UC Santa Barbara track and men’s water polo accused of committing NCAA violations
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- NCAA announced that UC Santa Barbara men's and women's cross country and track programs along with men's water polo violated NCAA's rules on Tuesday.
According to the Division I Committee on Infractions panel, UC Santa Barbara men's and women's cross country and track programs violated "countable athletically related activity restrictions."
UC Santa Barbara men's water polo program violated impermissible benefits rules.
The NCAA committee say 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 former track coach expected runners to log their training activity during the summer and during their in-season weekly day off.
Those time periods are when countable athletically related activity is prohibited.
Because the former coach reviewed the logs, provided feedback on runner's training and punished or admonished student-athletes who did not meet his training or logging expectations it violated NCAA rules where the athlete's training was not truly voluntary.
For the men's water polo program, the head water polo coach facilitated housing for a student-athlete before enrolling at the university.
Even though the head water polo coach was not involved in the specifics of the housing arrangement, the committee determined a discussion the coach had with a club coach about the student-athlete's housing needs facilitated the impermissible arrangement.
The committee noted that it has long warned of the heightened risk of violations when prospects move nearby a university before enrollment.
The head water polo coach and assistant water polo coach provided extra benefits for two student-athletes who worked for their water polo club.
The two coached compensated two student-athlete with a monthly stipend that was beyond the going rate for other student-athletes' rent and was paid directly to their landlord.
The committee says that the coaches also paid the student-athletes for work at times when there was no documentation if they performed the work.
One instance included a time when one of the student-athletes was still in his home country.
To find the list of penalty guidelines that the teams have to follow click here.
Members of the committee that reviewed the violations were drawn from the NCAA membership and the public.
