One of IUP’s chief football rivals, Shepherd University, has been forced to vacate 26 wins—including two over the Crimson Hawks—after the NCAA found the school committed multiple eligibility violations across 10 varsity sports in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
In May, the NCAA and Shepherd jointly announced that the university would serve two years of probation and face penalties, including the loss of 45 total victories. The football team’s 26 vacated wins from those years include a 37-21 win over IUP early in 2021 and a 48-13 victory in the 2022 NCAA Division II Super Region One championship. Differing from a forfeit, vacated wins are results erased from Shepherd’s record, but opponents do not receive wins in their place.
The Rams went 13-2 both of those seasons and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs, but after the sanctions, the Shepherd athletics website lists the football team as 0-1 in each of those seasons.
The violations were self-reported in September 2023, after the school discovered athletes had been allowed to compete and/or practice while ineligible. Issues included players not being properly certified for amateurism, not enrolled full-time, not in academic good standing, lacking transferable credits, and/or receiving athletic scholarships without NCAA clearance.
As part of the punishment, Shepherd had to adjust its official records within 30 days and remove statistics for the 44 student-athletes found to be ineligible. The NCAA does not publicly identify which student-athletes were punished in this way.
IUP kicks off its season Thursday night at home against Ashland (7 p.m.).
