Andy Oliver v. NCAA Update

Last week, an Ohio appellate court dismissed the NCAA’s appeal of Judge Tygh M. Tone’s decision in the first part of Andy Oliver’s case against the NCAA. However, this appeal was dismissed simply because Oliver’s trial court decision is not complete. In October, Oliver and the NCAA will return to the Ohio circuit court for a trial on damages and to hear the merits of other claims, such as tortious interference with a contract. However, the most interesting part is that this ruling will remain in effect though the 2009 MLB Draft, which will be held in June. As the article points out, it is unclear how far-reaching this decision is since the ruling is technically binding only in the particular circuit court in Ohio. Some believe that the decision will apply only to students who live or play college baseball in Ohio, while others believe this case will set precedent that other courts could follow should a legal challenge arise. Further, NCAA compliance departments are urging their student-athletes to proceed with caution since the situation is so murky.

Probe of UConn Men’s Basketball Finds Possible Major Violations

Adrian Wojnarowski and Dan Wetzel from Yahoo! Sports published the results of a six-month investigation into the men’s basketball program at the University of Connecticut.  Among the discoveries, the writers found possible improper contact between Josh Nochimson, a former agent who was also a student-manager (i.e. representative of athletic interests) at UConn, and a recruit and excessive phone calls to former player Nate Miles.  Phone records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that 1,565 text messages and phone calls were exchanged between the UConn coaching staff and Miles and his inner circle.  UConn officials and head coach Jim Calhoun declined to comment on the report.

The phone records seem to be a slam dunk case, but the more difficult violation to prove will be the improper contact with the agent.  Since the NCAA is not a governmental entity, it has no subpoena power and therefore cannot compel witnesses to testify in court or at a deposition.  So, any proof of the agent charges will have to come voluntarily.

Andy Oliver Decision

This decision is now a few weeks old, but a judge in Ohio state court declared the NCAA’s “no agent” rule void because it was arbitrary and capricious.  Andy Oliver, a pitcher at Oklahoma State, challenged the rule after he was declared ineligible the night before he was scheduled to pitch in an NCAA Tournament game.  Rule 12.3 of the NCAA’s bylaws state that a student-athlete cannot be represented by an agent to negotiate a contract with a professional team, but the rules do allow the student-athlete to use a lawyer as long as the lawyer is not present during negotiation.  Oliver ran into trouble because he had a lawyer present during negotiations with the Minnesota Twins after being drafted as a high school senior.

The use of agents by college baseball players has become an interesting phenomenon because players are permitted to use “advisors.”  Advisors are supposed to merely help the student-athlete determine the merits of an offer, but there is practically no difference between agent and advisor.  In fact, powerful agents, such as Scott Boras, also serve as advisors for top draftees.

The NCAA responded to the ruling by stating “We are disappointed in the judge’s ruling. The bylaws related to agent relationships are important principles our colleges and universities have established to protect and preserve amateurism standards. We intend to seek a review of the decision by a higher court, and we are hopeful these significant standards will be preserved.”  The NCAA is expected to fully appeal the decision

Oliver returned to action for Oklahoma State on February 21 against BYU.  He pitched 6 innings, allowing 1 earned run while striking out 11.  The judge’s decision also invalidated the NCAA’s restitution rule, so Oklahoma State likely does not have to worry about any possible repurcussions due to its certifying Oliver eligible to participate.

Here is Judge Tone’s decision if you wish to read it yourself.

Today’s Links

The University of Maryland is investigating two aspects of the recruitment of Lance Stephenson.  First, the school will decide whether former Terrapin standout Byron Mouton had improper contact with Stephenson.  Second, it will determine it will look into the relationship between Stephenson and Under Armour.

The NCAA clarified that the reports that six Vitamin Water flavors contained banned or impermissible amounts of substances were false.  However, a NCAA spokesman told CNBC’s Darren Rovell that enough consumption of certain flavors could result in a student-athlete failing a drug test.

Mark Richt will not be allowed to attend one of his signee’s graduation due to an NCAA rule.  Richt had made a deal with Chris Burnette, who declined to enroll early because of the possibility of becoming valedictorian, that Richt would attend the ceremony if Burnette earned the honor.

Kelvin Sampson told The Sporting News that the NCAA treated him harshly and unfairly in the investigation of violations while he was the head coach at Indiana.  Sampson received a five year show-cause order and is now an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks.  The NCAA has issued a supplemental report in the investigation of Indiana’s men’s basketball program.

The NCAA is looking into Southern California’s Daniel Hackett.  Hackett receives a full, non-basketball scholarship because his father is a university employee, so USC essentially can have fourteen scholarship-caliber players instead of the thirteen allowed under NCAA rules.

Arkansas basketball coach John Pelphrey dismissed Marcus Monk from the team due to an undisclosed eligibility issue.  Monk was a standout wide receiver for Arkansas’ football team but was injured during his senior year. He attempted to make an NFL roster, but joined the basketball team after being cut.

The NCAA has outlined the plans for the upcoming collection of Division I head coaches’ Academic Progress Rate portfolio.

*I’m still trying to catch up with the news missed during my time away from the website, so some of these articles will be a few weeks old.

Today’s Links

South Carolina Head Baseball Coach Ray Tanner is not a fan of the NCAA’s new roster and scholarship rules, which I have mentioned previously.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions has rejected New Mexico’s appeal of penalties imposed on its football program.  New Mexico will only have 20 scholarships to offer over the next three years due to a finding of academic fraud in the program.  An investigation of the New Mexico program discovered that assistant coaches were helping football players receive academic credit for correspondence courses that the student-athletes did not actually complete.

