Sterk: Mizzou is appealing NCAA penalties

Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk said Thursday he’s shocked by the NCAA’s decision to ban football, baseball, and softball from their next postseasons.

“I certainly don’t think that these penalties are reflective of what we expected for self-reporting,” Sterk said. “We’ll have an opportunity to correct this action.”

Sterk says MU athletics reported the academic violations by a tutor as soon as officials found out what happened, and worked with the NCAA for years on the case.

An outside attorney is already working on an appeal. It’s not clear yet if the punishments will be put on hold during the appeal, which could take months.

Sterk was asked Thursday if the decision tells other schools they should not cooperate with NCAA investigations.

“I believe in doing things the right way, and we’re going to continue to do things the right way. I think it has to be corrected on the other side, so that it doesn’t impact people in that negative way.”