Posted on 06/23/2004 4:47:17 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
EUGENE -- “Major” recruiting violations by a University of Oregon assistant football coach in January 2003 led to the National Collegiate Athletics Association imposing a two-year probation on the football program.
The NCAA, collegiate sports highest governing authority, announced Wednesday it was imposing the probation on the UO football program after determining the unnamed assistant coach had “impermissible” contact with an unidentified recruit from a junior college in January 2003.
The NCAA sanctions come several months after the football team unveiled what is considered the best recruiting class the school has ever had. The NCAA's punishment also comes amid scrutiny of college football programs in general following a recruiting scandal at the University of Colorado and criticism from professors that university athletic programs overspend while academic programs suffer.
Though the NCAA found that the assistant coach committed major violations, the UO football program may have been spared more severe sanctions because the school reported it and the assistant coach appeared to have a “one-time lapse in judgment.”
Instead, Oregon faces some off-campus recruiting restrictions by assistant coaches and faces public censure and reprimand.
To compare how severe the NCAA could’ve come down on Oregon, the NCAA in the mid-1990s limited the University of Washington football team’s appearances on television, banned the Huskies from bowl games in 1993 and 1994 and reduced the number of scholarships and visits after it found that UW boosters overcompensated football players in meals and wages and made extra benefits available to athletes who signed with UW. In that case, the NCAA found a "lack of institutional control" at UW.
The UO case was resolved through the Indianapolis-based NCAA, without a formal hearing. The Division I Committee agreed with the university's proposed penalties and did not impose any additional sanctions such as bowl bans or scholarship reductions.
Coach Mike Bellotti, at a Nike Factory store event in Portland on Wednesday, refused to comment to KGW about the probation. The university is expected to speak publicly about the sanctions later Wednesday afternoon.
Violations detailed
Also Online Read NCAA report on UO violations (.pdf) The nine-page NCAA report found that the assistant coach traveled to the recruit’s hometown in a “distant state” to meet with him and his parents on Jan. 15, 2003. The day before, the UO had mailed a national letter of intent to the recruit.
The assistant coach was in town to receive the letter of intent. The player was deciding between the University of Oregon and the University of California at Berkeley. The coach’s home visit was 60 to 90 minutes long.
Later that night, the assistant coach called the recruit about 11:30 p.m. at his hotel room to ask if he had signed the letter of intent. The player told him he would sign with Oregon.
Less than an hour later, at 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 16, the coach again called the recruit to ask about the letter of intent.
The recruit said he would instead sign with California.
“The assistant coach attempted to convince the prospect to go to Oregon instead, assuring him that if he changed his mind later, the assistant coach would destroy the NLI (national letter of intent to California),” the NCAA report summary said.
The assistant coach also told the player, who was enrolled at a junior college at the time, to sign the letter of intent to Oregon and make sure it indicated it was signed before midnight Jan. 15.
The assistant coach met the player at the lobby of his hotel about 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 16.
“When the assistant coach arrived at the prospect’s hotel, he was surprised to find that the prospect had not signed the (national letter of intent),” the summary said. “The assistant coach reminded the prospect that the document has to be dated before midnight January 15.”
The recruit then signed the letter of intent to play at Oregon, forged his father’s signature and “falsely indicated that both signatures were executed at 9:36 p.m. January 15,” the summary said.
Once the paper was completed, the recruit handed the letter to the assistant coach, who faxed it to Oregon.
“The time and date on the (national letter of intent) indicates that it was faxed at 3:26 a.m. Eastern time January 16, 2003,” the summary said.
Sanctions leveled
The NCAA found that the assistant coach violated several rules. The assistant coach had “multiple contacts” with the recruit by meeting him in the hotel lobby, violating rules that limit contact to one per week.
Other violations included the recruit signing the letter of intent after midnight on the last permissible signing date for junior college transfers; the assistant coach accepting the letter of intent then faxing it to Oregon, even though the recruit had forged his father’s signature; and the assistant coach being present when the prospect signed his letter of intent.
“The committee found that the knowing and intentional nature of the assistant coach’s conduct violated NCAA ethical standards, and for that reason the case was considered ‘major,’” the summary said.
“However, the committee also noted that the assistant coach was in his 19th year at the institution and had never been involved in even a secondary infraction prior to this case,” the summary continued.
“It was the committee’s conclusion that this violation, though serious, appeared to be an uncharacteristic one-time lapse in judgment of a well-established assistant coach. The committee also noted that the institutional personnel noticed that there was a problem with the (national letter of intent) the day after it was faxed to the university.”
Punishment
The football program will be subject to a public reprimand and censure and probation that began on May 4, 2004.
The assistant coach, who has been with the program for 19 years, was also suspended without pay for one week during the 2003-2004 year. He was also placed on probation for one year at the university, and a letter of reprimand was included in his personnel file.
The assistant coach was also forbidden to engage in off-campus recruiting until January 2004. And the university also ended the recruitment of the football player involved in this case.
The football program must also submit to closer scrutiny by the NCAA and show how it is complying with recruiting rules.
The UO has been in trouble with the NCAA before. The school was sanctioned in 1981 by the NCAA for academic fraud and players obtaining free tickets.
When Ducks Go Wild.
Well, that will teach them!
oh, as a Husky, I am waiting for our penalty this summer.....
And as a Trojan, I lived through this in the mid-1980s, although the infractions were more serious. Life goes on and a program can recover unless it's named SMU.
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