The NCAA News - News and Features
The NCAA News -- May 10, 1999
Infractions case: California State University, Fullerton
The Division I Committee on Infractions has placed California State University, Fullerton, on four years of probation and restricted the university from awarding grants-in-aid to junior college transfer student-athletes for three years.
The violations primarily concerned NCAA bylaws governing recruiting of prospective student-athletes and providing the prospects with improper inducements. The committee also found a lack of institutional control and that the university failed to adequately monitor its athletics programs.
The committee levied other penalties, including imposing "show-cause" requirements on a former assistant men's basketball coach. If the former assistant men's basketball coach seeks employment or affiliation in an athletics position at an NCAA member institution during a three-year period from June 13, 1997, to June 13, 2000, he and the involved school must appear before the committee to determine if the coach's athletically related duties should be limited for a designated period.
According to the committee's report, during the summer and fall of 1993 and in the summer of 1994, several prospective men's basketball players, then enrolled in various junior colleges, received assistance with registering and paying the costs of correspondence courses at other institutions; received assistance in course registration at junior colleges and payment of tuition costs; and received improper cash payments, lodging, transportation and other benefits.
For example, during the summer of 1993, an assistant men's basketball coach paid a portion of the tuition costs for two prospective student-athletes to enroll at junior colleges other than the institutions they were attending. Another assistant facilitated the enrollment by completing the two student-athletes' applications for admission. That summer, one of the prospective student-athletes was enrolled in a total of six courses at three different junior colleges and another was enrolled in six courses at two different junior colleges.
The committee found that there also were violations of NCAA bylaws in providing excessive entertainment and extra benefits. For example, members of the men's basketball staff purchased tickets to various professional athletics events and other entertainment and provided them to student hosts and prospective student-athletes from 1992-93 through 1997-98.
A hearing before the Committee on Infractions occurred on September 25, 1998. After reviewing evidence, the committee scheduled an additional hearing on November 14, 1998, to address issues of a lack of institutional control and a failure to monitor.
The violations found by the committee are:
There was a lack of institutional control.
The institution failed to adequately monitor its athletics programs.
A former assistant men's basketball coach violated the NCAA standards of ethical conduct.
The institution provided improper inducements to prospective student-athletes in the form of cash, housing, transportation, payment for books and tuition, assistance in completing academic work and assistance in registration at other colleges.
The institution provided free medical services to a prospective student-athlete.
The institution provided prospective student-athletes with access to training facilities and provided improper entertainment in the form of tickets to professional sports events, amusement parks and comedy clubs.
Prospective student-athletes were employed at summer camps operated by the head coach of the men's basketball program.
The institution provided extra benefits to student-athletes.
In determining the appropriate penalties to impose, the committee considered the institution's self-imposed corrective actions:
The head men's basketball coach will attend an NCAA regional compliance meeting for two years.
The head men's basketball coach will conduct a seminar for all basketball coaches and staff that summarizes points made at the compliance meetings.
The director of compliance will be required to attend the head coach's seminars.
The athletics department will file reports on the compliance program with the president's office.
The athletics advisory council standing committee on rules compliance will continue the current practice of monthly compliance meetings.
The university will develop policies and procedures for early review of the academic standing of junior college prospective student-athletes who were not qualifiers out of high school.
The committee adopted as its own the following penalties proposed and self-imposed by the institution:
Reduce by two the number of permissible official visits in men's basketball during the 1998-99 and 1999-00 academic years.
Restrict the head basketball coach from conducting off-campus recruiting activities during the period from December 1, 1998, through November 30, 1999.
Reduce by two the number of permissible athletics grants-in-aid in men's basketball during each of the 1999-00 and 2000-01 academic years.
The committee chose not to impose all of the presumptive penalties permitted because of the actions taken by the university to institute appropriate corrective measures and to self-impose meaningful penalties upon its basketball program. The university self- imposed a number of penalties accepted by the committee. The additional penalties imposed by the committee are:
Public reprimand and censure.
Four years of probation from November 14, 1998, the date of the hearing.
During the 1999-00 academic year, the men's basketball team may not take advantage of the exceptions to the limitation in the number of basketball contests regarding preseason contests and other exceptions to the maximum number of contest limitations.
Prohibit the awarding of initial grants-in-aid in men's basketball to junior college transfer student-athletes during the period from December 1, 1998, through November 30, 2001.
Reduce the number of permissible evaluation days from 40 to 30 for three years. If the institution self-imposed this penalty upon itself for 1998-99 this period will extend to the 2000-01 academic year. If it did not impose the penalty for 1998-99 the period will extend to 2001-02.
Forfeit all men's basketball contests in which ineligible men's basketball student-athletes participated.
During probation, the institution will develop and implement a comprehensive educational program on NCAA legislation; submit a report to the director for the NCAA infractions committees by July 1, 1999, which sets forth a schedule for establishing this compliance and education program; file annual compliance reports; and require all members of the men's basketball coaching staff to attend an NCAA regional compliance seminar for one year and the men's basketball coach for two years.
The institution's president will recertify in a letter to the committee that all of the university's current athletics policies and practices conform to all requirements of NCAA regulations.
If the assistant men's basketball coach had still been employed in athletics at the institution, the university would have been required to show-cause why it should not be subject to additional penalties if it had failed to take appropriate disciplinary action against him.
The former assistant men's basketball coach will be informed in writing by the NCAA that, due to his involvement in certain violations of NCAA legislation found in this case, if he seeks employment or affiliation in an athletically related position at an NCAA member institution during a three-year period from June 13, 1997, to June 13, 2000, he and the involved institution shall be requested to appear before the Committee on Infractions to consider whether the member institution should be subject to show-cause procedures which could limit his athletically related duties at the new institution for a designated period.
As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Cal State Fullerton is subject to the provisions of the NCAA's repeat-violators legislation for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties of this case, November 14, 1998.
The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case are David Swank, committee chair, professor of law, University of Oklahoma; Richard J. Dunn, professor of English, University of Washington; Jack H. Friedenthal, professor of law, George Washington University; Frederick B. Lacey, attorney and retired judge, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, Newark, New Jersey; James Park Jr., attorney and retired judge, Brown, Todd & Heyburn, Lexington, Kentucky; Yvonne L. (Bonnie) Slatton, department of physical education and sports studies, University of Iowa; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association.
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