Saginaw Valley State University has agreed to NCAA sanctions that force the Cardinals to vacate wins in 15 different sports, with a $5,000 fine and four years of probation after the athletic department self-reported the ineligible participation of 130 student-athletes over a five-year period.

The NCAA announced the sanctions Thursday, stemming from a report submitted by the SVSU athletic department on Sept. 6, 2017.

The NCAA Division II Committee on Infractions blamed staff turnover, a lack of communication, the university’s lack of resources directed toward compliance and additional responsibilities assigned to the compliance administrators.

“The committee is cognizant of the financial challenges faced by many Division II member schools,” the NCAA press release stated. “However, this case illustrates the need for all Division II schools to ensure that they devote the necessary funds and staffing to establish an effective and reliable compliance program that, at a minimum, can fulfill basic and fundamental responsibilities of membership, including eligibility certification, as exemplified in this case.”

The committee found one athlete who competed past 10 semesters of eligibility and 130 athletes who competed and received expenses while ineligible or improperly certified. Also, the university allowed 80 student-athletes to compete before their eligibility was reinstated.

Between the 2013-14 and 2017-18 seasons, SVSU improperly certified 130 student-athletes in 15 sports as eligible, resulting in 137 violations.

From 2013-14 through 2016-17, 69 athletes competed before receiving eligibility certification and 13 were certified as early academic qualifiers before high school transcripts were sent to the NCAA eligibility center.

From 2013-14 through 2016-17, 14 four-year college transfer athletes competed in their first year at SVSU without fulfilling the residency requirement or meeting one of the exemptions.

In the 2016-17 season, four two-year college transfer students were allowed to compete and receive aid in their first year of enrollment without meeting eligibility requirements.

From 2013-14 through 2016-17, 16 two-year college transfer students who were partial or non-qualifiers competed and received aid without meeting eligibility requirements.

From 2013-14 through 2016-17, 18 athletes who enrolled as entering freshmen competed before they were determined to be eligible by the NCAA’s Eligibility Center.

In the 2016-17 season, two transfer students in football and men’s soccer competed and received aid without meeting the eligibility requirement of earning nine semester hours of transferable degree credits.

In the 2017-18 season, one football player was allowed to compete beyond the first 10 semesters he was enrolled at SVSU.

The sanctions include four years of probation, a $5,000 fine and vacation of all records from games that featured the use of ineligible athletes. SVSU has 45 days to report all games that were impacted by the participation of ineligible athletes.

SVSU is not allowed to host an NCAA championship in any sport during the 2019 spring semester and must go through an outside audit of the compliance department during the 2018-19 school year.

For the four years of the probation period, all members of the SVSU athletic staff involved in the certification process must attend an NCAA regional rules seminar. The compliance officer must also attend the NCAA compliance annual convention at least once during the four years of probation.

Read the entire NCAA report on SVSU’s infractions, sanctions

"Despite the fact that the NCAA determined the violations were not intentional, we take full responsibility for our omissions in complying with NCAA regulations," SVSU athletic director John Decker said in a press release. "We are completely confident in the full eligibility of all current Cardinal student-athletes, and we have already taken steps to ensure appropriate checks and balances are in place so this does not happen again at SVSU."

All SVSU teams will remain eligible for post-season competition, and no SVSU programs will lose scholarships.