Top Rutgers officials and other parties named by the NCAA in its investigation into the university's athletics department will appear today in front of the Committee on Infractions, NJ Advance Media has learned.

It means that a resolution is near to the dark cloud looming over Rutgers football since the school retained a Kansas City-based law firm specializing in NCAA rules violations, as first reported by NJ Advance Media in October 2015.

Fourteen months later, the NCAA served Rutgers with a Notice of Allegations for seven possible violations related to recruiting, drug testing and academic misconduct that occurred prior to 2016.

Facing a "failure to monitor" charge, Rutgers is expected to be represented in Indianapolis by university president Robert Barchi, athletics director Pat Hobbs, football coach Chris Ash, university senior vice president and general counsel John Hoffman, chief compliance officer Paul Perrier and others.

Former football coach Kyle Flood, former football assistant coach Darrell Wilson and former director of sports medicine Robert Monaco also are expected to be present to answer for their possible show-cause orders.

Individuals found guilty of a show-cause order after a NCAA hearing must clear significant hurdles in order to work in college athletics again. Flood resurfaced as assistant offensive line coach for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

The private hearing is scheduled to be held at an undisclosed location away from NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, sources told NJ Advance Media. It typically takes 8-12 weeks for a final report and penalties to be issued, according to the NCAA.

A NCAA spokesperson said "committee members reserve all comment until after the decision has been reached and a written report is ready."

The standard of proof used in the hearing is "whether the information is credible, persuasive and of a nature that reasonable people would rely upon in the conduct of serious affairs," according to NCAA.org.

Rutgers officials have expressed confidence that the school's proactive response will separate its case from others where the NCAA has penalized with vacated wins, scholarship reductions and/or a postseason ban.

Rutgers fired athletics director Julie Hermann, Flood and all of his assistant coaches after the 2015 season, and let go of Monaco earlier this year. In addition to overhauling personnel, it revamped the athletics drug-testing policy.

The suggested sanctions include a one-year probation period with progress reports to the NCAA, a $5,000 fine, and recruiting restrictions that limit the number of off-campus recruiting days and official visits during the 2017-18 academic year.

Rutgers is expected to make the plea not to further punish the clean hands of successors in place now -- from the players to the coaches and up the chain of command -- for alleged misdeeds committed under the watch of a previous regime.

The Committee on Infractions is made up of 10 representatives -- seven from member schools and three from the general public who usually are lawyers with no connections to the school or the NCAA.

The general format for a hearing, according to NCAA.org, is for allegations to be debated one-by-one, with involved parties providing opening and closing statements. Committee members are permitted to ask questions throughout the hearing and ultimately discuss the case in private.

Rutgers has paid more than $200,000 to its outside counsel for serving as a liaison between the school and the NCAA.

The case was given a Level II designation on a descending four-level scale by the NCAA.

While still considered "major," Level II is defined by the NCAA as "violations that provide or are intended to provide more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantage; includes more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive impermissible benefit; or involves conduct that may compromise the integrity of the NCAA collegiate model as set forth in the Constitution and bylaws.''

Rutgers was put on notice multiple times between 2004-15 for the football recruiting ambassadors' program potentially being contrary to the governing body's legislation, according to the NCAA.

The formal NCAA inquiry originally focused on the recruiting ambassador program but expanded once to probe Flood's attempts to influence an academically ineligible player's grades and then a second time in regards to inconsistencies in the drug-testing program.

Rutgers and the NCAA have agreed in exchanged reports that there is evidence Flood, Monaco and the university "failed to follow institutional drug-testing policies and protocol resulting in 16 football student-athletes not being subjected to prescribed corrective or disciplinary measures.''

In addition, Rutgers conceded that 15 players had initial positive tests that "were not appropriately identified by Monaco'' and "14 student-athletes were permitted to compete without being subject to timely corrective or disciplinary actions required by the policy.''

Flood, Monaco and their attorneys did not respond or declined comment when contacted by NJ Advance Media.

In his only public comments on the subject, Flood said in December 2016 on his co-hosted Sirius radio program that he was "looking forward" to meeting with the committee and that "we followed" Rutgers drug policy.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.