NCAA Flags San Diego State

San Diego State’s football team was put on two years’ probation Tuesday for conducting impermissible off-season practices over a four-year period, the NCAA announced.

Most of the violations occurred while Ted Tollner was coach. Tollner, former coach at USC, resigned after the 2001 season and was replaced by Tom Craft.

The violations involved mandatory workouts on the beach for offensive linemen during the summers of 1998 through 2001, organized drills held on campus last year before the start of spring practice, and apparel given players as incentive for attending the summer workouts.

“This went beyond an isolated incident,” said Thomas Yeager, chairman of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions. “This was a major case.”

The probation does not affect the Aztecs’ bowl or television opportunities.

San Diego State, which plans to appeal the ruling, penalized itself last summer and those penalties were accepted by the NCAA.

They included a reduction of six scholarships over a three-year period, the elimination of 21 practice days through spring of 2004, and an 11-day suspension for offensive line coach Damon Baldwin, who conducted the summer workouts.

Yeager said the violations did not warrant a waiver of probation sought by San Diego State because they occurred over an “extended period” and were under two head coaches. The NCAA also cited the university for failing to properly monitor the football program.

The summer workouts, known as “sand training,” were conducted once a week from late May through July at Mission Beach. Baldwin kept attendance that was periodically posted in a newsletter distributed to the team’s offensive linemen.

In addition, in the summer of 2000, at least one of the workouts was videotaped at Baldwin’s request by a university employee. The video, “Deep Sand Training,” was sold to the public though Baldwin’s Web site, which listed his office phone number as a contact source.

San Diego State did not dispute the violations, but Athletic Director Rick Bay said probation was inappropriate given the steps the university has taken to address the problem.

“Given that these violations were not sinister in nature, we still believe that the label of probation is a stigma and inappropriate in this instance,” Bay said.

It was more bad news for a struggling program. San Diego State was 4-9 last season, its fourth consecutive losing season.