St. Scholastica men's hockey progam cited for major NCAA violations by former coach Kevin Moore

DULUTH — The St. Scholastica men's hockey program has been placed on two years probation and fined $2,500 by the NCAA Division III Committee on Infractions for major violations by former head coach Kevin Moore.

According to the NCAA report published Wednesday , Moore provided impermissible benefits to student-athletes, including loans to three international students for temporary off-campus housing while they secured permanent housing. According to the NCAA, the Saints' captains offered to let the international students live with them for free and Moore provided the captains with an impermissible free meal to show his appreciation.

Moore also engaged in impermissible out-of-season activities by attending voluntary athletic activities such as open skates and discussing schemes and strategy during one-on-one meetings with players out of season, according to the NCAA.

Moore was hired as head coach by the Saints in July 2020 and resigned in August of 2021 after just one pandemic-shortened season. The Saints went 7-8 overall under Moore and were ousted in the semifinals of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. Dave Williams, an assistant coach under Moore and former Saints captain, was named interim head coach in August 2021. Williams led the Saints to an 11-10-2 record in 2021-22 and fourth-place finish in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

In a release sent Wednesday , St. Scholastica said it self-reported the violations to the NCAA after investigating an anonymous report of violations that were occurring in December 2020.

"The college has been cooperating with the NCAA and the committee on infractions throughout the process," Saints interim director of athletics Merissa Edwards said in a statement. "We accept the sanctions from the committee as The College of St. Scholastica takes seriously its responsibility to follow the rules and regulations set forth by the NCAA. We strive to improve our policies and procedures when it comes to educating our coaches, staff and student-athletes on NCAA Division III bylaws."