Following are statements issued today (May 8) by University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and U-M Athletic Director Bill Martin, in response to the report of the NCAA Infractions Committee.

Statement by President Mary Sue Coleman
“First and foremost we remain committed to the integrity of our athletics program. The acceptance by four former Michigan basketball players of improper loans from Ed Martin was wrong. It violated NCAA rules, and we believe strong actions were necessary to make sure such behavior never again occurs at our university. “We have always accepted responsibility for the concerns raised by the NCAA and by the Infractions Committee in its report. We agree that these were very serious infractions, and we accept the additional penalties imposed by the committee that address the loss of four scholarships over four years, the extension of the probation period to four years, and the requirement to disassociate the players involved or demonstrate why we should not. We own the wrongdoing and we own the responsibility. “Sticking with this investigation over many years and despite many obstacles was very difficult for us. Yet we did the right thing, and we are proud of how we handled the situation. We pursued the investigation relentlessly, we fired a coach, and we made top-to-bottom changes throughout the Athletic Department. We persisted in the investigation until we got to the truth, and then we took tough medicine on our own. “And now we will accept additional sanctions, as well. However, I am disappointed that the committee’s actions have the affect of punishing our current, uninvolved student-athletes with an additional one-year ban on postseason play. This contradicts one of the core principles of the NCAA. "Therefore, we will ask the NCAA to reconsider and spare our current student-athletes from further punishment. We completely accept the additional sanctions that involve loss of scholarships and extended probation, but we believe that the additional year of postseason ban puts a disproportionate burden on our current players. We will file an appeal solely focused on the additional postseason ban. "It is time for us to move forward. We expect this focused appeal to conclude by early fall, and we are concentrating on supporting Coach Amaker as we continue to build a program of which we are all proud."

Statement by Athletic Director William Martin

“We have said time and time again that our goal has been to get to the truth, and to do whatever it takes to ensure we have a program that is fully in compliance with NCAA rules. Everything we have done has been with that goal in mind. “These infractions date as far back as the early 1990s. Some of the relationships between Ed Martin and our players began while the students were still in high school or even middle school. In 1996, when events led us to begin our first investigation, those involved would not cooperate, and we were not able to get to the truth. Only an unrelated federal investigation of Ed Martin allowed us to finally uncover the details. In the end we conducted three separate investigations. We worked side by side with officials from the Big Ten and the NCAA. We included the NCAA in every action we took, and consulted them at every opportunity. “The changes that have occurred throughout this process have been dramatic. Let me talk first about personnel changes. All of the players who were directly involved with Ed Martin, or who were in the program at the time the infractions occurred, have long since left. We have had three different athletic directors, three coaches, three University presidents and two interim presidents since the time when these infractions first occurred. “Those of us here now—myself, President Mary Sue Coleman, compliance director Judy Van Horn, men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker, and all the young men playing on the team — had no connection with these events other than our complete and total commitment to find out the truth and do whatever was necessary to clean up our program and accept responsibility. “We hired Judy Van Horn precisely because she is one of the most widely respected compliance professionals in the country. We wanted her no-nonsense approach and her knowledge of what works. We wanted her appointment to send a strong message to our staff, to our players, and to the NCAA and Big Ten that we are committed to having the very best compliance program possible. “I raised this position to the level of associate athletic director, and added a number of staff. Both President Coleman and I told Judy that our doors are always open, and that we want a personal call from her if she has any concerns about things going on in the department. We also took a number of other policy and educational actions to strengthen compliance.
“I mentioned that we worked closely with the NCAA on every phase of our investigation. Ed Martin’s plea agreement with the federal government finally enabled us, together with NCAA staff, to be debriefed by his attorneys. We promptly and fully reported what we found, and we imposed thorough and appropriate sanctions upon ourselves. “Those sanctions were: vacating 114 games including two Final Fours; removing four championship banners from Crisler Arena; returning to the NCAA the money we received for postseason play with ineligible players; removing ourselves from postseason play for one year; and putting ourselves on probation for two years. We imposed these severe sanctions because we thought it was the right thing to do. We made a deliberate decision to announce the sanctions publicly, because we thought it would set a positive example for accountability. “As President Coleman stated, we will appeal only the extra year’s postseason ban. We believe that the additional postseason ban is counter to the core mission of NCAA enforcement. Here is a quote from the NCAA Bylaws: ‘An important consideration in imposing penalties is to provide fairness to uninvolved student-athletes, coaches, administrators, competitors and other institutions.’ Our current student-athletes were not involved in any way—all they did was play their guts out this season, knowing they couldn’t go to the Dance. I hope we can balance the need for punishment with the value of fairness. “I’m so proud of Coach Tommy Amaker and of all the team has accomplished this year. These young men held their heads high in the face of an extremely difficult situation. "The institution has worked hard. President Coleman did the right thing this year. Now we’re looking forward to what’s ahead."