Boise St meeting with NCAA to discuss infractions

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Boise State met with the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Friday to discuss violations by its highly successful football program and other sports.

The football violations under review were committed between 2005 and 2008. The program already is dealing with several self-imposed penalties, including fewer scholarships for the next two years and reduced practice time.

The sanctions are part of a broader penalty package put in place by university officials for violations that also involve men's and women's tennis, and track and field. An NCAA inquiry and an internal investigation by the school identified 22 infractions and an absence of institutional controls necessary to fully comply with rules governing collegiate athletic programs.

The meeting began at 8:30 a.m. and ended nearly 13 hours later. Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said he would have no comment when approached Friday.

School administrators have said they believe the self-imposed penalties, which include a three-year probation period and steps to bolster its compliance office, will satisfy the NCAA.

"A lot of thought went into what the appropriate sanctions should be for us," Bleymaier told The Associated Press last month. "We believe these sanctions are what's warranted and needed to correct the mistakes."

The university's 1,500-page response to the NCAA details a series of "secondary" violations by football staff during a four-year period. During that time, coaches arranged for incoming players to get cheap transportation, meals and housing during voluntary summer workouts. The report states 63 prospective players received those benefits, valued at less than $5,000.

Bleymaier has said the university issued a letter detailing the rules to football coach Chris Petersen and his staff and put new rules in place to protect itself against future offenses.

"We're always concerned about perception," Bleymaier said in the earlier interview. "That's why we want it to be very clear what the issues are and how we've dealt with them."

The men's tennis program and women's track and field programs have committed similar secondary violations. The university is cutting scholarships and imposing recruiting restrictions for track and field and reducing practices and eliminating bonuses in 2011 and 2012 for the head men's tennis coach.

The women's tennis team lost three scholarships for 2011 and in 2012, was fined $5,000 and has had practice time reduced. The team will also vacate all wins and records for matches involving an ineligible player during the 2008-09 season.

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Cliff Brunt can be reached at http://twitter.com/cliffbruntap.