Five weeks after leading Paine College to its first conference golf championship, coach Fred Summers is no longer employed by the school.

Summers was asked last week to resign after three seasons, several persons close to the golf program told The Augusta Chronicle . The school informed Summers this week his contract would not be renewed.

Summers, who also was an assistant basketball coach, did not return a cell phone message Friday. Athletic Director Ron Spry referred all questions to Brandon Brown, the school's vice president of institutional development.

"That's a personnel matter," Brown said. "We would not want to comment on that."

The Lions planned to participate in the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship on May 9-11 after winning the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship. Paine did not go when the school, citing lack of funds, canceled the trip.

Last week, Paine president Dr. George C. Bradley stated the team used an ineligible player. He added the school self-reported the violation to the conference and to the NCAA. He did not name the player or describe the violation.

"The fact of the matter is that money was only a part of the problem," Bradley wrote in a news release last week. "The other part, a much more significant one, had to do with the ineligibility of a Paine golfer who played in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament."

Brown refused to discuss the eligibility issue Friday afternoon.

"In the president's article, he described what took place as far as the circumstances with the golf team," Brown said. "The student and his academic status and his status in regards to his eligibility, I would not be in position at this moment to discuss it."

George Mategakis, the SIAC's director of championships, said Friday that Paine will not be stripped of its championship. The school reported the violation after April's tournament.

"The severity of the violation, after consultation with the NCAA, it wasn't as severe as originally thought," Mategakis said.