UR, NCAA resolve infractions case

The University of Richmond "failed to monitor its athletics program," the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions stated yesterday in its report on recruiting violations committed from August 2007 to January 2008.

The committee also concluded the head men's and women's basketball coaches "did not promote an atmosphere of compliance."

UR's case involved hundreds of impermissible text messages (though many during the same text "conversation") and dozens of impermissible phone calls to recruits and their parents. Two basketball assistant coaches responsible for most of the prohibited communication -- men's assistant Carlin Hartman and women's assistant Chris Carroll-- resigned when UR discovered the infractions in November 2007 during a routine check of phone records.

NCAA legislation prohibited text-message communication with recruits beginning Aug. 1, 2007.

UR's violations were classified major by the NCAA because rules were knowingly and repeatedly broken. UR already incurred the primary penalty, multiple recruiting restrictions during the past two school years. Those sanctions were self-imposed by UR. The NCAA and UR settled the case through summary disposition, meaning the NCAA enforcement staff, the university and involved individuals agreed on facts and self-imposed penalties.

Chris Mooney has been the UR men's coach, and Michael Shafer the women's coach, since 2005-06. Mooney acknowledged in the NCAA's case report that he "did not monitor the program to the extent necessary to prevent the text messaging and phone call violations that occurred." Also in that report, Shafer concedes he sent impermissible texts to recruits and stated "I knowingly acted contrary to the rules. . . . This violation is something that I am not proud of and it is something that I humbly regret doing."

The NCAA found that "despite discovering text-messaging violations in the men's basketball program in the fall of 2007, the institution did not monitor text messaging in any other sport programs until the spring of 2008." Women's basketball coaches committed text-messaging violations until January 2008, according to the report.

Yesterday, the Spiders began serving two years of probation, which includes emphasis on NCAA legislation and reports to the NCAA regarding Spiders' recruiting activities, particularly in the area of electronic and telephonic communication. UR Athletic Director Jim Miller said yesterday that since discovery of the violations, the school hired an assistant in the compliance department and also purchased additional computer software to help monitor phone calls and text messages.

"We are pleased this matter is resolved. All of the penalties we recommended, and already have imposed on ourselves, have been accepted by the NCAA," said Miller, Richmond's AD since 2000. "With sanctions that have been imposed on the people who committed the violations and the corrective actions we have taken to enhance our compliance process, we're very comfortable that we've taken the appropriate steps with this. And the NCAA is comfortable that we've taken the appropriate steps."

Recruiting restrictions in the basketball programs involved reduction of recruiting days in 2007-08 and 2008-09, reduction of the number of official visits during those years, limits on communication with recruits, and the requirement that head coaches and assistants attend an NCAA Regional Rules Compliance Seminar during 2007-08 at personal expense.

During an NCAA investigation that analyzed phone records of other Spiders' coaches, the NCAA discovered more impermissible communication -- a combined total of 19 text messages -- with recruits in football, baseball, women's lacrosse, women's golf, women's soccer and women's track and field.

According to the NCAA, this was UR's first major violation since 1966. That case involved financial aid and the football program.

Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or .