Download the Apr. 2020 UNC Greensboro Negotiated Resolution Agreement
A former UNC Greensboro head men's soccer coach had impermissible contact with 13 men's soccer student-athletes he previously coached at a different university, according to an agreement released by the Division I Committee on Infractions.
The university, the former coach and NCAA enforcement staff agreed the former coach did not get permission through the notification of transfer process before he contacted the student-athletes. The agreement noted none of the 13 student-athletes transferred to UNC Greensboro.
According to the agreement, the former coach did not promote an atmosphere for compliance since he was personally involved in the violations.
This case was processed through the negotiated resolution process. The process was used because the university, the former coach and the enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.
The university and the enforcement staff used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-mitigated penalties for the university. The former coach agreed to Level II-standard penalties. Those and other penalties, approved by the Committee on Infractions, are detailed below:
- One year of probation, which extends the university's current probation period through July 24, 2023.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A three-week ban on all recruiting communications contacts and off-campus recruiting by the entire men's soccer coaching staff with any prospects, including transfers, completed during the spring and summer of 2019 contact periods.
- A one-year show-cause order for the former coach. During that period, he must be prohibited from participating in all recruiting communication contacts and off-campus recruiting for 10 weeks with credit for three weeks served at the university. Any NCAA member employing him must impose the remaining seven weeks.
- The former coach must be suspended from two regular-season contests should he become employed at an NCAA member school during the show-cause period.
- The university withheld the former coach from two spring games after the discovery of the violations.
- The former coach must attend one NCAA Regional Rules Seminar in 2020 or 2021 at his own expense.
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Alberto Gonzales, dean of the law school at Belmont and former attorney general of the United States; Joel Maturi, former Minnesota athletics director; and Joseph D. Novak, former head football coach at Northern Illinois.