The NCAA is investigating an advisor to the nation’s top football recruit, Bryce Brown.  Brown intially committed to the University of Miami without ever visiting the school, but now Miami has now stated that Brown will not enroll at the school.

Eastern Washington has been sanctioned for violations in its football program under former head coach, Paul Wulff.  In this case, a series of secondary violations led to a finding of major violations because Eastern Washington failed to devote enough resources to complying with NCAA rules.  Eastern Washington will not be able to participate in the postseason during the 2009 season, the school will be on probation for three years, will lose two scholarships, and will have only 11 coaches until 2011, one less than the maximum allowed under rules.  Eastern Washington has also hired its first full-time compliance and academic support staff.  Finally, Wulff, who is now head coach at Washington State, must attend the NCAA Regional Rules Seminar during each of the next three years at his own cost.

Today’s Links

It’s been fairly slow on the news front lately, but here’s some new stories.

The University of Denver’s men’s hockey coach was suspended for one game for an NCAA rules violation.  George Gwozdecky violated the NCAA rule prohibiting contact with team personnel after being ejected from a game against the University of North Dakota.

New University of Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin may have already committed an NCAA violation.  The school is reporting a possible secondary violation for simulating a game experience while several prospective student-athletes were on campus.

The NCAA accepted the University of Albany’s findings and self-imposed penalties arising from rules violations in the school’s football and baseball programs.  The violations all dealty with text messages sent to prospective student-athletes after such communication was banned.  The football team responded by disabling the text-messaging feature in the recruiting software, restricted the staff’s off-campus recruiting, and implemented a two-year probationary period. Similarly, the school removed the text-messaging feature on the baseball coach’s telephone, imposed a one-year ban on off-campus recruiting, and reduced the number of allowed scholarships by one.

University of Kansas head men’s basketball coach Bill Self has admitted that he had contact with a prospective student-athlete during an evaluation period.  Under NCAA rules,  coaches can have no contact with recruits during evaluation periods.

The Arizona Star has a story outlining the new rules affecting NCAA baseball beginning this year.  The new rules cap the roster size at 35 players, establish scholarship minimums, and require all  student-athletes who transfer to sit out a year before being eligible at the new school.  Previously, a baseball player transferring for the first time was not required to sit out for a season as is required in sports like basketball, football, and hockey.  For the 2009 season, up to 30 players may receive some amount of an athletic scholarship and those who do receive aid must receive at least 25% of tuition, fees, and books.  Further, for the 2009 season, those numbers change to 27 players and 33% aid.

Today’s Links

The University of Georgia has self-reported 15 secondary violations that occurred in nine of its athletic programs between July and December 2008.  These violations included sending text message to prospective student-athletes (which is now impermissible under NCAA rules) and exceeding the allowed number of phone calls to a recruit during a week (which is one).

This is not compliance related, but Inside Higher Ed has a brief story on NCAA President Myles Brand and his battle with pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, his chances for a full recovery are not good.  Brand has been instrumental in placing a greater emphasis on academics during his tenure.

Also included in the Inside Higher Ed story is another recount of proposed NCAA legislation.  One piece that has not been mentioned here yet was the proposal to reverse a prohibition in men’s basketball that prevented coaches from attending non-institutional camps and contests in April.  The coaches in favor of the reversal feel that attending these camps would help limit their recruiting budgets by being able to see a plethora of prospective student-athletes at a single event.

The same article has a rundown of rules changes in Division II and Division III.

Today’s Links

The Waco Tribune-Herald has a basic breakdown of college football recruiting.

The Corvallis Gazzette-Times has a story on Oregon State University recertification process.  Every NCAA member has to do this once a decade.

Updating the Arkansas men’s track situation mentioned a while back, the NCAA clarified how many points the team would need to forfeit for rules infractions occurring over two seasons.  Because of the reductions, Arkansas will have to vacate two outdoor track & field national championships.

Today’s Links

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted to create a database that would track a particular head coach’s Academic Progress Rate at all NCAA institutions he he has served as head coach.

The Division I membership upheld the legislation making 7th grade students prospective student-athletes in men’s basketball.

NCAA Passes Legislation Making 7th Graders Prospective Student-Athletes & Decides on Other Legislation

After a summer in which college basketball coaches like Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie made headlines by offering college scholarships to players who were not even enrolled in high school, the NCAA passed legislation changing the age at which student-athletes become prospective student-athletes under NCAA rules for men’s basketball.  Under the previous rule, NCAA coaches could work at camps for middle school children and develop a relationship with these athletes while they could not do so for high school players.

Furthermore, the NCAA Legislative Council deferred decision on other proposed rules changes.  First, it passed on making a final decision on changing the window for college basketball players with remaining eligibility to withdraw from the NBA draft from two months to ten days.  Second, it declined to rule as to whether women’s beach volleyball would be added as an emerging sport.  Third, it passed on deciding whether to allow student-athletes to take online courses to comply with NCAA academic requirements.  Finally, it did not rule on whether to extend the length of the college baseball season.  Last year, the NCAA implemented a uniform start date, which pushed back the beginning of many teams’ seasons several weeks and forced teams to play a more condensed schedule with more mid-week games (meaning more missed class time).

However, the NCAA Legislation Council did make final rulings on some proposals.  It defeated a proposal to increase the number of baseball scholarships from 11.7 to 14.  It also removed four women’s sports (archery, badminton, team handball, and synchronized swimming) from the emerging sports list due to low participation.