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The NCAA News -- July 19, 1999

Infractions case: Purdue University

Purdue University has been placed on probation for two years and may have to repay up to 90 percent of the revenues generated from the school's appearance in the 1996 Division I Men's Basketball Championship as part of penalties levied by the Division I Committee on Infractions for major violations primarily in the men's basketball program.

Violations of NCAA bylaws governing recruiting, extra benefits and ethical conduct were found in the men's basketball program. In addition, there were secondary violations in the women's basketball program.

The committee recommended that the school repay revenues already distributed from the team's 1996 basketball tournament appearance. However, the distribution of revenue is based on a rolling six-year appearance factor, and the committee has recommended that the school not receive an amount equal to 90 percent of its share of monies yet to be distributed for participation in the tournament in 1996. The recommendation will be forwarded to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet.

Among other penalties, an assistant basketball coach who was involved in violations is subject to NCAA "show-cause" requirements for one year. A show-cause penalty requires any NCAA institution seeking to employ an individual subject to show-cause provisions to appear before the Committee on Infractions. The committee determines whether the individual's athletically related duties should be limited for a specified time. The assistant coach also is prohibited from participating in off-campus recruiting for one year.

The committee found that recruiting and extra-benefits violations occurred in the summer of 1995 when an assistant basketball coach arranged for a prospective student-athlete to receive a $4,000 loan through a representative of the university's athletics interests. The loan was never repaid, minimal effort was made to collect the balance, and eventually, the loan was charged off by the bank. The loan from the representative of the university's athletics interests was not generally available to other students. It was unsecured, the student-athlete had no credit history, lacked a cosigner, was renewed without modification to the terms and was eventually charged off after the student-athlete left Purdue for another institution after the 1995-96 academic year.

The assistant coach also was found in violation of NCAA bylaws regarding ethical conduct for knowingly violating rules, by instructing a prospective student-athlete to provide false and misleading information to Purdue, and by providing misleading information to the university during its initial investigation of a secondary violation.

The committee also found that impermissible benefits were provided to the family of a men's basketball student-athlete when a representative of the university's athletics interests made arrangements for and paid to have the student-athlete's mother move from her home in Tennessee to Indianapolis in 1993.

Several secondary violations involving recruiting and extra benefits also were cited in the men's and women's basketball programs.

The committee did not impose all penalties allowable because the violations did not reflect lack of institutional control. The committee found the violations were the result of actions by one assistant coach and two representatives of Purdue's athletics interests involved in recruiting and arrangement of extra benefits.

The committee imposed the following penalties:

  • Public reprimand and censure.

  • Two years of probation beginning April 9, 1999, the date of the university's hearing before the Division I Committee on Infractions.

  • Reduction by one in the total number of athletically related financial aid awards in men's basketball during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years. That will limit the institution to 12 scholarships during those years.

  • Expenses-paid visits to the institution's campus in men's basketball will be limited to four each during 1999-00 and 2000-01.

  • An assistant men's basketball coach will be prohibited from participating in off-campus recruiting activities from July 8, 1999, to July 7, 2000.

  • All team and individual records for the 24 contests in which an ineligible student-athlete participated in 1995-96 will be vacated, including those earned in the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

  • The Committee on Infractions will recommend to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that Purdue be required to reimburse the Association for an amount equal to 90 percent of monies already received as revenue distribution from the 1996 Division I Men's Basketball Championship and that the institution not be permitted to receive an amount equal to 90 percent of its share of monies yet to be distributed by the NCAA for participation in the 1996 tournament.

  • An assistant men's basketball coach will be subject to show-cause requirements for one year. If the coach leaves Purdue and seeks employment at another NCAA member institution before April 1, 2000, the coach and the involved institution will be requested to appear before the Division I Committee on Infractions to consider whether the member institution should be subject to show-cause procedures which could limit the coach's athletically related duties for a specified time.

  • The representative of Purdue's athletics interests who was involved in the provision of an impermissible loan to a student-athlete should be disassociated for a period of four years beginning April 9, 1999, and ending April 8, 2003. The representative who provided extra benefits to the family of a student-athlete should be disassociated for two years beginning April 9, 1999, and ending April 8, 2001.

  • Purdue is required to develop a comprehensive athletics compliance-education program, with annual reports to the committee during the time of probation.

  • Recertification of current athletics policies and practices.

    As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Purdue is subject to the NCAA's repeat-violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the date of the hearing -- in this case, April 9, 1999.

    The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case are: David Swank, committee chair and professor of law, University of Oklahoma; Alice Gresham Bullock, dean, Howard University School of Law; Richard J. Dunn, professor of English, University of Washington; Jack H. Friedenthal, professor of law, George Washington University; James Park Jr., attorney and retired judge, Brown, Todd & Heyburn, Lexington, Kentucky; and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association.