The NCAA has punished Northeastern for improper recruiting tactics in 2003 and 2004 related to an international player. As outlined by the Associated Press’ report on the NCAA judgment, the punishment includes a two-year probation and loss of a scholarship.
The NCAA said the case resulted from the university basketball staff’s failure to recognize the impropriety of the booster’s involvement and a former associate athletics director’s failure to question the booster’s participation in recruiting activities from the summer of 2003 through Dec. 28, 2004.
It said the university’s punishment would include probation from Friday to April 23, 2011; a reduction in men’s basketball athletics scholarships to no more than 12 for the 2008-09 academic year, from the maximum of 13; and a reduction in the number of official visits in men’s basketball to nine for the academic year, from a maximum of 12.
The Northeastern booster had several improper exchanges with the recruit. For example, the booster sent e-mail messages and called the recruit and his relatives and arranged a recruiting trip to the Boston area for the recruit to visit the Huskies. The Associated Press provides more details about the booster’s actions.
The NCAA said on its Web site Friday that the university and its former head coach didn’t know the booster had bought a one-way ticket for the student-athlete so he could travel to Boston, enroll at the university and join its basketball team. It said when the student arrived in Boston, the booster took him from the airport to a hotel for a night in a room registered to the booster but paid for by the university.
It said the student made more than $201 in international phone calls using a calling card belonging to the university and that the school’s former director of basketball operations made several long-distance calls while the student was present to gather information on his amateur status and academic eligibility.
Although the university didn’t authorize the personal calls, the NCAA said, its former head coach and former director of operations failed to monitor the calling card and prevent the student from using it.
The report does not name any Northeastern officials. Duquesne coach Ron Everhart — also not named in the article — was the Huskies’ head coach from 2001 to 2006. He compiled an 82-68 record in his five seasons at Northeastern and elevated the Huskies to contender in the America East and CAA conferences.
