The NCAA is checking into possible discrepancies in Mississippi State center Mario Austin’s high school transcript, his former principal said. Austin, the 12th-ranked Bulldogs’ best player, was held out of the team’s first exhibition game last Saturday.
Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton said on Monday he could not comment on Austin’s situation because of student privacy laws.
But Sumter County High School principal Ellis Levy told the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, that NCAA investigators were looking into Austin’s records when they made an August visit to the school in York, Ala.
Levy said investigators had been to the school with questions about Austin’s grades and transcript in 1999 after the highly recruited Austin signed with Mississippi State.
The NCAA cleared Austin to play as a freshman during the 1999-2000 season.
“They were checking to see if the grades Mario had were sufficient for college credit,” Levy was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s edition on the newspaper.
Levy said investigators again wanted to know if Austin’s transcript had been altered.
“There was nothing wrong with his transcript. It was a dead issue. We were through with it,” he said.
Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury has declined to comment on the situation since Saturday when, after the Bulldogs won their exhibition opener, he said, “We made a decision to hold him out until we get an issue cleared up.”
Stansbury’s practices are closed to the media, and Austin has not been available for comment.
Templeton has said he hopes to have the issue resolved in a few days, though on Tuesday he said he could still not comment.