STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut says the NCAA has found eight violations in the school’s men’s basketball program.
The alleged violations include improper phone calls and text messages to recruits, and giving recruits improper benefits. Coach Jim Calhoun was cited Friday for failing to “promote an atmosphere of compliance.”
Calhoun, who turned 68 this month, has had several health problems. He led the Huskies to two national championships and recently signed a five-year, $13 million contract.
UConn was 18-16 last season. Calhoun took a medical leave of absence in January, missing seven games with an undisclosed condition.
The school released an infractions letter it received from the NCAA following a 15-month investigation. UConn is to appear before the governing body in October to respond.
The announcement on the Storrs campus came a day after assistant coach Patrick Sellers and director of basketball operations Beau Archibald resigned.
UConn as an institution was cited for not adequately monitoring “the conduct and administration of the men’s basketball staff in the areas of: telephone records, representatives of the institution’s athletics interests; and, complimentary admissions or discretionary tickets.”
In a written statement, the university and its athletic department declined to comment on the allegations, citing “an ongoing process” with the NCAA.
The NCAA and the school have been investigating the program since shortly after a report by Yahoo! Sports in March 2009 that former team manager Josh Nochimson helped guide basketball recruit Nate Miles to Connecticut, giving him lodging, transportation, meals and representation.
As a former team manager, Nochimson could be considered a representative of UConn’s athletic interests by the NCAA and prohibited from having contact with Miles or giving him anything of value.
Documents released by the school showed pages and pages of phone and text message correspondence between Nochimson and UConn coaches Calhoun, Tom Moore, who is now head coach at Quinnipiac, and Sellers.
Miles was expelled from UConn in October 2008 without ever playing a game for the Huskies after he was charged with violating a restraining order in a case involving a woman who claimed he assaulted her. He played during the 2008-09 season for the College of Southern Idaho, and was cut last November by the NBA Development League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce.
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DiamondbackRuss / May 28, 2010
They should lose scholarships, be taken off TV for a year and banned from post season play for two years. But, I predict that they’ll only lose one scholarship…for one hour and then it will miracuously be reinstated.
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JonHuskyMS / May 28, 2010
i think you’re being too easy on them!! disband the whole program!! postseason ban for 10 yrs!! castrate coach calhoun!!
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blasphemy / May 28, 2010
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.
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HuskiesNYC / May 28, 2010
Expect to see UConn lose a scholarship or two and maybe some recruiting time. That’s it. A postseason ban won’t happen because Miles never played a game at UConn. When the NCAA investigates any program they are going to find something, just be thankful your school wasn’t the target this time
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rurahrah / May 29, 2010
Just another example showing the need for cleaning up the entire Division 1 recruiting process which of itself is tilted to readily restock the ‘high profile’ programs. There simply are too many temptations to bend the rules with little risk of any meaningful sanction. The whole concept of ‘student-athletes’ competing against traditional rivals to earn the right to compete in a national championship tournament is a fiction.
I’ve long held there are too many ‘scholarships’ awarded to too many hoops talents that, that while they may meet admission requirements, have no prospect of ever earning a degree. It’s all part of the system allows members of the ‘coaching fraternity’ to roam all over the world with scholarships for talent alone—and that in recent years been further expanded into the ranks of prep schools formerly respected first for their academics, now married up to AAU ‘mentors.’
Genuine reform will never come about as long as certain so-called ‘institutions of higher learning’ cater to ‘one and doners’ who are never more academically challenged than staying eligible for the second semester of their freshman year. Such programs should forfeit those scholarships for whatever number of years are remaining. Further, the first step in the awarding of scholarships should require certification by that Division 1 member’s admissions department that the would-be recipient has the potential of earning a degree. There’s always the prospect of an honest NBA developmental league for talented athletes, and oh that TV money.
Back to the UConn situation–their infractions are fly specs in the ocean compared to what’s going on throughout Division 1. The Husky program will pay the price for being caught, rightly so. Next on the NCAA agenda should be a true start toward a clean up, starting with the obvious.
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DiamondbackRuss / May 29, 2010
Is this soley confined to Miles? Somehow I thought Ater Majok was also tied to Nochimson I wanna say it was alleged that, per NCAA rules, Nochimson wasn’t allowed to be a part of the recruiting process, or have any contact with Majok yet he did.
Majok certainly played in games.
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