Greensboro College has to give back two games

Greensboro College has been informed by the NCAA that it must forfeit two wins from the recently completed 2009 football season because it used an ineligible student-athlete. The Pride’s win over Guilford and its victory at Washington & Lee are now losses by forfeit.

Greensboro College learned after the third week of the season that one of its football players might have been ineligible. Athletics Director Jean Lojko immediately reported that information to the NCAA, and the player was no longer allowed to participate with the team.

“This was a very unfortunate administrative oversight and was not the fault of the student-athlete,” said Pride head football coach Randy Hunt.

The NCAA directs schools in such situations to record the contest results but to add an asterisk and footnote indicating the games were later forfeited. The Pride beat Guilford 12-7 on Sept. 5 and defeated W&L 26-20 on Sept. 19.

Greensboro College has contacted those two schools about the infraction and the NCAA’s decision.

The Pride’s 2009 football record will now be recorded as 4-6. The Pride’s USA South Athletic Conference wins were not affected. GC finished 4-3 in the conference, matching the most conference wins in one season in program history.

“This incident does not take away the many positives from the 2009 Greensboro College football team,” Hunt said. “The improvement of our program, the competitiveness and good sportsmanship demonstrated by our team, cannot be denied.”