A few months ago, The Hoop Doctors brought news to you surrounding some hot water that the University of Connecticut men’s basketball program is in regarding eight alleged NCAA recruiting violations. Then came news that the university sent a formal response to the NCAA addressing said allegations. Now, there is a new chapter in this never ending and shameful saga for the proud Big East program. In a somewhat unexpected move, the university has admitted to violating NCAA rules.
Not only does the school admit to NCAA violations, but they have imposed sanctions on themselves. The NCAA accused UConn of improper text messages and phone calls, as well as claiming that head coach, Jim Calhoun, failed “to promote an atmosphere of compliance.” Seriously, that’s the claim against Calhoun. The school is not acknowledging that Calhoun has failed to promote this suitable atmosphere because they say that Calhoun was largely unaware of the extent of what was happening. The school does, however, acknowledge that its basketball program made improper phone calls and text messages, and that they provided free game tickets to high school coaches and others.
What’s crazy about this whole thing is that the player that is largely centered around this controversy is a guy who never played a single second for the school. Nate Miles was expelled from the school for off the court issues without even having ever played a game. Apparently that’s irrelevant.
University president, Philip E. Austin, expressed his disappointment by stating, “I am deeply disappointed the university is in this position. It is clear mistakes have been made. This is a serious matter and we have worked in full cooperation with the NCAA. We look forward to fully resolving these issues and restoring our men’s basketball program to a level of unquestioned integrity.”
The school took it upon themselves to impose a two year probation and a loss of one scholarship for the next two seasons. The school is still scheduled to meet in front of the NCAA this Friday, October 15 (The same day as the school’s Midnight Madness, which is the team’s first official practice), but the impetus behind them levying their own punishment is to show the NCAA that they are taking matters in to their own hands by punishing themselves proactively. This is supposed to deter the NCAA from punishing them further under the realization that the school has done the responsible thing and handled the matter already. Not so fast, though. The NCAA could still very well punish them, and who knows what that could look like. Certain things about the NCAA are unclear and somewhat inconsistent. But what we do know is that they don’t play around when it comes to situations like this. Even though UConn imposed sanctions of their own, who knows if the NCAA will still come down with post-season bans as well? It’s not out of the realm of possibility but I certainly hope that isn’t the case.
In an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz, Tom Yeager (a former NCAA infractions panel chair) gave his opinion on UConn’s self imposed punishment and what the NCAA may think of it. “Reducing scholarship or taking a team out of postseason, those have real substance, but the committee isn’t impressed by just saying they’re on probation. That doesn’t carry a lot of juice,” said Yeager.
Also, there appears to be some dissention among the ranks as Calhoun reportedly questioned why he was singled out by investigators, while the athletic director and compliance staff are not referenced in the allegations.
I’m not on the NCAA’s infractions committee but I would have to think that the fact that Nate Miles never played for the school (meaning there are no wins to vacate) has to bode well for their hopes of avoiding the dreaded post-season ban. We’ll find out soon enough.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
