The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has placed Bradley University on probation for one year and imposed several other penalties in a case involving three men’s basketball prospects and one men’s basketball student-athlete who were paid for work they did not perform.

The case was resolved through the summary-disposition process rather than a formal hearing before the Committee on Infractions. Summary disposition is used when the institution, the NCAA enforcement staff and involved parties agree on the facts of the case. The Committee on Infractions reviewed and adopted the agreement and the penalties recommended by the institution.

The case involved three men’s basketball prospects and one enrolled student-athlete who received compensation in summer 2005 for work they did not perform at a local trucking company. The overcompensation resulted when their employer, a representative of the institution’s athletics interest, began paying them a salary as opposed to an hourly wage.

The employer did so because it was easier for the employer than calculating actual hours worked by the student-athletes, who were part-time employees with irregular hours, the committee said in its report. Their wages were calculated on a 32-hour work week, but there was no oversight to assure that they actually worked those hours. Consequently, the young men were paid for hours they did not work. The total amount of excessive compensation received by the four was $2,835.67.

The employer has employed student-athletes from the institution for many years. The violations in this matter happened during the summer of 2005 when a vice president of the employer, who himself had no connection to the institution, made the decision to classify the three prospects and the student-athlete as salaried employees so that it would be easier to calculate their salaries, the committee said. He took the action unilaterally, unbeknownst to the employer or university personnel, according to the committee’s report.

All three prospects had signed National Letters of Intent and the student-athlete had worked at the company the previous summer. The overpayments occurred from early June until the first week of August 2005 and were discovered when the enforcement staff received an anonymous tip late in the summer regarding the matter.

This was the university’s fourth major infractions case, the most recent occurring in 1986 and involving the men’s basketball program. The university also had previous infractions cases in 1966 and 1953 in men’s basketball.

The institution has acknowledged the facts of the findings and that the facts constitute violations of NCAA legislation.

The penalties in this case are as follows:

• Public reprimand and censure.
• One year of probation from May 19, 2006, to May 18, 2007. Although the presumptive penalty is a minimum of two years of probation, the committee believes this is a rare case in which the factual circumstances override the presumptive penalty. There was no involvement by institutional staff or student-athletes in the violations and the vice president believed he was paying the young men the proper wages. The violations occurred over a relatively short time, were discovered in a timely fashion and were immediately rectified.
• The institution will reduce the number of recruiting days from 130 to 120 during the 2006-07 academic year. (University imposed)
• The institution will reduce the number of recruiting days during the July 2006 evaluation period from 20 to 18 days. (University imposed)
• The institution will eliminate the opportunity for men’s basketball student-athletes to work at the local trucking company during the summer of 2006. (University imposed)

The members of the Division I Committee on Infractions who reviewed the case are Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., a Westfield, New Jersey attorney; Edward (Ted) Leland, vice president of advancement at the University of the Pacific; Gene A. Marsh, chair, professor of law at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; James Park Jr., a Lexington, Kentucky, attorney; and Josephine R. Potuto, professor of law and faculty athletics representative at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.