National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The NCAA News -- November 23, 1998

Infractions case: University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati will be on probation for two years and will have fewer financial aid awards available for violations in its men's basketball program of NCAA recruiting, extra benefits, ethical conduct and institutional control bylaws.

The Division I Committee on Infractions reduced the number of awards in men's basketball by a total of three for the two years 1999-2000 and 2000-01. At least one of the scholarship reductions must occur in each year. In addition, the committee reduced the number of official visits, the number of coaches who can recruit and the use of summer courses at the university or its branch campuses to help establish eligibility for prospective student-athletes. The committee levied other penalties, as well.

The university self-imposed a number of penalties, including a prohibition on recruiting junior college prospective student-athletes in men's basketball for the 1999-2000 academic year.

Many of the violations were centered on efforts by members of the men's basketball staff to provide impermissible assistance to a prospective junior college transfer during the summer of 1996. Staff members enrolled the prospect in summer courses while he was still attending a junior college, the men's basketball team manager attended class and took notes for the prospect during the first week of the course, and a secretary in the men's basketball office provided the prospect with textbooks for the courses at no charge.

In addition, an assistant men's basketball coach arranged for the prospect to be enrolled by a volunteer tutor in a summer course on the next-to-last day of a 10-week session. The prospect received an incomplete by the course instructor and was taught the course in 13 daily "one-on-one" sessions beginning in September 1996.

The university also violated the Association's extra benefits legislation. From August 1995 to early 1998, members of the men's basketball coaching staff, team managers and a representative of the institution's athletics interests arranged for or provided summer housing and meals, impermissible use of academic support services and payment for work not performed for several prospective student-athletes.

Student-athletes in the men's basketball program also received other extra benefits such as meals, a ticket to a professional football game, an airline ticket, cost-free use of a condominium, long-distance telephone use, and cosigned loans.

Members of the men's basketball staff, including the team manager and an assistant coach, violated NCAA ethical conduct legislation by providing misleading information. In addition, the team manager provided false information and failed to cooperate with an NCAA inquiry.

Due to their involvement in these violations, "show-cause" requirements were applied to the former team manager for two years and the assistant coach for one year.

If the team manager seeks employment or affiliation in an athletics position at an NCAA member institution during a two-year period ending August 6, 2000, he and the involved school must appear before the committee to determine if the manager's athletically related duties should be limited for a designated period.

In the case of the assistant coach, Cincinnati could be subject to additional disciplinary measures if the assistant coach is permitted to recruit off campus for one year. In addition, the assistant coach is subject to the show-cause provision if he seeks employment at another NCAA member school before August 6, 1999.

Representatives of the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and Conference USA appeared at a hearing before the committee August 7, 1998. Also present at the hearing were the head men's basketball coach and the assistant men's basketball coach involved in the case.

The violations found by the committee were:

  • During the summer of 1996, members of the men's basketball staff provided a prospective student-athlete with impermissible assistance in registration for summer school courses, note-taking services, textbooks and transpor-tation.

  • On several occasions between 1995 and 1998, members of the men's basketball staff and a representative of the institution's athletics interests provided several prospective student-athletes with payment for work not performed and impermissible housing, meals and use of academic support services.

  • During the fall semester of the 1996-97 academic year, a professor at a branch campus of the university and representative of the institution's athletics interests provided a men's basketball student-athlete with a ticket to a professional football game, transportation, a meal and a round-trip airline ticket.

  • During 1997, a Cincinnati business owner and a representative of the institution's athletics interests provided a men's basketball student-athlete with transportation, cost-free use of a condominium, long-distance telephone calls at no cost and the cosigning of a note to purchase a used automobile.

  • The men's basketball team manager and the assistant men's basketball coach involved in this case violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct.

  • There was a lack of institutional control over the men's basketball program.

  • There was a secondary violation involving extra benefits.

    In imposing penalties, the Committee on Infractions considered the following corrective actions taken by the university:

  • Relocate the academic advising and support programs for men's basketball student-athletes from the basketball office to the central athletics department offices.

  • Reduce to writing the athletics department policy prohibiting coaching staff members from initiating contact with faculty members concerning the academic status of student-athletes.

  • Adopt a policy requiring all head coaches to notify the athletics director of recruits who plan to arrive in Cincinnati prior to their initial enrollment at the institution.

  • Remove the "book room" from the athletics department.

  • Publish quarterly columns on athletics department policies and NCAA legislation in a university publication.

  • Issue new long-distance access codes to athletics department staff members.

  • Adopt a policy of requiring removal of telephone receivers from the men's basketball offices reception area each day at 5 p.m.

  • Revise the program for monitoring summer employment to include obtaining employment confirmation from employers, obtaining employment plans from student-athletes and conducting random visits to the places of employment of student-athletes.

  • Hire an associate athletics director for compliance and academic services.

  • Require all members of the men's basketball coaching staff to attend an NCAA Regional Compliance Seminar.

  • On March 31, 1997, placed an assistant men's basketball coach on paid leave, and prohibited the assistant coach from participating in the operations of the men's basketball program.

    The committee adopted as its own the following penalties imposed by Cincinnati:

  • Limit to 30 the number of recruiting opportunities for the head men's basketball coach for the period November 19, 1998, through November 18, 1999.

  • Reduction of 30 days in the head men's basketball coach's opportunities for public relations and fund-raising activities for the 1998-99 academic year.

  • Prohibition on the recruitment of junior college prospective student-athletes in men's basketball for the 1999-2000 academic year.

  • Prohibition on the arrangement of employment for incoming men's basketball student-athletes for the summer of 1999.

  • Retention of an outside firm to conduct an audit of the men's basketball program during the 1999-2000 academic year.

  • Recertification of current policies and practices.

  • Disassociation of the former men's basketball team manager and two representatives of the institution's athletics interests.

    The committee found the penalties imposed by the university to be meaningful and significant. However, given the significant violations over a lengthy period of time, the recruiting and competitive advantages gained, the committee imposed the following penalties:

  • Public reprimand and censure.

  • Two years of probation.

  • Reduction by three in the number of total financial aid awards in men's basketball during the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 academic years with a reduction of at least one (from 13 to 12) scholarship during each of the two academic years.

  • Reduction by five in the number of permissible official visits in men's basketball during the 1999-2000 academic year.

  • Reduction by one in the number of men's basketball coaches who may recruit off campus for one year from November 19, 1998, through November 18, 1999.

  • Prohibition during the probation period on the use of credits earned in summer courses at the university or any of its branch campuses by prospective student-athletes for the purpose of establishing eligibility.

  • Requirement that the institution continue to develop a comprehensive athletics compliance education program, with annual reports to the committee during the period of probation.

  • Show-cause requirement for two years regarding the former men's basketball team manager from August 7, 1998, to August 6, 2000.

  • Show-cause requirement for one year regarding an assistant men's basketball coach from August 7, 1998, to August 6, 1999.

    As required by NCAA legislation for any institution involved in a major infractions case, Cincinnati is subject to the Association's repeat-violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case, August 7, 1998.

    The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who heard this case are:

    Alice Gresham Bullock, dean of law, Howard University; 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 (Bonnie) L. Slatton, chair, department of physical education and sports studies, University of Iowa (acting chair); and Thomas E. Yeager, commissioner, Colonial Athletic Association.