NCAA puts Miami women’s basketball on probation for year
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami’s women’s basketball program was put on probation for a year after school and the NCAA said the coaches inadvertently helped arrange no-contact between a reinforcement and two players who signed with the Hurricanes.
Hurricanes coach Katie Meier won’t have to miss any more games; she served a three-game suspension to start the season in anticipation of the NCAA ruling.
The NCAA also said it was “concerned” by “the lack of disassociation of the booster involved” as part of the sanctions Miami agreed to.
The NCAA did not name the booster or the players involved, but referenced an April 13 tweet posted by a booster that included a photo of him and two recruits. On that date, booster John Ruiz posted a photo of himself with Haley and Hanna Cavinder after dinner at their house.
Ruiz has signed name, likeness and likeness agreements with several Miami athletes, which are now allowed under NCAA rule. The Cavinders, who have a large social media following and several NIL deals, signed their letter of intent about a week after dinner.
The Cavinders told the NCAA that their decision to attend Miami was not influenced by what happened in their meeting with Ruiz, although they are among the athletes who endorsed at least one of Ruiz’s business interests.
The Cavinders are not subject to any sanctions. Both are in their first season with the Hurricanes after transferring from Fresno State.
“While the parties asserted that a disassociation penalty would be inappropriate based on an impermissible meal and contact, today’s new NIL-related environment represents a new day,” the NCAA said. “The boosters are involved with prospects and student-athletes in a way that the NCAA membership has never seen or encountered.”
Meier said in a statement distributed by the university Friday that it has led programs “with integrity and has been a contributing partner with the NCAA.”
“College athletics are in transformation, and any inadvertent mistakes I made predated a full understanding of the guardrails in place and the clarification issued by the NCAA in May.”
The NCAA said it launched an investigation in May and referred to the April 13 tweet as part of that investigation. But the NCAA can’t order Miami to part ways with Ruiz based on a meeting that happened before the rules were changed last year.
“The (infractions committee) will seriously consider disassociation sanctions in future cases involving conduct adjacent to NIL,” the NCAA said.
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