9:03 am | August 6, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
The NCAA placed Utah’s men’s basketball program on two years of probation on Tuesday for impermissible recruiting activities during a seven-day period in April 2018.
The NCAA Division I committee on infractions also ruled that Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak failed to meet his responsibility to monitor his staff and promote rules compliance.
Utah officials self-reported the violations to the NCAA and settled the case through a cooperative summary disposition process. The NCAA committee initially proposed suspending Krystkowiak for two games, but later “determined the violations were unintentional, limited and not indicative of systemic problems. For those reasons, the committee did not prescribe the suspension it initially proposed.”
Utah officials self-imposed a $5,000 fine and recruiting restrictions. The NCAA also gave Utah associate head coach Tommy Connor a one-year show cause order. He served a one-week suspension in November 2018 and was prohibited from recruiting off-campus last month.
According to the NCAA, a Utah assistant coach “misapplied recruiting rules and believed off-campus recruiting activities were allowed during a quiet period.” The NCAA said the coach conducted an evaluation of a recruit at a community college, and the Utes’ entire coaching staff visited a second recruit at his high school during the quiet period.
The committee found that Connor coordinated with a local community college basketball coach to arrange for a high school prospect to visit Utah’s campus. The community college paid for the prospect’s visit, and the recruit also visited Utah’s campus while he was in Salt Lake City.
The NCAA ruled the community college became a Utah booster because he was “the coach’s contact with the prospect and the money spent to bring the prospect to the state and to the university violated NCAA recruiting rules.” Since the community college paid for the prospect’s visit to the Utah campus, the NCAA ruled the Utes exceeded the number of permissible official visits.
The NCAA ruled that Krystkowiak, who is in his ninth season at Utah, failed to monitor his staff and promote rules compliance because he “did not confirm with compliance officials that the off-campus evaluation and contacts were permissible.”
Krystkowiak immediately reported the off-campus rules violations to Utah’s compliance department, the NCAA statement said, but “did not confirm that all circumstances of the visit complied with NCAA rules.” As a result, the committee on infractions ruled, the Utes allowed a booster to finance an official visit and have contact with a prospect.
The Utes also committed a Level III violation when their coaching staff watched Krystkowiak’s “prospect-aged son participating with members of the men’s basketball team in a practice activity.”
“When the members of the coaching staff observed him demonstrating his athletics ability, the staff converted the activity into an impermissible tryout,” the NCAA report said.
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