Posted at 3:01 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, 2004
NCAA upholds ruling to strip UH of volleyball title
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Warriors now must forfeit their title, take down the championship banner hanging in the Stan Sheriff Center and pay a $5,000 fine.
In September 2003, the NCAA voided the Warriors' 2002 championship after it was found that former Warrior outside hitter Costas Theocharidis, a two-time national Player of the Year, played in more than 20 matches with a professional team in Greece before enrolling at UH in August 1999.
The NCAA prohibits players from being a member of a professional team, even if the player did not receive money.
UH appealed, but after an eight-month investigation, the NCAA upheld its original ruling.
"That's ridiculous," Theocharidis said today. "I never had an agent. I never took money. I never had a contract. I'm not a professional."
Theocharidis said there are no amateur leagues in Greece. He said each team is allowed two amateur players. He said he appeared in matches with A.C. Orestiada, but only as a serving specialist. He said he refused to sign a contract that would have bound him to the team for five years.
The Warriors won the school's first NCAA men's team title by defeating Pepperdine in four games on May 4, 2002, in University Park, Pa.
