Inside UConn’s 15 self-reported NCAA violations

The UConn athletic department self-reported 15 violations to the NCAA in 2021, ranging from a women’s basketball player accepting money from a fan for her birthday to the compliance office failing to enter a player into the transfer portal within an allotted amount of time.

Details of the 15 violations obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from Hearst Connecticut Media were limited, protecting the identity of players.

But all were determined to be Level III in nature, considered the least serious category of an NCAA investigation.

Four of the violations were committed by the women’s basketball program, including one discovered April 13 in which a player accepted $40 from fans via CashApp for her birthday. The penalty called for the unnamed student-athlete being declared ineligible until paying $40 to the charity of her choice.

The football program was discovered to have committed three violations, and the following programs one apiece: men’s soccer, baseball, softball, field hockey and women’s tennis. The athletic training department, the compliance department and the Student-Athlete Success Program also each were cited for a single violation.

“UConn athletics endeavors to promote an atmosphere of compliance and, while educational efforts are ongoing, it is critical that everyone in the division feels comfortable reporting violations when mistakes are made,” UConn said in a statement. “These Level III violations are a product of a robust monitoring effort and an understanding within the department that rules compliance is a shared responsibility. We will continue to be vigilant in this area.”

Level III violations are defined generally by the NCAA as “breach of conduct” and, more specifically, as any violations considered “isolated or limited in nature, and provide no more than a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage.”

Level II violations are defined as “significant breach of conduct” and Level I violations as “severe breach of conduct.”

For a violation discovered April 21, eight days after the CashApp violation was discovered, a women’s basketball player was deemed ineligible for an unspecified period after it was discovered that she “promoted a commercial entity.” A law passed to allow student-athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness did not take effect until July 1.

The other two women’s basketball violations were for a player participating in a permissible NCAA-certified summer league prior to receiving written consent, and for an assistant coach’s participation in off-campus recruiting prior to passing

a required exam.

A women’s tennis coach was also cited for recruiting off campus before passing the exam. Field hockey was found to have hosted a recruit for an official visit without the recruit being listed on the IRL — institutional request list, which tracks student-athletes NCAA members are interested in recruiting.

Football was twice cited for electronic correspondence with a recruit prior to the first permissible date, with both violations discovered in May, and for publicly acknowledging “a prospective student-athlete’s intent to enroll by quote tweeting a post made by the PSA.”

Most penalties levied included rules education for any involved staff member in letter form, or otherwise, and athletes being ruled ineligible until a situation is rectified.

For instance, the athletic training staff was found in April to have provided an extra benefit (a necklace) to a student-athlete. That student-athlete was declared ineligible until repayment to a charity nine days later. The staff member was issued a letter of education, and the entire staff was subjected to further rules education.

In the football instances of impermissible contact, staff members were subject to education and prohibited from providing the involved recruit with recruiting materials for two weeks of an otherwise permissible period.

Baseball was cited for a social media snafu, tagging a recruit in a post. The compliance office itself was cited for failing to enter a student-athlete’s name to the transfer portal within two business days. The Student-Athlete Success Program was cited for a student-athlete practicing, competing and receiving financial aid and expenses while enrolled less than full-time. That studentathlete was declared ineligible for an unspecified time and the program was subject to rules training.

Softball was subject to the same education after publicizing camp/clinic photos of a recruit who had not yet signed to join the program. The same education was required of a men’s soccer staff member for a penalty described as “Radio show interview with prospective studentathlete nonscholastic coach.”