You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A University of Montana booster paid for bail and legal representation for two football players arrested for obstructing a peace officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, while many other athletes received clothing, loans, lodging and other impermissible benefits from boosters and athletic staff, according to a National Collegiate Athletic Association public infractions report released Friday. For these and other violations, the NCAA cited Montana with a failure to monitor, and issued penalties including scholarship reductions, vacation of wins, three years' probation and a coaching suspension. The head coach and senior athletics administrators learned about the bail payments after the fact and failed to notify compliance officers, the report says.
In May, Montana reached a settlement with the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which requires the university to improve its response to sexual assault. The most high-profile allegations, and the ones that prompted OCR to investigate, were made against football players.
