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In a rare infractions case involving a Division III non-revenue sport, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Thursday that it has cited Occidental College for failing to monitor its women’s volleyball program, after a former head coach provided impermissible benefits to athletes and recruits, including travel on a booster’s private plane, rental cars, other travel and lodging. The coach also gave apparel to prospects and allowed recruits to travel with the volleyball team and sit on the bench, the public infractions report noted, in conflict with NCAA rules.
Additionally, the report notes, the former head football coach contacted 467 current football players to ask them to transfer to Occidental.
Occidental now faces several penalties, including the following: public reprimand and censure; two years’ probation; a two-year show cause order for the head volleyball coach, meaning any program that wants to hire him must seek approval from the NCAA; a 2013 postseason ban for the women’s volleyball team; vacation of all volleyball records from 2009-11, the years during which the transgressions occurred (self-imposed by the university); and prohibition from all off-campus recruiting for the volleyball team and for the football coach at his current university. In addition, the volleyball program played fewer tournaments and games in 2011-12, punishments that were also self-imposed.
