NCAA gives Indiana three years of probation, no penalties

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1 December 2008 January 2009 Volume I Issue IV College Football Bowl Season Reminders In this issue: The regular season has ended, student-athletes are gearing up for final exams, and winter weather is creeping its way into the forecast. This can only mean one thing; postseason football is on its way. This is always an exciting time to be associated with collegiate athletics and student-athletes. With increased media coverage of football programs and athletics departments throughout the next month, it is important to remember that media personnel are not the only people who are increasingly interested in individuals associated with collegiate athletics. More specifically, bookmakers, gamblers, and casinos are revving up their college football activities in an effort to capitalize on the extreme amount of money changing hands during the holiday season. Bookmakers, gamblers, and casinos are looking for any type of information that can give them an edge over their competitors. Many times, the first place that individuals associated with sports wagering will look to gain an edge is student-athletes. Having a student-athlete who is a mark or an associate on-campus provides a remarkable, and ILLEGAL, advantage to a gambler. The Compliance staff reminds all student-athletes, coaches, and administrators that knowingly providing information pertaining to the status of their teams and teammates for purposes of wagering is expressly prohibited by NCAA Bylaw The provisions of Bylaw 10.3 are applicable on and off-campus. Also, under Bylaw 10.3, participating in Bowl Pools or any other type of football pool, where an entry fee is required and a prize is awarded is a violation of NCAA legislation. Finally, placing a wager involving anything of tangible value constitutes gambling activity under NCAA legislation; even if the wager for something seemingly trivial, such as dinner after the game or a t-shirt. The Compliance staff strongly advises all student-athletes, coaches, and administrators to review NCAA legislation pertaining to sports wagering. Upholding Bylaw 10.3 is vital in our quest to protect the integrity of competition and the student-athletes, coaches and administrators at LSU. NCAA gives Indiana three years of probation, no penalties USAToday.com BLOOMINGTON, Ind. Indiana University received three years probation from the NCAA for recruiting violations under former men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson but will not be further penalized, according to a report released by the NCAA's Division of Infractions on Tuesday. The infractions committee accepted IU's self-administered sanctions, including a loss of a scholarship for this season and extended recruiting limitations, as sufficient. The school was found guilty of "failure to monitor" the program, according to the report. See Indiana Page 4 Indiana gets 3 years probation Page 1 Violations disputed at Texas A&M CC Page 2 New Interpretations Page 2 Compliance Quiz Page 3 Compliance Quiz Answers Page 5 Contact the Compliance Staff Page 5

2 December 2008 January 2009 Page 2 NCAA Rules Violations Disputed at Texas A&M-CC TheNewYorkTiimes.com AP CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- Former Texas A&M-Corpus Christi athletic director Brian Teter is fighting allegations of NCAA rules violations, including use of ineligible players, recruiting violations in men's basketball and lack of institutional control. In July the NCAA notified the university of alleged violations, eight of them major, that occurred between 2004 and 2008 in men's basketball, women's volleyball and men's tennis. The Corpus Christi-Caller Times reported on its Web site Thursday that Teter claims he had school president Flavius Killebrew's backing to not report an eligibility issue involving a former volleyball player. Killebrew said he asked Teter to report the matter and believed it had been taken care of. Interpretations Corner Departure for Competition Prior to an Official Vacation Period It is permissible for an institution's student-athletes to depart for competition (including a foreign tour) that occurs during an official vacation period prior to the official beginning of the vacation period, provided all participating student-athletes have completed their classes or exams and no special arrangements are made to rearrange classes or exams. Prospect-Aged Child of an Institutional Staff Member Traveling with the Institution's Team to an Away-From-Home Contest It is permissible for an institution, at its discretion, to provide expenses related to travel (e.g., transportation, lodging and meals) to away-from-home contests to prospect-aged children of institutional staff members and athletics department staff members. Expenses to Student-Athlete for Counseling Related to Pregnancy An institution is permitted to provide a student-athlete with expenses for counseling related to pregnancy. Maccabiah Games the Maccabiah Games are an officially recognized national multisport event excepted from the NCAA Division I outside-competition regulations. However, institutions are not permitted to provide expenses for studentathletes to participate in the Maccabiah Games or any tryouts for the Maccabiah Games. Additionally, student-athletes may participate in a tryout for the Maccabiah Games during the academic year only to the extent that the tryout is self-financed and the tryout does not involve competition. 11/5/2008

