Big Ten Strips Minnesota of 1997 Title

M I N N E A P O L I S, Nov. 21, 2000 -- The Big Ten today stripped Minnesota ofits 1997 conference championship for an academic fraud scandal thatalready has cost the team five scholarships.

The Big Ten also vacated any individual and team records andconference honors of any player or coach cited in the NCAA report.

The NCAA report spanned the 1993-94 season through the 1998-99season. The Big Ten reviewed the report by the governing bodybefore issuing its penalties.

All References to Minnesota Erased

However, the Big Ten will not change its conference standings orawards for those seasons. But all references to Minnesota’sperformances, the championship or other awards during those yearswill be removed in future Big Ten publications.

“The university has agreed to these sanctions and will takeimmediate steps to implement them,” said Mark Rotenberg, theschool’s general counsel. “We hope this is the final step toputting this matter to rest.”

Last month, the NCAA put the men’s athletics department on fouryears’ probation and took away five basketball scholarships in whatit said was one of the worst cases of academic fraud in 20 years.

Tutor Wrote Papers

The scandal surfaced in March 1999, when office manager and teamtutor Jan Gangelhoff admitted writing more than 400 papers for atleast 18 players in a five-year period.

The university pursued a nine-month, $2.2 million investigationand ended up buying out the $1.5 million contract of Clem Haskins,then the coach.

The school now is trying to recover the money, saying Haskinsknew about the cheating.

As part of the NCAA’s punishment, Minnesota also had to takedown banners and make no reference in school materials to theGophers’ participation in three NCAA tournaments, including the1997 Final Four, and two NITs, including its 1998 titles.