NCAA
Emily James, Associate Director of Communications
The Nebraska women’s gymnastics program exceeded the permissible number of countable coaches when the former head coach and members of the program arranged for a former volunteer coach to receive impermissible compensation, according to an agreement released by the Division I Committee on Infractions.
The university, NCAA enforcement staff and former head coach said the violations occurred when the former volunteer coach was paid by women’s gymnastics student-athletes for floor exercise choreography and by the university for floor exercise music, contrary to NCAA rules.
The agreement said the former head coach coordinated with the former volunteer coach to submit invoices for floor exercise music from a fictitious company. The invoices requested the check be made payable to an associate of the former volunteer coach so the university would not detect the impermissible payments.
Because of his personal involvement in the violations, the former head coach agreed he did not promote an atmosphere of compliance.
This case was processed through the negotiated resolution process. The process was used because the university, the former head coach and the NCAA enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The former volunteer coach did not participate in the processing of the case. The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.
[ April 2020 University of Nebraska Public Negotiated Resolution Agreement ]
The university, former head coach and the enforcement staff used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-standard penalties for the university and Level II-aggravated for the former head coach. The former volunteer coach was also prescribed Level-II aggravated penalties. Those and other penalties, approved by the Committee on Infractions, are detailed below:
- Two years of probation.
- A fine of $5,000 plus 1 percent of the women’s gymnastics budget.
- A three-year show-cause order for the former head coach. During the first year of that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply. He must be suspended from the first 40% of contests during the first year of the show-cause period. If he is employed by a member school during the three-year period, the former head coach must attend one NCAA Regional Rules Seminar once at his own expense and must have enhanced monitoring and rules education.
- A two-year show-cause order for the former volunteer coach. During the first year of that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply. If he is employed by a member school during the two-year period, the former volunteer coach must attend one NCAA Regional Rules Seminar once at his own expense and must have enhanced monitoring and rules education.
- A reduction of one countable women’s gymnastics coach, served during the 2018-19 academic year.
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case were Alberto Gonzales, chief hearing officer for the panel, dean of the law school at Belmont and former attorney general of the United States; Joel Maturi, former Minnesota athletics director; and Joseph D. Novak, former head football coach at Northern Illinois.