Conference: NIC violated booster club fund rules
MacLennan
COEUR d'ALENE — A Northwest Athletic Conference investigation alleges violations at North Idaho College with the use of booster club funds for athletics, NIC officials acknowledged Friday.
"The NWAC report reveals areas that the college needs to address in order to better align the operations of our athletics program with NWAC rules," NIC President Rick MacLennan wrote in a memo to college faculty and staff.
"We accept full responsibility for the areas in which our athletic department practices and NIC Booster Club processes did not fully comply with NWAC guidelines, and NIC is committed to bringing clarity and oversight to the college’s financial relationship with the booster club."
MacLennan wrote that NWAC’s findings, recommended sanctions and NIC's appeal will remain confidential through the appeals process, per the NWAC codebook.
"I will share more details regarding the final resolution of this process when I am able to do so," he wrote.
Laura Rumpler, NIC's chief communications and government relations officer, wrote in an email Friday to The Press that NIC received the report earlier this week and has 30 days to submit its appeal.
The investigation stems from an anonymous complaint to the NWAC alleging that a sports team that NIC has not disclosed has violated NWAC rules on the use of booster club funds for student housing, food for athletes and athletic camps.
"The focus of the complaint is on our processes and procedures, not about actions by our student-athletes," MacLennan wrote earlier.
NIC announced in mid-April that NWAC representatives would meet with coaches, athletes and staff on campus that month to investigate.
The visit was two-fold — to look into the anonymous complaint and to conduct a regular overall athletics program review that all NWAC colleges undergo.
In his latest memo, MacLennan wrote that NIC has started to address some issues found by the NWAC "to ensure NWAC codebook compliance is an embedded focus for our athletics program."
"NWAC has acknowledged that its findings will help make NIC’s relationship with the booster club more transparent," MacLennan wrote. "The college will appeal those NWAC sanctions we believe are excessive and will have a negative impact on former, current and future NIC student-athletes."