The NCAA concluded its investigation of Florida Gulf Coast athletics and the university will vacate 82 combined wins and two Atlantic Sun Championships between 2022 and 2024, the Fort Myers News-Press reported Friday.
Last month, the NCAA placed FGCU Athletics on two years of probation and fined the program $25,000 in a settlement agreement.
The investigation concluded that FGCU allowed student-athletes to compete before certifying their eligibility.
The programs involved were men’s tennis, softball, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s golf.
Per the News-Press, the diamond sports both vacated ASUN titles. The softball program vacated 31 wins, its 2024 conference championship and an NCAA Tournament win over Florida Atlantic. The baseball program vacated 22 victories, their 2024 co-championship and a win over the 16-ranked Florida State Seminoles on March 4.
The troubles for the Fort Myers, Fla. school started in the summer of 2023 when tennis coach Davidson Kozlowski violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of Harrison Gold, a student from Bucknell University. Gold continued to take classes at the Lewisburg, Pa. university, but trained with the Eagles, lived in southwest Florida and ran up $10,000 in hotel costs.
Kozlowski, who had just been hired from Drake University in June 2023, was fired seven months later before ever coaching a match.
During an internal investigation of Kozlowski, FGCU discovered that 18 athletes in 10 different sports practiced or competed prior to becoming eligible. These occurred in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years.
The university self-reported and cooperated with the NCAA over a 16-month review. Seventeen of the 18 student-athletes were eventually reinstated.
The men’s basketball team vacated nine victories, including a win over No. 7 Florida Atlantic on Dec. 30, 2023.
The men’s tennis team vacated its entire 2024 season, when they lost 14 of 19 matches.
–Field Level Media
