SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 6, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — The NCAA said in a statement Tuesday morning that the University of Utah men’s basketball program conducted “impermissible recruiting activities” in spring of last year.
In addition, the head coach failed to meet his responsibility to monitor his staff and promote rules compliance, according to a Division I Committee on Infractions panel.
The recruiting violations occurred over a seven-day period in April 2018, officials said.
“According to the committee, an assistant coach misapplied recruiting rules and believed off-campus recruiting activities were allowed during a quiet period,” the statement said. “Acting on the misunderstanding, the committee said the assistant coach conducted an evaluation of a recruit at a community college, and the full men’s basketball coaching staff visited a second recruit at his high school during the quiet period.”
The committee found that the associate head coach coordinated with a local community college’s men’s basketball head coach to get the high school prospect to the university’s campus for a visit. The community college paid for the prospect to visit its campus. While the prospect was in the area, he also visited the University of Utah campus, according to the committee.
“When he arranged the prospect’s trip, the community college head coach became a booster,” the statement said. “Because he was a booster, the coach’s contact with the prospect and the money spent to bring the prospect to the state and to the university violated NCAA recruiting rules. Since the community college paid for the prospect’s visit to the university, the visit was classified as official and caused the university to exceed the number of allowable official visits.”
The committee said the U’s head coach violated NCAA head coach control rules when he did not promote rules compliance and monitor his staff to ensure they were following the rules. He did not confirm with compliance officials that the off-campus evaluation and contacts were permissible.
“When the head coach learned about the off-campus recruiting violations, he immediately reported the activity to compliance,” the statement said. “In the same conversation, he asked the compliance officer about whether the prospect’s visit could take place, but he did not confirm that all circumstances of the visit complied with NCAA rules. The committee said that as a result, the university allowed a booster to finance an official visit and have contact with a prospect.”
The program also committed a Level III violation when the men’s basketball staff observed the head coach’s prospect-aged son participating with members of the men’s basketball team in a practice activity. The committee noted the coaches’ observation of the otherwise permissible activity converted it into an impermissible tryout.
This case was resolved through the summary disposition process, a cooperative effort where the involved parties collectively submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in written form, the statement said. The NCAA enforcement staff, involved individuals and university must agree to the facts and overall level of the case to use this process instead of a formal hearing.
“The panel held an expedited penalty hearing because the head coach did not agree with the two-game suspension proposed by the committee,” the statement said. “After the hearing, the committee determined the violations were unintentional, limited and not indicative of systemic problems. For those reasons, the committee did not prescribe the suspension it initially proposed.”
The committee used the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to prescribe the following measures:
- Two years of probation.
- A $5,000 fine (self-imposed by the university).
- A one-year show-cause order for the associate head coach.
- Recruiting restrictions, including:
- A prohibition of all four countable men’s basketball coaches from off-campus recruiting for a five-day period from July 11-15, 2018 (self-imposed by the university).
- A reduction of men’s basketball in-person recruiting days from 130 to 113 for the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university).
- A three-week ban on men’s basketball unofficial visits and complimentary admissions beginning Nov. 2, 2018 (self-imposed by the university).
- A reduction in the number of men’s basketball official visits by two in 2018-19 (self-imposed by the university).
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and the public.
