UT Reports Secondary Violations
Tennessee reported 10 secondary violations over the past six months, and posted 20 including some that had already been reported to their website. It’s the normal grab-bag of accidental tweets here, a little extra benefit there, and a basketball tryout violation which would have been fine if it had occurred in April rather than September.
But there is one to focus on, also in men’s basketball:
Alleged inconsistent camp registration process. Specifically, the NCAA Basketball Focus Group declared a secondary violation occurred in men’s basketball because the team camp registration process was different than all other camps.
Tone aside, this brings up the same issue raised when Missouri released a set of secondary violations it had reported. Registration procedures are regulated to prevent “pop-up camps”, unadvertised camps with short registration periods designed to attract only targeted prospects. The NCAA says coaching suspensions are “endorsed and strong encouraged” for “the operation of men’s basketball camps in violation of NCAA legislation.”
Like Frank Haith though, whose program had different lodging and dining for an elite camp, Cuonzo Martin was not suspended. Not only was Martin not suspended, but Tennessee says no penalty was suffered for the violation. A letter of admonishment was not even written. There was not even rules education.
Registration procedures for an elite camp are not the most important thing in the world. But this is the second time there has been a violation of the camp legislation and no suspension despite the Board of Directors all but ordering more suspensions for these violations.
If the NCAA is no longer worried about elite camps, their impact on recruiting, and the quasi-extra benefits that athletes might receive as a result, then the Board of Directors should let the membership know that. If it is a big issue though, the lack of suspensions in these two cases are concerning.