NCAA Penalties Tied To Improper Benefits

NCAA penalties tied to improper benefits
The number of games to be suspended is based on the amount of money received by a player.

By J.P. Giglio
jp.giglio@newsobserv.com

Posted: Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010



Renardo Sidney Jr., of Los Angeles, was penalized by the NCAA for lying to the NCAA during its investigation and for receiving $11,800 in improper benefits. 2009 ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

More Information

1. Prospective student-athlete (includes any individual who is subject to review by NCAA amateurism certification staff) signs an agreement with an agent or an agreement indicating that an individual will represent him or her.
Guideline: Eligibility not reinstated.
2. Prospective student-athlete (includes any individual who is subject to review by NCAA amateurism certification staff) or family member accepts benefits from an agent valued at less than $100.
Guideline: Eligibility reinstated based on repayment of value of impermissible benefits and based on 10 percent withholding condition.
3. Prospective student-athlete (includes any individual who is subject to review by NCAA amateurism certification staff) or family member accepts benefits from an agent that are greater than $101.
Guideline: Case-by-case review by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff. Amateurism certification staff will forward to reinstatement staff for review.
(Minimum condition of repayment and 10 percent withholding condition.)
4. Prospective student-athlete (includes any individual who is subject to review by NCAA amateurism certification staff) signs an agreement with a talent evaluation service or agent that is conditioned on the service or agent securing an athletics scholarship for the perspective student-athlete.
Guideline: Eligibility reinstated based on 10 percent withholding condition.
From NCAA Division I committee on student athlete reinstatement/prescribed penalties.

RALEIGH - The results of the NCAA investigations of former Raleigh and Kentucky basketball star John Wall and Renardo Sidney of Mississippi State offer recent examples of the type of punishment the NCAA hands out when it finds student-athletes received improper benefits.

"Every case is different," said Shane Lyons, the ACC's associate commissioner for compliance. "The NCAA makes decisions on a case-by-case basis and there can be a lot to decipher in these cases."

The NCAA visited Chapel Hill on July 12-13. Receiver Greg Little was interviewed by the NCAA, his father said, about whether he had improper contact with an agent. The (Raleigh) News & Observer has confirmed defensive tackle Marvin Austin also was interviewed.

The NCAA delivered its ruling on Wall, the top pick in this year's NBA draft, on Oct.30, and its ruling on Sidney on March5.

The NCAA suspended Wall two games and ordered him to repay almost $800 in expenses he incurred on unofficial college visits while he was still in high school at Raleigh's Word of God Academy.

The NCAA gave Sidney two punishments: a one-year suspension (the entire 2009-10 season) for lying to the NCAA during its investigation and a nine-game suspension for the 2010-11 season for receiving $11,800 in improper benefits.

Sidney has to repay the money to a charity, Mississippi State compliance director Bracky Brett said Tuesday.

Sidney's suspension for the 2010-11 season, 30percent of the Bulldogs' regular season, is based on penalties prescribed by the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement.

According to NCAA documents, for expenses under $500, the suspension is zero games; between $501 and $700 is 10percent of the regular season; $701 to $1,000 is 20percent; and $1,001 "and up" is 30percent.

The NCAA does not quantify a "point of no return" or an upper limit on the monetary value of expenses before a student-athlete would be unable to repay the amount and retain his or her eligibility.

Signing with an agent, or "an agreement indicating that an individual will represent him or her," results in a loss of eligibility, according to the NCAA document.

The NCAA classifies the college football season as 12 games and the college basketball season as 29 games, Brett said. The NCAA rounds the suspension up, Brett said, so in the case of football, 10percent would be two games, 20percent would be three games and 30percent would be four games.

"In the appeal process, you can mitigate those games down," Brett said, noting the mathematical difference in the standard and Wall's suspension.

North Carolina's first four opponents - Louisiana State (9-4), Georgia Tech (11-3), Rutgers (9-4) and East Carolina (9-5) - collectively went 38-16 during 2009.

Lyons, without specifically addressing the North Carolina case, said those are the guidelines the NCAA offers but they are malleable.

"The NCAA is trying to make the penalties consistent," Lyons said. "Those are starting guidelines, they're not set in stone."

There is one procedural matter that could potentially keep coach Butch Davis and the Tar Heels in NCAA limbo before practice starts Aug.6 or the season starts Sept.4.

According to the "policies and procedures" document for the reinstatement committee, if North Carolina appeals the decision, a written waiver appeal "generally take(s) three weeks to be reviewed."