Two-and-a-half years ago, a scandal shook the Binghamton University athletic department. Now, the college is making strides to improve its athletic program. Our Elyse Mickalonis explains.

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BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- It was September 23, 2009, just over a month before the start of the Bearcats’ basketball season, when Binghamton's second leading scorer, Tiki Mayben, was arrested and charged with possessing and selling crack cocaine.

This was just the first domino out of many that lead to an investigation of the athletic department. Binghamton lost three top scorers from the previous season and their coach resigned the following fall.

Now, as BU continues to bounce back from the scandal that shook the school, Athletic Director Patrick Elliot says the key to success is bringing responsible student-athletes to campus.

"Because of the quality academics that we have at BU, we can go out and we can recruit a subset of prospective student-athletes that have that high level of academic success that are looking for the rigor and the academic quality we have that are also good athletes," said Patrick Elliot, Binghamton University Athletic Director.

Elliot was the guest of honor Tuesday at the Rotary Club's meeting in Binghamton. He spoke about his work and pointed to BU's success stories across the board.

"Baseball, we've been very successful, men's tennis we've been successful, men's soccer, we're building lacrosse right now," said Elliot. "So really it's exciting."

And although the athletic program is still recovering, students seem more concerned with how their basketball team is doing now, instead of living in the past.

"Although our team isn't doing great, everyone is friendly and just coming out to have a good time," said John Storey, a sophomore at BU. "Everyone puts a lot of effort in here at Binghamton."

"Every team goes through their ups and downs," said Jeffrey Mena, a freshman at BU. "Our basketball team right now hasn't won a game and I think they need to work on it."

But Elliot says the future of the program with its current class looks bright.

"We've got a great young class, very good students, they work hard every day, they're getting better," said Elliot. "It's a process and it takes time."

Perhaps, as with all things, time will heal the wounds from nearly three years ago.