Statement by President Mary Sue Coleman: I am here today to tell you about the conclusion of our investigation into the relationship between Ed Martin and the University of Michigan basketball program. I am going to tell you what we learned, and what we’re going to do about it.

Numerous allegations about problems in the basketball program surfaced in the news media over a six-year period beginning in 1996. In March, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Ed Martin, and the subsequent plea bargain that Mr. Martin reached with the federal government finally assured his cooperation with the University in learning the truth about what happened.

On We also learned about other benefits that Mr. Martin provided to our players, in violation of NCAA rules.

There is no excuse for what happened. It was wrong, plain and simple. We have let down all who believe that the University of Michigan should stand for the best in college athletics. We have disappointed our students, our faculty, our alumni and our fans. This is a day of great shame for the University.

I am determined that nothing like this will ever happen again at Michigan.

Today we will submit our report to the NCAA. In it we have listed the penalties we will impose upon ourselves in order to make up for what happened. These sanctions are strong medicine.

First of all, we will forfeit every game that we won while those four players were ineligible. That includes the 1992 and 1993 Final Fours, the entire 1992-93 season, and all the seasons from fall 1995 through spring of 1999. We will remove those victories from all our programs and other written materials, including our new basketball media guide. We will do this because in fact we did not win those games fairly. We weren’t playing by the rules.

Today we took down the four championship banners that hung in Crisler Arena. Those were banners for the 1998 Big Ten Conference Championship, the 1997 NIT Championship, and the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Final Four appearances. Those victories are gone, erased.

We will return to the NCAA all money we received for postseason play with those ineligible players—about $450,000.

We will declare ourselves ineligible to participate in the 2003 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament as well as the 2003 National Invitational Tournament. And, we will put our men’s basketball program on probation for two years. During that time I will be supervising detailed reports on compliance to be made to the NCAA.

These are very serious sanctions. We considered these carefully in light of the gravity of the violations and the consistent approach the NCAA has had toward such problems at other universities.

This is the University’s third investigation into the basketball program since 1996. As a new president, I have been impressed with the persistence that the University has shown in getting at the truth. No one wanted to sweep these problems under the rug. Athletic Director Bill Martin has done all the right things to make it very clear to everyone in the department that integrity is our top priority. And he put significant resources behind that goal by hiring a top-notch staff to oversee compliance. All of the changes that have been made, from tighter access policies to major coaching changes, are meant to ensure that we never again will have to stand before you and tell you that our University broke the rules.

Let me say once again, loud and clear: Integrity is Michigan’s top priority.

I would now like to ask Bill Martin to share his thoughts with you. Statement by Athletic Director Bill Martin >>