JACKSON (AP)-Mississippi State admitted to secondary rules violations within its football program, but denied more serious NCAA allegations of offering to provide cash, cars and other perks to recruits.
The school released its 188-page response to the NCAA Friday addressing alleged rules violations between 1998-2002.
Mississippi State officials said the charges-ranging from offering recruits petty cash to paying the home mortgage for the family of a recruit-hinge on shaky testimony.
“These allegations rest on the testimony of individuals whose credibility and/or motives are questionable, and who certainly are not individuals upon whom ‘reasonably prudent persons would rely in the conduct of serious affairs,'” according to the response.
Mississippi State received a letter of allegations from the NCAA Dec. 2, detailing 13 possible rules violations.
The school said former assistant coach Jerry Fremin was aware of secondary violations, but said Fremin, former head coach Jackie Sherrill and former assistant Glenn Davis did not violate NCAA ethical conduct rules.
Fremin resigned in 2001 after receiving a reprimand from athletic director Larry Templeton.
The school acknowledged that several minor rules were broken:
* A booster arranged a part-time job for a recruit and paid a recruit $30 to move file boxes in the booster’s office.
* A booster loaned a player $750 to purchase a set of tires for his pickup truck, and the player’s mother reimbursed the booster later that day.
* The university paid three recruits nearly $400 for automobile expenses even though their high school coach drove the players.
The school also said it would consider imposing penalties on itself, but did not specify what those could be.
“The university will turn its attention to enhancing its rules-compliance program to better ensure that even secondary violations are not repeated,” the response said.
Infractions committee chairman Thomas Yeager did not return telephone messages seeking comment Friday.
Mississippi State representatives will meet with the NCAA infractions committee June 11 in Indianapolis. The NCAA will announce what, if any, sanctions against the school in late August.