Freshman Bryant Fitzgerald Ruled a Non-Qualifier

IU Athletics Release

INDIANA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS STATEMENT REGARDING BRYANT FITZGERALD

The NCAA Eligibility Center has advised Indiana University that true freshman football player Bryant Fitzgerald has been ruled a final non-qualifier and is not eligible to play or practice for the 2017 season. He will be allowed to maintain his full scholarship and receive all other student-athlete support. Fitzgerald’s ineligibility was caused by a mistake by the Office of Compliance Services of the Indiana University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, which inaccurately advised him regarding his eligibility requirements. Had that mistake not occurred, Fitzgerald would have had ample time and opportunity to establish his eligibility. This was a mistake by the Department, not Fitzgerald and not the football program. On Aug. 3, 2017, the Department filed a waiver request with the NCAA to restore Fitzgerald’s eligibility status. That request was denied on Aug. 14, 2017. On Aug. 14, 2017, the Department filed an appeal of the denial of the waiver request to the Eligibility Center. That appeal was denied on Aug. 18, 2017.

“Bryant Fitzgerald is a smart, outstanding young man who is academically prepared and capable of being very successful at IU,” said IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass. “His ineligibility is not his fault. It is ours. On behalf of myself and everyone associated with IU Athletics, I personally apologize to Bryant and his family for our mistake. While it was an isolated and unintended one, it is no less devastating to Bryant, and I could not feel worse about it. The process leading to the mistake has been fixed and redundancies added, and we are very confident nothing like this will ever happen again. I am very disappointed in the NCAA for not granting our waiver request nor our appeal. Bryant should not have to bear the brunt of our mistake, and the NCAA could have, and should have, remedied that in the interest of this student’s well-being, who is in this situation though absolutely no fault of his own.”