The NCAA Committee on Infractions has outlined potential penalties for rule breakers in leadership positions beyond the coaching staff, up to and including school presidents, in a move prompted by new legislation that emphasizes individual responsibility.
Individuals who were active or passive actors in the violations could also be identified by name in public violation reports. Previously, the identity of offenders was kept anonymous.
Matt Mikrut, executive director of the commission, said Friday that discussions at a meeting in Charlotte this week stemmed from the Division I council’s passage of new accountability legislation last month. Yahoo Sports first reported details of the meeting.
Mikrut said the expansion of penalties would apply to individuals such as athletic directors, chancellors and presidents if they are found to have been actors in violating the rules.
Previously, members of the coaching staff were typically the only people sanctioned when disciplinary action was taken.
Mikrut gave examples of disciplinary measures available to the committee.
An administrator found to have participated in violations may be suspended for a period of time from certain activities related to athletics, or a show-cause order may be imposed that would restrict or reduce the administrator’s activities.
If a case involved a lack of institutional control or inability to monitor that allowed violations to occur, the committee would have the discretion to use the name of the president and athletic director in the public violation report, just as other persons can be named according to their role. for specific violations.
The first public identification occurred this month when former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohanon’s name appeared in the report on his violation of betting and ethics rules when he provided inside information to a person he knew was involved in betting at baseball games in Alabama.
Mikrut said the committee would never name an athlete, future athlete or parents.
“It’s exclusively people in leadership positions at the school,” he said.
Mikrut said there is now an emphasis on protecting athletes who were not involved in violations from punishment. But he said probation, postseason suspensions and scholarship reductions — all of which could affect a current athlete — could still be imposed under certain circumstances.
Mikrut said the committee continues to support data suspensions as part of the penalties “because it is rooted in fair competition, which is ultimately one of the missions and priorities of the NCAA and the violations program.”
However, there may be reasons for nuance, he says.
“A track athlete’s team record may be stripped, but my individual finish may be upheld,” Mikrut said. “That is a very limited circumstance that the committee is dealing with. There will be situations where the student-athlete was not an active participant (in violations).”
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