An uncertain period for Fort Lewis College Athletics continues.
Less than two weeks after Director of Athletics Travis Whipple resigned from his position to take a new job in collegiate athletics, FLC has been put on probation for two years by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for eligibility certification violations across 11 sports.
A 12-page negotiated resolution involving FLC, former FLC Assistant Director of Internal Operations Kali Barber and the NCAA enforcement staff was released last week on the NCAA’s Legislative Services Database regarding the violations FLC committed and the penalties.
FLC has been put on probation through July 8, 2027, after the school and Barber failed to properly certify 29 student-athletes in 11 sports as eligible for competition during the 2022-23 academic year.
To be certified to play NCAA sports, student-athletes must meet certain academic and amateurism requirements. The process ensures student-athletes complete core courses, maintain a quality GPA and confirms the amateur status of athletes, among other requirements
Twenty of the 29 ineligible student-athletes competed in 165 contests (practices, games). The 29 student-athletes were involved with FLC football, men’s golf, men’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s track and field, and women’s golf.
According to the negotiated settlement, 24 of the 29 student-athletes would have been eligible for competition if the college would have ensured that student-athletes submitted, “the initial eligibility and amateur information to the NCAA Eligibility Center in a timely matter,” according to the negotiated settlement. Only one athlete was determined to be ineligible due to academic deficiencies.
“None of the individuals that were directly responsible for the compliance failures are still employed by the college,” said FLC spokeswoman Nardy Bickel. “When leadership came in and found and realized that there were issues, they self-reported to NCAA and took immediate corrective action once the errors were discovered. So, it speaks about Fort Lewis College taking responsibility and really working proactively with NCAA enforcement staff to reach a collaborative resolution.
“Since the issues were found, we have worked to overhaul our compliance protocols,” Bickel added. “We’ve invested in training and staffing and participated in NCAA compliance blueprint program to start training those systems.”
FLC self-imposed a fine of $1,000 to the NCAA. The Skyhawks must also pay an additional fine of $1,500 to the NCAA, according to the negotiated resolution.
Along with the fine, FLC must vacate wins and individual records from the 11 sports that occurred during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years as a result of the violations of the case, according to the negotiated resolution. However, the individual records of eligible student-athletes from that time shall be retained.
The best season in 2023-24 that will be vacated was the men soccer teams’; FLC finished 12-5-4 overall and won the RMAC regular season championship. FLC went to the NCAA tournament and lost in the second round.
There was a lot of turnover in key administrative positions in the Skyhawks’ athletic department, starting in the spring of 2022, where five of the six members of the department’s senior leadership team left, according to the resolution.
“This turnover was a contributing factor to a loss of institutional and departmental history and culture, as well as a failure to establish and update policies, procedures and practices pertaining to rules compliance,” according to the negotiated settlement.
Two people who were hired because of the turnover were Whipple and Barber. Whipple’s hiring was announced on June 21, 2022, and Barber’s hiring was announced on May 31, 2022.
Barber joined FLC after she held a graduate assistant position at Seattle Pacific University in the Compliance and Academic Success sector. She graduated from Pacific University in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and motor behavior. She was a four-year member of the women’s soccer team.
The 2022-23 academic year at FLC was Barber’s first year of full-time experience in compliance, according to the negotiated settlement. She was primarily responsible for verifying student-athletes initial eligibility and amateurism certifications when the violations occurred.
However, other staff members like sport head coaches, assistant director of athletics for student-athlete success and the director of Skyhawk station/student services worked with Barber to review the documents.
Making sure an athlete is eligible and certified is a multistep process. A student-athlete must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. This includes providing basic information about themselves, their school and their athletic participation, according to honestgame.com.
The NCAA then certifies that an athlete is eligible to compete in the NCAA.
Along with registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center, athletes must have their high school counselor upload their transcript to the NCAA Eligibility Center Portal. Athletes also must complete an amateurism certification questionnaire, which asks about an athlete’s previous sports participation and compensation or benefits, according to honestgame.com.
