FGCU has been placed on probation for the next two academic years after the NCAA found numerous violations involving 18 athletes across ten sports, announced April The penalty includes a $25,000 monetary fine, a 15-day recruiting restriction and vacation of selected team wins.
“We want to do it the right way,” Colin Hargis, FGCU athletic director, said. “We’re trying to make it much more efficient, as well as checks and balances across the board, so that. Everything doesn’t solely rely on an individual.”
The NCAA’s 16-month investigation into FGCU started with improper recruiting from FGCU’s former men’s tennis coach, Davidson Kozlowski, during the 2023-24 academic season. Kozlowski and those involved in the initial violations have parted ways with the university.
Hargis was aware of these issues before being appointed as the intercollegiate athletic director.
In the fall of 2023, the previous tennis coach had some potential violations reported about him and his program that were brought forth,” Hargis said. “Once the university began to look into that, they realized that there could be some issues inside the men’s tennis program.”
During the initial investigation, FGCU found that 18 athletes had improper certifications. They brought these issues to the NCAA, which combined both cases. 17 of the 18 athletes were later reinstated with proper certifications.
“I think that’s a key thing to point out here, is that our student athletes did nothing wrong,” Hargis said. “Our coaches did nothing wrong. In this situation, they received incorrect information about the eligibility status of those student athletes”
FGCU infractions were mitigated to NCAA Level II violations due to their cooperation in resolving the ongoing issues during the investigation. The Eagles will find out later this week what wins among their programs will be vacated.
“We’re here to operate in a compliant manner,” Hargis said. “I have full confidence that our department, our university leadership and our staff are handling it the right way, and we have the right checks and balances in place.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as FGCU releases further details.
