Sept. 1, 2010
Minimum penalties applied to certain secondary infractions of NCAA rules were recently adopted by the Southeastern Conference through unanimous action of the SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors, according to Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor David Williams.
The intent behind establishing minimum penalties was to communicate the need for increased vigilance on certain compliance matters. As initially established, the NCAA Bylaws designated for application of a minimum penalty were those most frequently reported as having been violated, or were basic compliance issues that should be well known to all coaches.
Nearly all of the NCAA Bylaws involved in the minimum penalties refer to violations in the recruiting process, such as contact during a “dead” recruiting or evaluation period, improper timing of telephone calls, impermissible benefits or entertainment provided to a prospect, or violations to the public comments policy.
The Southeastern Conference Commissioner is now empowered to ban involved staff members from off-campus recruiting for as many as 14 to 30 days depending upon the Bylaw that is violated. In addition, there are also consequential actions relating to the prospect involved, such as the reduction of communications that the prospect may receive from the institution.
The minimum penalty will be applied to each violation and penalties may be increased for multiple violations involving the same team or individual.
Six years ago, SEC Presidents and Chancellors approved penalties being applied by the SEC office; however, at that time the minimum penalties were not included in the SEC Manual. In May 2008, the SEC Athletics Directors approved inclusion of minimum penalties in the SEC Commissioner’s Regulations, which was intended to provide clear, written notice of minimum penalties applied throughout the SEC. A further update of the Conference’s minimum penalty structure was adopted though unanimous action of the SEC’s Athletics Directors in August 2010.