3 December 2008 January 2009 Page 3 COMPLIANCE QUIZ!! 1. Spotoftha Foul is a football student-athlete at Big Time University (BTU). Spot was only enrolled in 8 hours this semester because that is all he needed to graduate in December. Spot satisfactorily passed 4 hours. Is Spot eligible to participate in BTU s bowl game? 2. The women s basketball staff is hosting three prospective student-athletes this weekend. One of the assistant coaches requests a few promotional items (e.g., banners, shakers, posters) from the marketing office to hang in the prospective student-athletes hotel rooms during the official visit. Since the promotional items are not personalized, it is permissible for the coach to use them in decorating the hotel rooms. A. True B. False 3. Which of the following must occur in order for an athletically related activity to be considered voluntary? A. Student-Athlete or anyone observing the activity is not required to report back to a coach or other staff member. B. The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. C. The student-athlete s participation is not recorded and the student-athlete is not penalized if he/she elects not to participate. D. All of the above 4. The state high school association would like to play its basketball championship at your institution. Which of the following responsibilities is NOT permissible for an institutional staff member to perform during the event? A. Unlock the locker rooms B. Test the clock, buzzer, etc. C. Paint the floor to mark the appropriate 3 point line D. Official scorer 5. Which of the following statements is true regarding receipt of improper benefits? A. If a student-athlete receives an impermissible benefit, it is not a violation if the student-athlete returns the item/reimburses the money. B. A violation occurs once a student-athlete receives a benefit not permitted by NCAA rules. C. An institution would be required to report a major violation if any student-athlete receives an impermissible benefit. D. The institution would be required to seek eligibility reinstatement immediately upon receipt of any impermissible benefit. 6. What is the minimum number of hours an LSU student-athlete must complete each regular academic year (e.g., fall, spring) in order to maintain required progress towards a degree? A. 6 credit hours. B. 18 credit hours. C. 24 credit hours. D. None of the above

4 December 2008 January 2009 Page 4 Indiana continued from Page 1 "The view that they took is Indiana took significant punitive actions on themselves," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said from Hawaii, where his is with the Hoosiers as they play in the Maui Invitational. "They clearly made an additional finding on monitoring. Their point was when you hire someone who had serious problems at an institution, you're almost strictly liable for their actions going forward. The committee is adopting a strict liability standard." Sampson, now an assistant with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, was given a five-year "show cause" penalty, which essentially prevents NCAA schools from hiring him. Rob Senderoff, a former IU assistant and now an assistant at Kent State, was given a three-year show cause penalty. It's not yet clear how he will be affected. A statement released by Kent State said the school will abide by the NCAA sanctions which include significant recruiting restrictions against Senderoff but is "committed to keeping Rob as an integral part of our staff." "It's not surprising," Delany said of the ruling against Sampson. "It's bittersweet. In one sense, it puts it behind us," current Indiana coach Tom Crean said from Maui. "A lot of people put a lot of work into this. The bitter part is I feel bad for everybody that's been involved. I really do. I feel bad for the fans more than I feel for anyone else. They've gone through a lot of hard times. We've gone through hard times. Now we know we can continue to move this program in the right direction and build it without more sanctions. In that sense, I'm happy, very happy." Incoming athletic director Fred Glass was happy that additional penalties weren't enforced. "I really believe this allows us to put the whole, ugly episode behind us and move forward," he said. "I'm obviously disappointed with the failure to monitor finding, but I'm very glad the committee didn't impose any other penalties." Probation is defined by the NCAA rulebook as "designed on a case-by-case basis to focus on the institution's administrative weaknesses." It is supposed to include written reports from the school to the infractions committee and in-person reviews of the school's compliance policies by an NCAA administrator. However, in a year-long study released last month by the infractions committee on possible changes in enforcement policy, committee members said that in actual practice, written reports and in-person checks "have never been imposed as mandatory in all cases." Under terms of the probation, Indiana will be required to implement a comprehensive educational program on NCAA recruiting and eligibility rules for all coaches and their staffs and report annually to the NCAA on progress and participation. Indiana President Michael McRobbie said the athletics department already has begun that work. "This was a one-time deviation from a half-century record of having no major NCAA infractions," McRobbie said in a statement. "The coaches who were directly involved in this are no longer employed by Indiana University. And, we are very determined never to allow anything like this to happen again." If a school fails to satisfy the terms of probation, the infractions committee may extend the probation and impose new sanctions. Crean had been saying for months that Indiana did enough in penalizing itself by giving up scholarship and imposing recruiting restrictions.

