The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has placed Richmond on two years of probation and imposed recruiting restrictions in eight sports for impermissible recruiting text messages and telephone calls to prospective student-athletes.

The committee also found the university failed to monitor its athletics program, and that the head men’s and women’s basketball coaches did not promote “an atmosphere of compliance.”

The case involved 516 impermissible text messages and 83 impermissible phone calls to 17 prospects and parents.

This case was resolved through the summary-disposition process, a cooperative effort in which the involved parties submit the case to the Committee on Infractions in writing. When the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and involved individuals agree to the facts of the case and penalties proposed by the university, they may use this process instead of a formal hearing. This was the third summary-disposition case involving impermissible text messages, e-mail or telephone calls reviewed by the committee within the last year.

After review of the summary-disposition report, the committee concluded that the case warranted additional findings of violations for some of the involved coaches. In September, the committee and the university reached an agreement with regard to these additional recruiting findings.

Between August 24 and November 1, 2007, members of the men’s basketball staff sent 129 impermissible text messages to five prospects and one parent of a prospect. Further, between August 2 and November 13, 2007, members of the men’s basketball staff placed as many as 83 impermissible telephone calls to a then-prospect and his parents.

Between September 1, 2007, and January 12, 2008, members of the women’s basketball staff sent 368 impermissible text messages to four prospects and a parent.

These violations led to a finding that the head men’s and women’s basketball coaches failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within their programs and failed to monitor recruiting contacts through text messaging and phone calls.

Between August 1, 2007, and January 10, 2008, coaches from the baseball, football, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, and women’s track and field programs sent 19 impermissible text messages to six prospects and a parent.

The violations led to a failure-to-monitor charge for the university, with the committee noting that the institution did not adequately monitor the transmission of text messages from coaches to prospects and parents.

The penalties in this case, including those self-imposed by the university, are:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• Two years of probation, from November 5, 2009, to November 4, 2011.

Men’s basketball penalties

• Reduced the men’s basketball coaching staff’s allowable recruiting days for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years from 130 to 100.
• Reduced the number of official visits for men’s basketball prospects from the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years from 12 to six.
• Reduced the number of permissible telephone calls to senior prospects from two per week to one per week during the 2008-09 academic year.
• Prohibited an assistant coach from engaging in all recruiting activities other than receipt of phone calls from prospects for 60 days.
• Prohibited an assistant coach from initiating any telephone contact or correspondence with prospects for 30 days.
• Prohibited an assistant coach from any telephone contact or correspondence with a prospect for two weeks.
• Required the head men’s basketball coach and three assistant coaches to attend, at their expense, an NCAA Regional Rules Compliance Seminar during the 2007-08 academic year.

Women’s basketball penalties

• Prohibited the head women’s coach from initiating any telephone contact or correspondence with prospects for six weeks.
• Prohibited two assistant coaches from all recruiting activities, except the receipt of phone calls from prospects for six weeks.
• Reduced the women’s basketball coaching staff’s allowable recruiting days for each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years from 100 to 50.
• Reduced the number of official visits for women’s basketball prospects for each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years from 12 to six.
• Reduced the number of permissible telephone calls to each senior prospect from one per week to two per month during the 2008-09 academic year.
• Required the head women’s basketball coach and a assistant coach to attend, at their expense, an NCAA Regional Rules Compliance Seminar during the 2007-08 academic year.

Women’s lacrosse penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with a women’s lacrosse prospect for two weeks.
• Reduced the permissible number of contact days allowable during the August 2008 contact period from seven to five.

Baseball penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with a baseball prospect for four weeks.
• Prohibited an assistant baseball coach from engaging in on- or off-campus contacts for four days during the August 2008 contact period.

Football penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with two football prospects for four weeks.

Women’s golf penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with a women’s golf prospect for four weeks.

Women’s soccer penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with a women’s soccer prospect for two weeks.

Women’s track and field penalties

• Prohibited telephone contact and correspondence with a women’s track and field prospect for two weeks.

The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include Paul Dee, lecturer of law and education at Miami (Florida) and formerly the institution’s athletics director and general counsel. He is the chair of the Committee on Infractions. Other members are John S. Black, attorney; Melissa Conboy, deputy director of athletics at Notre Dame; Eileen Jennings, general counsel emeritus at Central Michigan; Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference USA; and Dennis Thomas, commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly director of athletics at Hampton.