The University of Connecticut on Friday announced that it would self-impose penalties for violations of NCAA rules that took place within the men’s basketball program under former coach Kevin Ollie.
USA Today reports that the school first notified the NCAA of the violations after firing Ollie last year. Following an investigation, the NCAA described its findings in a notice to the school and called the violations it discovered as “a severe breach of conduct.”
Ollie reportedly provided false or misleading information about video calls made to a recruit from former UConn stars, Ray Allen and Rudy Gay.
UConn outlined its self-imposed sanctions in a response letter to the NCAA, and also placed the blame for the violations squarely in the lap of its former coach.
“First, the investigation revealed multiple instances demonstrating Ollie’s increasingly cavalier attitude towards compliance and his former staff’s failure to follow straightforward rules of which they were unquestionably aware,” the letter reads. “These violations typically arose out of limited and manageable situations.”
UConn will lose a scholarship for the 2019-20 season, reducing its total for next season from 13 to 12. In addition, the school will enforce weeklong bans on unofficial visits and recruiting communications, reduce the number of allowed official visits and recruiting days, and pay a fine of $5000 to the NCAA. UConn hopes its penalties will be enough to satisfy the NCAA, though the Committee on Infractions may impose additional penalties under its own prerogative.
