National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2001
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The NCAA News
The Division II Committee on Infractions has placed Humboldt State University on probation for two years, required the university to vacate its team record for indoor and outdoor women's track in 1998-99, and has imposed a show-cause order on the former head women's track coach for two years for violations of NCAA legislation governing recruiting, extra benefits, ethical conduct and institutional control.
A show-cause penalty requires any NCAA institution that employs or is seeking to employ the individual to appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether the individual's athletically related duties should be limited for a specified time.
The violations primarily involved the former head women's track and field coach, who currently is employed at another Division II institution, and a female track and field prospect who later enrolled and became a student-athlete at the university and won two individual national track titles in 1999.
Most of the violations included provision of free housing, meals and transportation, as well as impermissible tryouts and exceeding the permissible number of evaluations and contacts allowed. The violations were discovered by the university and self-reported to the NCAA in late 1999.
More specifically, during the 1998 fall semester, the student-athlete, then a prospect who was enrolled at a local community college, regularly participated in scheduled practice sessions with the university's men's and women's track teams. She participated in drills, received individualized instruction and participated in an organized weight-training program.
The prospect also resided at the personal residence of the head track coach and received meals and transportation. The young woman continued to live at the residence of the head coach while enrolled at the university in spring 1999.
The committee found that the former coach knowingly provided recruiting inducements and extra benefits and acted contrary to the principles of ethical conduct. The coach disagreed with the findings of the committee and contended that he did not participate in impermissible recruiting activities, did not provide improper inducements or benefits and did not violate the ethical conduct bylaw.
The Committee on Infractions also found that the university demonstrated a lack of institutional control because the former coach failed to ensure compliance with NCAA legislation, did not adequately educate himself or his staff about rules and did not properly maintain recruiting efforts. The university failed to monitor the actions of prospective student-athletes living in the community and did not follow its own procedures for investigating possible rules violations. University officials concurred with the institutional control finding.
The committee concluded that the track and field program received considerable recruiting and competitive advantages because the actions of the track coach.
Four secondary violations involving the track and field program also were reported, including impermissible recruiter, an eligibility violation, a recruiting inducement and extra benefits.
The university imposed a number of corrective actions, which were considered by the committee. Among the actions, the university:
Placed the women's track and field program on probation for two years.
Reduced the number of expenses-paid recruiting trips to two for the 2001-02 academic year for the women's track and field team.
Reduced the number of official visits to two for the 2001-02 academic year for the women's track and field team.
Will place a reprimand in the file of an assistant coach for violations of NCAA recruiting regulations.
Will develop and implement a comprehensive recruiting process for the men's and women's track and field teams. These procedures will be approved by the compliance coordinator and adherence to these procedures will be reviewed monthly for one year.
Will assign the director of athletics and the head track and field coach to jointly develop internal control procedures for the men's and women's track and field teams for all aspects of their operations. The current director of athletics will monitor the implementation of these control procedures on a monthly basis for one year.
Beginning in fall 1999, the athletics business manager began to review all coaches' travel requests to assure that all reimbursement payment requests by coaches correspond with approvals.
Has emphasized to all athletics personnel -- through the president, dean, director of athletics and the faculty athletics representative -- the importance of compliance and their responsibility to assure compliance. The president meets annually with athletics staff and coaches to reaffirm the importance of compliance when they sign the NCAA Certification of Compliance form.
Revised the "Humboldt State University Athletics Program Policies and Procedures for Investigating and Reporting Rules Violations" statement. Written confirmation of compliance with these practices is prepared each time a possible violation is investigated by university personnel.
Forfeited all events in which the student-athlete named in the report competed in the spring 1999 semester representing the university. The penalty is intended to provide punitive actions for the competitive advantages she gained in the fall semester of 1998. She was required to repay $5,617 to a charity of her choice to regain eligibility for the benefits she received; however, she transferred to another university.
The committee agreed with and approved of the university's actions. Because of the serious nature of the violations and the lack of institutional control, the committee imposed additional penalties. The committee said it did not impose all penalties available because of the aggressive self-investigation by the university, its cooperation and actions to institute appropriate corrective measures and to impose meaningful penalties. The following penalties were imposed:
Public reprimand and censure.
Two years of probation from June 19, 2001.
The university will vacate its team record and any individual records of the student-athlete who competed with the indoor and outdoor track teams while ineligible during the 1998-99 academic year. The university's records regarding track and field will be reconfigured to reflect the vacation of the student-athlete's performances during the 1998-99 academic year, including two individual national championships. This vacation of performances will be recorded in all publications in which track and field records for that season are reported, including, but not limited to, university media guides, recruiting material and university and NCAA archives. Any public reference to the student-athlete's performances will be removed, including, but not limited to, athletics department publications, stationery and flags or banners displayed in public areas such as the facility in which the track team competes.
In 2002 and 2003, the university will send the university administrator with oversight for athletics, the director of athletics, the senior woman administrator, the faculty athletics representative and the compliance coordinator to a NCAA regional compliance seminar.
The former head track coach's current member institution will show cause why it should not be penalized if it does not restrict the head track coach to on-campus recruiting only for a two-year period beginning June 19, 2001. The university will provide an annual compliance report to the NCAA by April 1, 2002, and April 1, 2003. The reports will include the institution's efforts to monitor the head track coach's recruiting restriction and rules education sessions.
The head coach will be required, at his own expense, to attend an NCAA regional compliance seminar in 2002 and 2003. If the track coach becomes employed by another NCAA member institution before the end of the two-year period, the restrictions and reporting requirements will remain in effect at the new institution.
The university will continue to develop and implement a comprehensive education program on NCAA legislation and submit periodic reports to the NCAA. 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, Humboldt State is subject to the NCAA's repeat-violator provisions for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of the penalties in this case, which is June 19, 2001.
The members of the Division II Committee on Infractions who heard this case are: Larry D. Blumberg, professor of mathematics/statistics, Washburn University of Topeka; Les Brinson, chair, professor of psychology, North Carolina Central University; Michael J. Marcil, commissioner, North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; and Julie Warrington, assistant athletics director, University of Northern Colorado. A copy of the complete report from the Division II Committee on Infractions is available at www.ncaa.org.
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