Eighty-four violations of NCAA rules occurred, as student-athletes improperly competed in 284 contests, receiving paid expenses without correct documentation. NCAA rules require student-athletes to be certified as amateurs — meaning they can’t be paid like professionals.
As a result, NCAA publicly reprimanded Drury and put the university on probation for three years. The private college must also pay a $5,000 fine. Drury must vacate all records in which student-athletes competed while officially ineligible — and disclose their probation status to student-athlete prospects.
Drury also said Thursday that the men’s swim team will forfeit a 2021 conference championship and a national runner-up finish from that year.
Nyla Milleson is Drury athletic director. She joined the university in February 2022, around the time the Great Lakes Valley Conference reached out to Drury about the issues.
Millson said, “We pride ourselves in doing things right. Unfortunately this is a situation that didn’t get handled at the time in a very positive way, so we’re about being better.”
Milleson also says due diligence education in and outside of the athletic department will be a key focus going forward.
How did the rules get broken?
The NCAA says a Drury athletic compliance director — who left the university in early 2022 — did not complete or submit required eligibility checklists for the 50 student-athletes.
According to NCAA’s negotiated resolution with Drury, the staffer “felt overwhelmed by her responsibilities, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic” and “simply did not have the time” to do the work required by the rules.
Ozarks Public Radio reached the former compliance director, now living out state, by text message on Friday.
The former Drury official said in part, “There are many reasons why I left Drury, and honestly don’t really care to comment on them."
Drury’s athletics website shows a new compliance director came on staff in May of last year.
In a statement released Thursday, Drury’s president, John Beuerlein, said the university takes "full responsibility" for the errors, and he apologized "deeply" to student-athletes affected by the situation.
