UCI’s Hannon Ineligible All Season Because He Lacks A.A. Degree

Joe Hannon, one of the players UC Irvine was counting on for front-line depth, will be ineligible the entire season after the discovery that he didn’t satisfy all the requirements for his community college degree.

Though Hannon said he completed at least 72 units with a 3.0 grade-point average and he was admitted to UC Irvine, NCAA regulations require community college transfers to receive an associate of arts degree in order to be eligible without sitting out a year.

Hannon, a 6-foot-8 forward who has been held out of Irvine’s three games, believed he had graduated. But Irvine discovered while attempting to certify his eligibility that he is missing course work that fulfills specific requirements for the A.A. degree at Canada College in Redwood City, Calif. Had the problem been uncovered earlier, Irvine Coach Rod Baker said, Hannon could have fulfilled the requirement in summer school.

“It’s a big deal because obviously we could have used a guy who has his size and skills,” Baker said. The Anteaters’ starting center, Dee Boyer, has missed all three of Irvine’s games because of illness or his nagging leg injury.

The eligibility snafu means that Hannon, who would have been a junior, will have only one season of eligibility left because next year will be his fifth since enrolling in college. He also becomes ineligible to practice with the team or receive a scholarship and is expected to have to repay the scholarship money he already has been given.

“I’m really frustrated about it, but there’s nothing I can do,” Hannon said. “It’s just a situation that occurred. I’ll try to take advantage of the time to train extra hard for my last year.”

Hannon could avoid losing the year of eligibility by transferring to a non-Division I school. However, he said he plans to stay.

“Irvine’s been good to me,” he said. “I’m here and I feel comfortable here, even though I’m losing a year.”

Baker said Irvine will report unintentional violations of NCAA rules and that the violations “should not be a problem.”

“I feel worse for the kid; it wasn’t like he was trying to circumvent the rules,” Baker said. “He feels bad, I think, because I think he feels he let us down.”

Neither Hannon, Baker’s staff nor any Irvine advisers recognized that Hannon was missing course work until after he arrived at Irvine.