The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee denied former Ball State women's tennis coach Kathy Bull's appeal Wednesday morning, upholding its previous ruling.
"Both I and my client are disappointed in this outcome," Michael Buckner, Bull's attorney in the NCAA appeal, said. "We still believe we brought to light issues that were valid. In my view, we should have been granted at least a partial reversal."
Bull was hit with a three-year show-cause sanction in July after the NCAA Committee on Infractions found her in violation of six rules.
A show-cause penalty states that a university cannot hire a coach for a specific amount of time without the consent of the infractions committee. Former Indiana University men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson was given a five-year show-cause penalty after being forced to resign in 2008.
To gain consent from the infractions committee, a school must show why they should not be penalized for hiring the coach.
"The NCAA admitted the process my client had wasn't entirely fair, but it wasn't egregious," Buckner said. "Ball State provided us with documents two days before our hearing, so we couldn't submit those in the initial hearing."
The appeal does not allow for the case to be heard a second time. Appellants must present all problems in the original hearing.
Buckner based his opinion on the Infractions Appeals Committee agreeing with multiple points made during the appeal process. One such point was a denial of due process in the initial rules infraction hearing.
"We won some battles," Buckner said. "Unfortunately, we lost the war."
Despite the agreement, it was not enough for the NCAA to overturn sanctions against Bull.
"Still, we find no basis on which to conclude that the statements, whether considered separately or collectively, were so ‘egregious' as to constitute a denial of due process or other reversible error," the NCAA said in its nine-page report.
The appeal was Bull's final opportunity to have sanctions imposed on her lifted. Buckner said the NCAA did not address all the concerns raised in the appeal.
"The university would not conduct a complete investigation," he said. "That may be due to Title IX, but it will certainly be handled in my client's lawsuit against Ball State."
Attorney Baine Kerr, who represents Bull in her lawsuit against Ball State, said there would be no effect on Bull's wrongful termination lawsuit.
"There is no impact on the lawsuit as this [outcome] was the expected result of Ball State's many efforts to get the NCAA to legitimize its retaliatory firing of Coach Bull," Kerr said.
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