Athletes might have to submit additional documentation like bank statements, tax returns, employment contracts or educational records depending on the athlete’s responses to the amateurism certification questionnaire, according to honestgame.com.
Then, coaches can request their compliance office that an athlete is put on their NCAA Institutional Request List (IRL).
“The NCAA Eligibility Center is informed of the institution’s interest in obtaining an academic and amateurism certification for the student-athlete,” Courtney Rickard wrote on honestgame.com. “Additionally, all prospective DI and DII recruits must be placed on each school’s IRL in order to take their official campus visit, receive an athletic scholarship, or sign an athletic grant-in-aid.”
An institution’s compliance has a list of athletes registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center and has a checklist of the tasks an athlete has completed and has not completed.
The institution’s compliance officer then alerts head coaches of each sport what tasks each athlete must complete to be eligible.
FLC’s trouble with eligibility and certification began on Aug. 23, 2023, according to the negotiated resolution. A compliance officer at a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference school called FLC regarding the amateurism certification of a softball transfer from FLC. The Skyhawks athletic department found that student-athlete’s certification wasn’t completed.
Once the FLC athletic department found that out, it reviewed other student-athletes certifications for the 2022-23 academic year and found that student-athletes across multiple sports did not have the proper eligibility or certifications completed and they competed while they were ineligible, according to the negotiated resolution.
Then, FLC hired a former NCAA staff member to conduct an internal investigation. The internal investigation started in October 2023 and involved interviewing nine current and former coaches and 10 current and former athletics administrators, according to the negotiated resolution.
FLC forwarded its self-report of its internal investigation to the enforcement staff on April 29, 2024, which found the institution, including Barber, didn’t evaluate and/or initial eligibility and amateur status on eligibility checklists, according to the negotiated resolution, resulting in the ineligibility of 29 student-athletes.
“The institution did not have proper checks and balances in place or establish an adequate system of external oversight with respect to student-athletes initial-eligibility or amateurism certification,” according to the negotiated resolution.
“While multiple staff members signed the eligibility checklists, they did not properly review the information or identify that they were missing essential information, such as whether student-athletes were certified for practice and/or competition and assumed that all student-athletes were eligible. As a result, the institution failed to monitor this critical area of compliance.”
Barber was interviewed by the enforcement staff on Aug. 16, 2024, according to the negotiated resolution. She claimed she alerted the head coaches by email which student-athletes were ineligible.
But, coaches disagreed and said they weren’t informed. Their claims were backed up when Barber’s college email account was searched and no emails were found backing up her claims.
In the negotiated settlement, the parties agreed that Barber violated NCAA principals of ethical conduct and her responsibility to cooperate when she knowingly provided misleading or false information regarding her involvement of the violations.
Barber’s FLC tenure ended in May 2023, according to her LinkedIn page. She started her current job as compliance manager/senior woman administrator at Seattle Pacific University in July of 2023.
She was unable to talk about the violations and FLC’s probation due to a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), but she provided a statement.
“I am not going to discuss the situation at Fort Lewis College years ago,” Barber said. “I am thankful that every day at Seattle Pacific University provides me with the opportunity to work with talented student-athletes and with dedicated coaches and administrators who support the athletic, academic, and personal development of our student-athletes.”
There were many agreed-upon penalties by the parties involved in the negotiated resolution, including informing recruiting prospects for the 11 teams involved in the violations in writing that the institution is on probation for two years and FLC must detail the violations committed. If a prospect takes an official visit, FLC must inform the prospect of the violations before the visit.
Another penalty is Barber will be put on a show-cause order through Aug. 20, 2027. She must attend an ethics training within 60 days of the finalization of the agreement and an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
A major infractions case like this is somewhat rare at the Division II level, with only four other cases listed in 2025 in the NCAA’s Legislative Services Database.
Bickel isn’t sure when the wins will be vacated by FLC. She said that will be determined by the NCAA in collaboration with FLC. Since the case has been resolved, FLC will pay the $1,500 fine.
FLC is satisfied with the negotiated resolution, according to Bickel. She said the resolution reflects FLC’s commitment to student-athlete success, integrity and institutional accountability.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
