The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee has upheld a show-cause penalty against a former assistant men’s basketball coach at Indiana.

The former coach had appealed the Division I Committee on Infractions’ assessment of that penalty, as well as recruiting restrictions and mandatory attendance at NCAA regional rules seminars.

The November 2008 case involved multiple violations of telephone recruiting rules, unethical conduct by two coaches (including the former assistant coach) and a failure to monitor by the former head coach and the university. The violations were committed as the head coach served penalties imposed on him for similar violations in a prior case.

In February 2009, the Committee on Infractions issued a supplemental report on the case, which affected the violations and penalty findings for the appealing assistant. The committee issued the supplemental report because of the former assistant coach’s request for reconsideration based on procedural error.

In response, the Committee on Infractions agreed to revise the report language and reduced the show-cause order to 30 months instead of three years. The committee also changed the effective dates of the penalties and reduced the number of mandatory NCAA regional rules seminars.

The former assistant contended, though, that the penalty reductions were inadequate and that the decreased penalties were still excessive. 

The Infractions Appeals Committee, however, upheld the reduced penalties, noting that they were not excessive in light of the nature, number and seriousness of the violations, as well as the unique circumstances under which they occurred.

The members of the Infractions Appeals Committee who heard this case were Christopher L. Griffin, Foley & Lardner LLP, chair; Susan Cross Lipnickey, Miami University (Ohio); Noel M. Ragsdale, University of Southern California; David Williams II, Vanderbilt University; and Terry Don Phillips, Clemson University.