UPDATED: Josh Dollard dismissed from Auburn basketball team

To get sports editor Mike Szvetitz’s take on Josh Dollard’s dismissal, click here.

Josh Dollard’s turbulent career at Auburn is over.

The junior forward was officially dismissed from the AU basketball team Thursday, terminating his up-and-down stint with the Tigers.

Dollard, who sat out all of last season with what the school called “medical issues,” was expected to return this year. Head coach Jeff Lebo first raised doubts about Dollard’s return earlier this month, when he said the junior was being held out of offseason workouts by a back injury.

The Auburn athletic department issued a press release Thursday afternoon, saying Dollard had been kicked off the team for “violation of Auburn University Athletic Department policy.”

In a statement released by the school, Dollard took responsibility for his dismissal.

“I have had the opportunity to be successful on and off the court at Auburn,” he said. “Due to certain circumstances, I am unable to continue my career here at Auburn.

“I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in my career at Auburn, and I would like to wish my teammates, coaching staff and Auburn family much success in the future.”

Before missing all of last season, Dollard was suspended for the final five games of his freshman season and the first six games of his sophomore year for a violation of team rules.

He was Auburn’s leading scorer and rebounder as a sophomore in 2006-07, averaging 12.5 points and seven rebounds per game.

“Auburn has supplied Josh with all the resources for him to be successful,” Lebo said in a statement issued by the school. “Josh understood his requirements and responsibilities to be an Auburn student-athlete, and he has fallen short in fulfilling what was clearly communicated to him.”

According to an Auburn spokesman, Dollard was 12 academic hours short of a degree in sociology.

He has two years of athletic eligibility remaining. If he transfers to a Division I school, he will have to sit out a year and play just one. If he transfers to a Division II school, he will be eligible immediately.

Dollard’s return this season was expected to bolster an Auburn frontline that struggled without him last year. Instead, the Tigers must make do, yet again, with a short-handed roster.

Auburn will have just 10 scholarship players in 2008-09. The Tigers return five scholarship players — guards DeWayne Reed, Rasheem Barrett and Quantez Robertson and forwards Vot Barber and Lucas Hargrove — and add five newcomers.

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