Though violations by the Ball State University softball team were not committed under the tenure of coach Craig Nicholson, he is dealing with them this season.
Under former coach Terri Laux, Ball State (15-25, 6-6 Mid-American Conference) exceeded the allotted weekly practice time from 1999 to 2005, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Because of the violations, the NCAA and Ball State sanctioned the softball program.
Nicholson, who formerly coached at Central Arizona College, replaced Laux this past summer and inherited the sanctions of her tenure.
He said that he knew about the violations and sanctions when he accepted the Ball State coaching job.
"That's part of college athletics," Nicholson said. "The program gets affected and you deal with it. You do the best you can and you move on. You make sure that you don't make the same mistakes."
In May 2005, the NCAA and Ball State began an investigation of the softball program, according to the documents.
In addition to investigations of the team's exceeded practice time allotment, Ball State athletes from multiple teams were also under investigation for violations concerning textbooks.
The NCAA and Ball State found that Laux exceeded weekly practice time because she misinterpreted NCAA bylaws, according to the documents.
"It was all just kind of what we did," senior Taylor Yancey said. "I didn't know anything different."
As a result of the infractions, the Cardinals were docked two hours of practice a week. Ball State is allowed 18 hours of a practice a week this season instead of the customary 20.
With less practice time available, the team has to prioritize, Nicholson said.
Ball State can choose to use its time in a variety of ways such as practicing, lifting weights or in team meetings. The only difference from previous years is that they have two fewer hours a week to spend in the activities.
"We just have to be smart with what we do and when we do it and how much of our time we use doing whatever," Nicholson said.
While the Cardinals have less practice time this year, they have still won more often than the previous four years under Laux.
Ball State has a .375 winning percentage this season. From 2003 through 2006, the Cardinals had winning percentages of .372, .278, .339 and .302, respectively. In the four years, the team won six or seven MAC games a season. This year's team has won six MAC games and has 10 more on its schedule.
"Some programs practice 20 hours [a week] and don't even come close to what we get done in 18," Nicholson said.
Even without the sanctions, the Cardinals would practice less this season because of other factors, Nicholson said.
The team's roster size and the weather have limited the amount of practice time for Ball State, Nicholson said.
While the average MAC roster has 18 players, Ball State has 12 this season.
Bowling Green State University has the second smallest roster with 15 players.
The team's roster is small this season because of leaving players and a lack of time to recruit since he was hired, Nicholson said. He said he would ideally have 17 or 18 players on his roster.
"This year, with us only having 12 players, we've almost self-limited how much we practice anyway because we want to keep healthy," he said. "It's worked out all right."
Ball State also has a limited number of days to practice because of the number of games it plays a week.
Ball State played games four days last week. The Cardinals are scheduled to play games five days this week.
The Cardinals will begin this week's games at the University of Notre Dame (20-14, 9-1 Big East) today.
Notre Dame's strong point is their pitching, Nicholson said. The Fighting Irish have a team earned run average of 2.32.
Notre Dame enters the game as winners of 11 of its previous 13 games.
"We just want to really get some momentum going into this weekend," Yancey said. "We're 6-6 in the MAC right now and to have some out-of-conference wins would be a great confidence booster and a good momentum booster for the team going into conference play this weekend."
PunishmentsBecause of former coach Terri Laux's violations, this year's softball team must practice two hours less and were not able to recruit as much as in previous years.
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