WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Basketball team will have to forfeit its 88-84 win over Southeastern Illinois College (SIC) due to a clerical error in player eligibility paperwork to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The Grizzlies defeated SIC on Nov. 1 at the West Plains Civic Center in its first game of the season.
Dr. Angela Totty, dean of student services/athletic director, said the paperwork violations were discovered as part of an NJCAA eligibility audit requiring the Grizzlies to forfeit the win over SIC. “The school was notified by NJCAA on November 3 of the issues and the required documentation was provided to NJCAA by Nov. 4,” she said. “The issues have now been resolved.”
Due to self-reported rules violations to the NJCAA last spring, the Grizzlies were placed on probation for the 2016-2017 academic year. According to Totty, this year’s eligibility audit is a requirement of the probation status. “As a result of the audit, NJCAA requested additional documentation for four players. After reviewing the documents, NJCAA officials determined that two of the players should not have played in the Nov. 1 game due to missing documentation; therefore the Grizzlies will have to forfeit the game.”
Totty noted that while the eligibility of these two players is not in question, there was a required form that was not included in the eligibility file. Those forms have been submitted and these players have been cleared to play, she said.
“Head Coach Chris Popp, Dr. Totty and I all regret this oversight in the documentation,” Chancellor Drew Bennett said. “Coach Popp has reiterated his commitment to following the NJCAA guidelines, and moving forward there will be additional safeguards in place to avoid this type of error in the future. I have been very impressed by this group of young men, and this situation in no way reflects on them.”
Popp was hired in May 2016 and is in his first year as head coach of the Grizzly Basketball program. “I have received many favorable comments from the community about Coach Popp and his team, and I look forward to watching them play this year,” Bennett said.