The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has placed the University of Washington on probation for two years and reduced financial aid awards and recruiting in men's basketball for violations of bylaws involving impermissible phone calls; recruiting contacts and evaluations; organized practices that were not part of any NCAA-certified event; and unethical conduct on the part of an assistant coach.

The case was adjudicated through the summary-disposition process, a cooperative endeavor involving the NCAA enforcement staff and an institution, which allows an infractions case to be reviewed by the committee on the written record, thus avoiding an in-person hearing.

The violations took place from May to August 2002 and involved four prospective student-athletes, one more extensively than the others, and primarily one assistant men's basketball coach. The assistant coach made several impermissible in-person recruiting contacts with a prospect and his family, as well as with another prospect and his mother, even though the young men had just completed their sophomore years of high school and could not yet be contacted in person under NCAA legislation.

The assistant coach also made contact with the prospects' club team coach during the time period in which the prospects were participating in NCAA-certified summer events.

The assistant coach also made at least 12 impermissible telephone contacts for recruiting purposes with two of the prospects before their junior years in high school.

The committee found that these violations were neither inadvertent nor isolated, and thus were major violations. The committee also noted that the assistant coach's involvement in these violations demonstrated an intentional disregard for NCAA bylaws and provided a significant recruiting advantage.

In July 2002, the head coach and the previously referenced assistant coach attended organized practices of AAU teams, although these practices were not designated as part of any NCAA-certified event. Though the institution and the head coach believed there was some confusion over whether the head coach was observing an open gym or a practice, the institution and the coach agreed with the NCAA that violations of NCAA legislation had occurred.

The committee, the enforcement staff, the institution and the assistant coach also agreed that the assistant coach knowingly engaged in conduct prohibited by NCAA legislation in an attempt to gain a recruiting advantage.

The committee also found that secondary violations had occurred regarding institutional staff members involved in non-coaching activities; off-campus recruiters; telephone calls to prospects; and tryouts.

The university imposed a number of corrective actions and penalties, which were considered and accepted by the committee. They are:

Terminated recruitment of a prospective student-athlete.

Prohibited an assistant coach from participating in any off-campus activities for the entire academic year (September 2002 to July 2003) and suspended the assistant coach for one month without pay, also reducing his pay by another month's salary.

Issued letters of reprimand to an assistant coach and the head coach, along with a letter of caution to another assistant coach.

Reduced by two the permissible contacts and reduced by three the permissible phone calls to a second prospective student-athlete for March (one otherwise permissible call), June (one otherwise permissible call) and the first week in July, as penalties and corrective measures for the one impermissible contact and three impermissible phone calls made to the prospect.

Prohibited the entire coaching staff from recruiting at one otherwise permissible premier AAU tournament in the summer of 2003.

Required the head coach and an assistant coach to meet monthly with the assistant athletics director for compliance and/or the faculty athletics representative. (This corrective measure was modified by the Pacific-10 Conference to require the entire basketball staff and director of basketball operations to attend monthly meetings with both the assistant athletics director for compliance and the faculty athletics representative.)

The Pac-10 imposed the following additional penalties, also accepted by the committee:

Required the university, if it elects to renew an assistant coach's contract, to report to the conference whether the assistant coach has maintained compliance with NCAA rules and the reasons why the university believes he should be retained as an assistant coach.

Publicly reprimanded the university and placed the men's basketball program on probation for a one-year period.

Because of the serious nature of the violations, the Committee on Infractions imposed the following additional penalties:

Public reprimand and censure.

Two years of probation from February 10, 2003 (the start date of the Pac-10's probationary period) to February 9, 2005.

Reduced the number of athletically related financial aid awards in men's basketball by one during either the 2003-04 or 2004-05 academic year, which limits the institution to 12 total grants for men's basketball under current rules for the given year.

Required that, during the probationary period, the university shall continue to develop and implement a comprehensive educational program on NCAA legislation and submit periodic reports to the NCAA. The university also is required to submit to the director of the NCAA Committees on Infractions a preliminary report that sets forth a schedule for establishing this compliance and educational program. The institution also must file annual compliance reports indicating progress made with the program and placing emphasis on compliance with recruiting legislation, in particular with recruiting contacts. At the end of the probationary period, the university's president will provide a letter to the committee affirming that the university's current athletics policies and practices conform to all requirements of NCAA regulations.

As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, the University of Washington is subject to the provisions of NCAA Bylaw 19.6.2.3 concerning repeat violators for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case (July 17, 2003).

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case are: Thomas Yeager, committee chair and commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association; Alfred J. Lechner Jr., attorney; Gene A. Marsh, professor of law, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Andrea Myers, athletics director, Indiana State University; James Park Jr., attorney, Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Eugene D. Smith, athletics director, Arizona State University.