UCSB announced on Tuesday that the NCAA, following an investigation, found Level II violations within its men’s water polo program and its track and field/cross country programs.
Level II violations, as stated by the NCAA’s violation structure, are classified as a significant breach of conduct and are, “Violations that provide or are intended to provide more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantages.”
The NCAA said in its findings that “both the head water polo coach and the former head track coach failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in their programs and violated head coach responsibility rules when they were directly involved in violations and did not consult compliance. The head water polo coach also involved an assistant coach in the violations.”
In the track program, the committee found that the former coach expected distance runners to log their training activity during summers and on their in-season day off which is prohibited. Additionally, the coach would punish athletes who did not participate in the logging of their training or did not meet their expectations.
In the men’s water polo program, the committee found that the head water polo coach facilitated housing for a student-athlete before they enrolled in at the university, resulting in impermissible benefits. While the head coach was not involved in the specifics of the housing, they did have an understanding with a club coach to facilitate the housing.
In addition, the head water polo coach along with an assistant water polo coach provided impermissible extra benefits to two athletes who worked for their water polo club. The committee found that the coaches would compensate the athletes with a monthly-stipend that was much steeper than other student-athletes made. The stipend was paid directly to the landlord. The coaches paid also paid the student-athletes at times when there was no documentation that they performed work, including a time when one student-athlete was still in their home country.
As a result of these violations, the committee, using the Division-I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines, the following penalties were levied:
- Two years of probation.
- A 2018 postseason ban for the men’s water polo team (self-imposed by the university).
- A fine of $5,000 plus 1% of each of the budgets of the men’s water polo, men’s cross country and women’s cross country programs.
- A reduction of men’s and women’s cross country and track and field scholarships by 5% during the 2019-20 academic year (self-imposed by the university) and 7.5% during the 2020-21 academic year.
- A reduction of men’s water polo scholarships by 5% during the 2019-20 academic year (self-imposed by the university) and 7.5% during the 2020-21 academic year.
- A reduction of men’s and women’s cross country and track and field official visits by 12.5% during the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university) and 12.5% during the 2020-21 academic year.
- A prohibition on unofficial visits in the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs for six weeks during the 2020-21 recruiting season.
- A reduction of men’s water polo official paid visits by 12.5% during the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university) and 12.5% during the 2020-21 academic year.
- A prohibition of men’s water polo unofficial visits for a six-month period from April 2018 through September 2018 (self-imposed by the university) and a six-week period during the 2020-21 recruiting season.
- A one-year show-cause order for the head track coach. During that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from all athletically related activity.
- A one-year show-cause order for the assistant water polo coach. During that period, he must be suspended for 30% of the season’s contests.
- A two-year show-cause order for the head water polo coach. During that period, he must be prohibited from participating in all off-campus recruiting, and he must be suspended from the first 30% of the season’s contests during the first year of the period.
- A vacation of records in which the men’s water polo student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public decision release.
- A prohibition on recruiting communication with international prospects for the men’s water polo coaching staff from April 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2018 (self-imposed by the university).
- A reduction of countable athletically related activity by four hours per week for cross country student-athletes and track and field student-athletes who are also on the cross country squad list during the 2018-19 academic year (self-imposed by the university).
- The university also required two days off from countable athletically related activity for cross country student-athletes and track and field student-athletes who are also on the cross country squad list (self-imposed by the university).
The school issued the following statement with regards to its and the NCAA’s findings:
“UC Santa Barbara values compliance with NCAA rules. Today’s report by the NCAA Committee on Infractions is the result of an investigation that was conducted cooperatively by the NCAA enforcement staff and the university. The report describes NCAA Level II violations in UCSB’s men’s water polo program and distance running programs.
As the report indicates, the violations occurred even though UC Santa Barbara exercised appropriate institutional control and monitoring of its athletics programs. The report also notes that UC Santa Barbara self-detected and self-disclosed violations accepted responsibility and self-imposed meaningful corrective measures and penalties, and provided the enforcement staff with valuable assistance, which helped expedite the resolution of the case. UC Santa Barbara is disappointed that the violations happened. The University is committed to learning from the process and continuing to promote student-athlete welfare and competition with integrity as core values of the university’s athletics department.”
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