Here is my summary of the information on this topic presented below: The Iowa wrestling program took full advantage of the Big Ten rules interpretation while Penn State didn't at all. Over the four years included in the NCAA audit Iowa exceeded the NCAA-approved scholarship limit by an average of 1.25 scholarships per year. This could have started anywhere between the late 70's to 1980. Between 1978 and 1986, Iowa's wrestling program under Gable won nine straight National titles. I have no information as to whether or not Iowa or Penn State extended the four year NCAA-mandated audit back into the 70s or 1980. No matter how you slice it, during the years Iowa exceeded the scholarship limits, they had a sizeable advantage over teams like Penn State who didn't take advantage of the rules interpretation by the Big Ten. My assumption is Penn State and the other schools who didn't grant additional scholarships didn't trust the Big Ten's interpretation and wanted to steer clear of any potential NCAA violations.
Here are some highlights from the linked article:
The NCAA has censured the Big 10 and will withhold $75,000 in grant money to the conference as penalties for a faulty league policy that allowed seven schools to hand out more scholarships than permitted in several non-revenue sports. The seven schools also will have limits placed on scholarships in the affected sports.
The problem occurred in calculating the value of scholarship money for in-state and out-of-state athletes. The Big 10 told schools they could base grants for in-state athletes on the more expensive out-of-state tuition. That made a scholarship worth more and allowed a school to divide it up among more athletes, putting them over the limit.
Northwestern, Michigan State, Ohio State and
Penn State didn’t exceed scholarship restrictions and were not hit with penalties.
The powerhouse Iowa wrestling program reportedly was five scholarships over the limit during the period [four years].
The situation, dating back to the late 1970s when Wayne Duke was commissioner, stemmed from an inaccurate interpretation of NCAA rules.
The practice went on until 1990, when it was discovered and rescinded by Delany. The NCAA asked the conference to conduct a four-year audit to determine the extent of the violations.
According to sources, the NCAA will say the conference was alerted as early as 1980 that its policy was in violation. But the Big 10 didn’t change its policy until Delany took over.
The NCAA has censured the Big 10 and will withhold $75,000 in grant money to the conference as penalties for a faulty league policy that allowed seven schools to hand out more scholarships than permitted in several non-revenue sports. The…
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