Lafayette, LA – In a stunning move this afternoon that could have repercussions throughout college athletics in the United States, University of Louisiana at Lafayette administrators have confirmed that UL-Lafayette has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA.

The lawsuit filed by the university marks the end of a turbulent day that started with the unveiling of the NCAA ruling on ULL’s football program and concluded with ULL putting the NCAA in its crosshairs.

The lawsuit was made public by the university five hours after the NCAA announced its ruling on the investigation into the recruiting violations committed by the ULL football program from 2011 to 2014 and the sanctions against the football program including 2-years probation, vacation of wins, and reductions in scholarships, recruiting visits, and contact with prospective student athletes.

“I am very confident that this lawsuit will be the death blow against a corrupt elitist group who punishes programs in an unfair and arbitrary manner,” ULL President Joseph E. Savoie said at a press conference a few minutes ago.

According to the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Lafayette, ULL is accusing the NCAA of failure to stop the ACT fraud committed by ULL football officials in a timely manner and failure to police financial transactions between ULL football coaches and its football players.

“For nearly four years, the NCAA had no idea how much ULL’s football program lied and cheated to get student athletes eligible to play on their team,” ULL Athletic Director Scott Farmer said in his prepared statement at the press conference. “It is appalling and disgraceful how long the NCAA allowed this kind of cheating to continue.”

“The NCAA should have done a lot more to prevent us from cheating like this,” head football coach Mark Hudspeth said. “What kind of oversight and enforcement does the NCAA really have if they didn’t catch us cheating and paying players like we did for four years?”

ULL is seeking damages of roughly $500 million in damages to its reputation, emotional distress, and economic losses.

“The findings by the NCAA paint our great university as nothing more than a group of liars, con men, and cheaters,” President Savoie said. “Just because we cheated for a long time does not mean we are cheaters like the NCAA alleges we are.”

ULL President Joseph E. Savoie added, “Just because we paid an athlete $6,500 over one year, committed five or six acts of academic fraud on ACT exams, and helped three students drive 8-11 hours to find an ACT testing site that would give them a false score good enough to be eligible to play as a Ragin’ Cajun does not mean we are liars and cheaters.”

One administrator who wished to remain anonymous said off the record that ULL is willing to settle the lawsuit if the NCAA gets Conference USA to invite ULL as its newest member.