The SWAC announced Tuesday that it did not have enough evidence following an investigation that proved a claim Jackson State football accessed and used practice film owned by Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“After conducting a comprehensive review of the information received, which included an IT analysis provided by DVSportINC, both oral and written statements, written statements from both institutions, individual interviews, along with the consultation of legal counsel, the Conference Office does not have enough substantial evidence to prove any allegations of unethical conduct by Jackson State University,” the SWAC said in a statement.
The league indicated that it concluded its investigation but “reserves the right to review any additional information received on this matter.”
“The Southwestern Athletic Conference upholds an extremely high standard of integrity with all aspects related to athletic competition, and we will continue to take proactive steps to ensure fair competition within all sponsored sports,” the SWAC said.
Late last week, a report surfaced that the conference was investigating a claim that Jackson State had access to Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s practice footage ahead of the team’s Nov. 2 meeting, which Jackson State won 41-3.
An anonymous former UAPB player who appeared as a guest on the YouTube show Off Script Vidz earlier this month explained how Golden Lions head coach Alonzo Hampton accused him of sharing the film with Jackson State players.
An ESPN report indicated that around Oct. 31, an unnamed UAPB player told the coaching staff that Jackson State defensive players had viewed practice film that week. According to the report, a JSU player relayed that information to the UAPB player.
Hampton reportedly logged into the team’s software program and discovered that it had been accessed by someone with an IP address traced to Clinton, Mississippi, a town 20 minutes west of Jackson.
The player told ESPN he never logged back into the network where the UAPB practice film was stored after his stint with the Golden Lions was over, adding that sometimes players would have to share passwords.
Hampton explained what occurred from his perspective in his first public comments on the matter.
“We realize that our system was compromised. I had coaching changes in the summertime, including our video guy, and we did not remove those young men. Someone used his account to log in and watch film,” Hampton explained. “Everybody knows it’s illegal to share your credentials. [The former player] said he didn’t do it. Well, someone logged in to his account. I’m not the judge or the jury. We know our system was compromised, and someone logged in and watched some film.”
Jackson State released a statement last Friday saying that “we are aware of the allegations brought to the attention of the conference. After working with the conference office and having full transparency into our program, no violations were found, and the matter was closed.”
“I’ll leave everything up to the SWAC offices to clear that up,” JSU head coach T.C. Taylor said. “I do want to say this; we don’t need to go that route in order to beat any football team. I’ve been doing this a long time and I pride myself on doing it the right way. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Hampton expressed similar sentiments.
“Jackson State is the best, in my opinion. They have a really good football team,” he said. “I don’t think they needed to do anything if they did. I’m not saying they did. They were better than us. Let’s let this thing go away. They were the better team. That’s why they went undefeated in the SWAC.”
