Fullerton No Stranger to NCAA Reprimands

The NCAA probation handed down Thursday against the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball program is the Titans’ first in the sport, but the school has been reprimanded by the NCAA for rules violations in other sports.

In each case, Fullerton reported the violations and they were primarily handled within the conference.

In 1987, the baseball team was put on a year’s probation and forced to forfeit all its victories from the 1985 season by the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. for awarding improperly administered aid to several players. Augie Garrido, the Titans’ coach at the time, was given a public reprimand and the school’s scholarships were reduced from 13 to 10 for one season.

Garrido had distributed funds raised through his summer baseball camp to the university’s Off-Campus Housing Authority to help cover rent for nine of his players.

The proper procedure, Garrido said at the time, would have been to direct the approximately $15,000 to the athletic department business office first instead of submitting it directly to the housing office.

In 1990, the football program was placed on a two-year probation by the Big West Conference. It was not announced at the time by either the school or the conference.

Coach Gene Murphy was reprimanded for taking an academically ineligible freshman player on a trip to Auburn, and an unnamed assistant coach was reprimanded for using his personal credit card to register five players in summer-school courses.

“It was the last day for them to register, and the kids reimbursed him,” Murphy said recently. He also said he thought the player he took on the trip was eligible.