CIS Hoops.ca

The Atlantic conference has come down hard on Acadia Head Coach Les Berry and the Axemen mens' basketball program in the wake of the controversy surrounding Acadia's use of Garth Reid, who played for Acadia early this past season after playing a series of games the previous season for an NCAA Division III team in Iowa, which is a clear violation of CIS transfer rules (Reid did not sit out the requisite 12 months before playing). Among the more noteable sanctions is Berry being suspended until January, 2008, meaning he will miss the first semester of the coming season. Berry also will have his AUS Coach-of-the-Year award revoked and Acadia will be on probation for two years. If interpreting properly, these fines and sanctions are over and above the sanctions set down by the CIS and are much more comprehensive and stern. Cleary, Phil Currie and the AUS have low tolerance for these types of mistakes and have sent a clear message to all that these types of actions will not be tolerated. CIS playing and coaching legend Brian Heaney now begins his new post as Athletic Director at Acadia in early September with men's basketball and his athletic programs on probation for the next 2 seasons. Here is the release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY SPORT ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS TO ACADIA

August 8, 2007 (HALIFAX, NS) - Atlantic University Sport has announced additional sanctions issued to Acadia University relating to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) determination that Acadia was in breach of CIS Regulations, specifically with respect to the participation of an ineligible men’s basketball student-athlete in 14 competitions during the 2006-07 season.

"It is an unfortunate situation when Atlantic University Sport is required to sanction a member institution, coach or student-athlete," commented Mr. Phil Currie, Executive Director of Atlantic University Sport. "All members and head coaches of the CIS and Atlantic University Sport have an obligation to ensure each participating athlete is eligible under the rules set forth by the CIS. Eligibility violations are a very serious breach of policy, and in the Acadia case, Atlantic University Sport has exercised it's right to apply additional sanctions. Acadia is an important and valued member of Atlantic University Sport and there is no doubt within our Executive that both Acadia and coach Berry will take the necessary steps to ensure errors of this nature will not happen in the future."

The full CIS decision on this matter can be found at: http://www.universitysport.ca/e/discipline/documents/Acadia.pdf

Details of the CIS decision include:

It has been confirmed that the student-athlete, Garth Reid, participated in ten (10) exhibition competitions and the following four (4) Atlantic University Sport league competitions in 2006-07:

- November 18, 2006 vs UPEI (league game - won by Acadia 78-77)
- November 19, 2006 vs UNB (league game - won by Acadia 74-53)
- November 24, 2006 vs CBU (league game - won by Acadia 70-62)
- November 25, 2006 vs St.FX (league game - lost by Acadia 75-77)

Mr. Reid attended and played with the University of Dubuque (NCAA Division III) basketball team in academic year 2005-06, having last participated in competition on January 13, 2006.

The applicable CIS regulations that are confirmed to have been breached by Acadia include:

40.30.1.1 - Each member institution shall put in place an eligibility verification system to accurately monitor the academic status and eligibility of its Canadian Interuniversity Sport student-athletes on an on-going basis. While the Director of Athletics is ultimately responsible for determining eligibility of all athletes at their respective institution, the success of any eligibility verification system is reliant on the combined efforts of the institutions administrators, coaches, and student-athletes.

40.30.1.3 - Each member institution shall be responsible for ensuring that their Canadian Interuniversity Sport student-athletes are aware of Canadian Interuniversity Sport Eligibility Rules (Policy 40.10) and Doping Control Rules (Policy 90.20).

Specific to 40.30.1.1 above and the participation of Garth Reid, the following regulation is alleged to have been breached:

40.10.5.3.3.1 - Subject to 40.10.3.3.1 and 40.10.4.3, a student-athlete, who transfers to a CIS member institution from a non-Canadian post-secondary degree granting institution (such as the NCAA and NAIA), cannot participate for a period of one year in the sport in which such athlete participated at the previous post secondary institution in order to be eligible for CIS participation.

The following sanctions are imposed by Atlantic University Sport:

1. Acadia is hereby fined $1,000 for the errors and deficiencies that led to the breach of CIS regulations.

2. Men's Basketball Head Coach Les Berry has been suspended until January 1, 2008. The suspension includes all exhibition and league play from the beginning of the 2007-08 playing season until January 1, 2008.

3. Mr. Berry's Atlantic University Sport conference Coach of the Year award for the 2006-07 season has been revoked.

4. Mr. Berry will be on probation for the next two seasons in which he is, in any way, actively involved in Atlantic University Sport competition.

5. All wins recorded by the Acadia men's basketball program in league games in which the ineligible men's basketball student-athlete participated will be forfeited and recorded as 2-0 victories for the respective opponents. The final 2006-07 standings will be adjusted to reflect these changes.

6. The Acadia department of athletics will be on probation for a period of two years.

7. Acadia shall pay to Atlantic University Sport its costs of these proceedings within 30 days of being provided with an accounting thereof.

-30-

For further information, please contact:

Phil Currie
Executive Director, Atlantic University Sport
P: 902-425-4235
C: 902-471-7609
E: pcurrie@atlanticuniversitysport.com

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In a game played in Argentina, as part of the tour of scrimmages previous to the Pre Olympic Games that will be held in Las Vegas; Uruguay defeated Canada 83-79.
URUGUAY (83): M. Osimani 7 pts, N. Mazzarino 23 , M. Aguiar 0 , G. Paez4, E. Batista 30 (starters), F. Martinez 0 , L. Silveira 8, L. Garcia Morales 0 , C. Charquero 8 , O. Galeano 0, E. Taboada 3, S. Izaguirre 0
Coach:: Alberto Espasandin.
CANADA (79): Kevin Kloostra 6 pts, Osvaldo Jeanty 25, Sefton Barrett 4, Paul Larmand 20 , William Njoku 0 (starters) , Sean Denison 11, Jordan Sabourin 2, Dejan Grkovic 0 , Domenico Marcario 3, John Ross Bailey 8
Coach: Roy Rana

A solid piece by Matt Sekeres, who as always does a great job capturing the other issues associated with Sam Dalembert's declaration that he will play for Canada in the upcoming FIBA Americas Olympic qualification tournament in Las Vegas. Next target for Canada's coaching staff is trying to convince 6'11" Jamaal Magloire to suit up and it appears as if Dalembert will put his recruiting hat on to try to help lure JAM to the National side
Dalembert Could Lure More Talent to Team Canada