent, and I know it’s a difficult thing for the football program to deal with this. I believe that the Athletic Director and myself will work together and hopefully the program won’t be on probation for more than a year,” said Sartoris.

Mike Warren has stepped down as Athletic Director at the school, leaving Associate AD Ellen O’Connor as the interim.

Sartoris said that the violations had to do with “subsidization” of players. There were seemingly minor incidents such as providing meals to players on the day of home games, and also housing-related infractions.

“Basically they were providing various types of assistance to house some of their athletes that would not be afforded to any other student at the college,” said Sartoris. “You can’t do something special for a student-athlete that you wouldn’t do for any other student.”

No specifics were available on allegations brought to light by the Santa Barbara Independent in a March article regarding the investigation, which included reports that players were being housed by coaches and that families were being evicted from their apartments to make room for football players.

Sartoris also said that SBCC self-reported a recruitment infraction involving an SBCC coach attending a high school All-Star Game practice.

Head Coach Craig Moropoulos was brief in his comments, but sounded positive about dealing with the problem and moving forward.

“We are pressing onward as a program and we look forward to getting through this,” he said.

This past campaign was Moropoulos’ second at the helm for the program, and it was one of the team’s best seasons in recent memory (it was the first conference title since 1991). After losing their first four games, the Vaqueros rattled off six consecutive wins, including a 55-52 thriller over L.A. Valley at La Playa Stadium. The 6-4 mark will now become 0-10 in the official books.

SBCC President Andrea Serban was out of the office and on vacation Monday, and inquiries were directed to Vice President of Human Resources and Legal Affairs Sue Ehrlic.

“We want to make it clear that these infractions involve only the football program and no other team at SBCC,” said Ehrlic. “We are going to follow very closely the sanctions that have been imposed on us.”