So-called secondary NCAA men’s basketball rules violations are a lot like turnovers.
“Everybody commits them, everybody,” Kansas University coach Bill Self recently said after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported 20 secondary, or minor, NCAA rules violations committed in Self’s three seasons at Illinois.
“If you are not turning yourself in for secondary violations, your compliance program is not doing a very good job. If they’re reported, it shows you’re on top of your business,” Self said.
No coach in America has thus far disputed Self’s comments, including former KU coach Roy Williams, who, according to records obtained by the Journal-World, had 10 self-reported secondary violations in his program in 15 years at KU.
“Well, I think it’s true. Everybody does have them,” Williams said. “You have to be diligent staying on top of rules changes. It’s something we’re proud of we only had 10 in 15 years. I’m surprised we had that many.
“It is something where you only help yourself by reporting. If something were to happen later, penalties would be more difficult. We never had anything to hide. We have never operated in a gray area.
“I will say one thing: Some secondary violations are not very secondary. All ours were silly stuff and didn’t help us in any way, shape or form.”
Like Self’s secondary violations at Illinois, Williams’ appear minuscule — even petty — none that would give the Jayhawks a recruiting advantage.
Here are the 10 secondary violations self-reported to the NCAA during Williams’ 10 years at KU. What follows is the official wording of each violation and an explanation/translation:
Explanation: A KU player from California participated in three summer-league games in the Los Angeles area without first gaining approval from the NCAA. After learning of the player’s participation in the games, a KU coach filled out the necessary paperwork, allowing the Jayhawk to continue his participation in the league.
¢ Violation No. 2: During a summer recruiting evaluation period, an assistant coach provided transportation to a local restaurant to two prospective student athletes and had in-person off-campus contact with one of the prospects.
Explanation: A KU assistant coach drove Drew Gooden, who already had committed to KU, and another prospect who didn’t sign with KU, 2/10s of a mile to a restaurant across a highway from an arena in which the prospects were playing in a prep tournament. The short lift in the coach’s car constituted a minor violation and had to be self-reported.
The coach didn’t dine with the players or pay for their meals.
¢ Violation No. 3: A representative of the institution’s athletic interests, on his own volition, provided inducements to a prospective student-athlete, including payment for visits to other institutions. There was no evidence the representative recruited or provided the inducements on behalf of the university.
Explanation: Kansas City businessman Tom Grant took former KU prospect JaRon Rush on various unofficial campus visits and served as a mentor to Rush for many years. The NCAA deemed Grant a longtime family friend of Rush and never alleged any wrongdoing involving KU. Williams eventually dropped Rush, who signed with UCLA.
¢ Violation No. 4: An assistant coach was interviewed at halftime of a televised high school basketball game. The coach did not comment on any of the players in the game.
Explanation: KU aide Matt Doherty was guest on a halftime show at his high school alma mater in New York. He didn’t discuss any recruits, merely answered questions about himself.
¢ Violation No. 5: The head coach had two contacts on the same day with two prospective student-athletes who had signed national letters of intent with the institution. On different occasions the coach attended competition of both prospects and had unplanned contact with both prospects immediately after the contests.
Explanation: Williams said something to the effect of “good luck” to California signees Scot Pollard and Jacque Vaughn before the two played high school basketball games and something to the effect of “good job” after the prep games after they signed with KU. It was during a dead period in recruiting in which coaches couldn’t say anything to signees.
¢ Violation No. 6: During an official visit, a prospective student-athlete was permitted to sit on the bench during the team’s first practice. The prospect signed a letter of intent with another institution.
Explanation: Tennessee prep prospect C.J. Black sat on KU’s bench during a midnight scrimmage at Late Night with Roy Williams. NCAA rules states no prospect can sit on the bench during a “competition.” Williams argued that Late Night was not a competition, but a practice, but decided to self-report to be on the safe side. Black ultimately signed with Tennessee.
¢ Violation No. 7: Two student athletes, who were partial qualifiers, participated in an intramural tournament.
Explanation: Calvin Rayford and Sean Pearson, who were sitting out the season as partial qualifiers, played for a buddy’s intramural team one weekend. Pearson eventually was deemed a full qualifier and granted a fifth year at KU.
Explanation: A KU assistant coach spoke to a reporter from a future Jayhawk’s hometown paper. The player already had committed to KU at the time of the secondary violation.
Explanation: On the surface, this secondary violation might be the first of the 10 to appear serious. In actuality, there was nothing KU could have done to prevent a situation in which the late Sean Tunstall played in an exhibition game despite being ineligible.
Tunstall, who had obtained a qualifying ACT test score, received a letter from ACT officials in mid-November of his freshman season, saying his score had been questioned or “red-flagged.” He’d already played in a game at the time of receipt of the letter.
Tunstall took the test again, the ACT officials invalidating his score, rendering him ineligible.
Explanation: Rayford played in a Lawrence city league hoops game.
Williams said it was a constant battle to keep up with the rules.
“The rulebook gets thicker and thicker,” said Williams, now coach at North Carolina. “It’s an important part of the job, to stay abreast of the rules and keep your coaches on top of the rules.”
All coaches with recruiting responsibilities are tested on the rulebook every year and must record a score of 80 percent or higher to be certified.
“The NCAA rulebook? My gosh, you could memorize the NCAA rulebook and come back and take a test the next year and make 80 percent on it because the rules have changed in so many areas,” KU’s Self said.
Former KU compliance director Janelle Martin agreed.
“Yes,” Martin said, asked if the rulebook was cumbersome. “You’ve seen the rulebook. There are way too many rules in there. Coaches know the rules and sometimes recruits don’t know the rules and coaches can’t get out of a certain situation. But coaches are very good about calling in and self-reporting, saying this is what happened and why it happened and you write it up and move on.
“Coach Williams didn’t always like all the NCAA rules and he was fairly vocal thinking the NCAA legislated too many things,” Martin said, “but he and all our coaches understood we had the rules for a reason. Those were the rules given and he’d live by those and expected his staff to also. There will be mistakes. They happen in any program. It’s why you self-report and try to do better the next time.”
That’s why Self is not embarrassed by secondary violations he’s committed in his career, especially with four full-time compliance directors working at Illinois. KU had just one compliance director in the Martin era.
“It is the way you monitor yourself,” KU’s Self said of turning in minor violations. “It is a way to get better and that’s what you always try to do. You can’t legislate integrity, but you can legislate doing it the right way. As important as it is to the institutions, I don’t think they can spend too much money on helping their coaches and athletes stay compliant in every possible facet.”