5 December 2008 January 2009 Page 5 "That goes to show the system works. The NCAA looked at that and they respected it because the sanctions imposed were obviously very, very hard," he said. "We just have to deal with the aftermath for so long. This is what gutting a program and starting over looks like. That's why we can't break down. We can't lose faith. We just have to keep moving forward. We dealt with so many false rumors and other schools telling recruits what was going to happen. They had no idea. Now our recruits can feel good about it, our future recruits can feel good about it, our current players can feel good about it.? Crean wasn't sure exactly what the probation meant for the school, but he knows what is important to him and his team. "We didn't want to lose postseason. We didn't want to lose scholarships," he said from Maui. "We didn't want to lose television. Thank God we didn't lose any of those. We can continue to move the program in a forward motion without all the what-ifs lurking out there." In finding Indiana guilty of failing to monitor its basketball program, the NCAA faulted the university for not having adequate "real time" monitoring systems in place when Sampson was hired but acknowledged that the former coach's conduct was "unprecedented." "He ignored signed compliance agreements with the institution in which he agreed to comply with the penalties imposed on him and his program due to his commission of violations in the Oklahoma case. He ignored telephone penalties imposed on him in that case and committed the same type violations for which he had already been penalized during the same time that those penalties were in effect," the report said. The case has brought a torrent of bad publicity to a school that had not been found guilty of a major NCAA violation since It also decimated the basketball program for this season. "It's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in my life," Crean said of the situation. "The bottom line is we move forward. That's what we're looking forward to doing." "It's a label. It's a public embarrassment," Delany said of the probation. In reference to Indiana hiring Sampson, Delany added: "In retrospect, I personally believe it was a questionable hire." Further, Crean was forced to operate under recruiting restrictions that carried over from the former staff, although they were relaxed somewhat. Still, Crean recruited what is widely considered one of the nation's top classes for IU's self-imposed penalties included one scholarship loss for the current season and a variety of recruiting restrictions. Those restrictions involved extra limitations on the number of phone calls coaches could make to recruits, which coaches make the calls, when the coaches could travel to recruit and the number of expenses-paid "official" visits to campus by recruits. Answers to Compliance Quiz 1. No. A student-athlete is required to complete six credit hours in his or her final semester if he or she is enrolled in at least six credit hours. 2. No. It is not permissible to decorate or include any special additions to any location a prospect will visit during the trip to campus. 3. D. All of the above. 4. D. Official scorer. Staff members may only be involved in the operation of the facility during such an activity. 5. B. Once the benefit is received, a violation occurs and must be self-reported. 6. B. 18 credit hours. Contacting the Compliance Staff Phone: (225) Fax: (225) Bo Bahnsen, Senior Associate Athletics Director (225) bbahnsen@lsu.edu Bo Kerin, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance (225) bokerin@lsu.edu Blair Napolitano, Compliance Coordinator (225) blair@lsu.edu Miriam Segar, Associate Athletics Director for Student Services (225) msegar@lsu.edu Lance Glaser, Graduate Assistant (225) gglaser1@lsu.edu