Daniel Paulling

The Clarion-Ledger

OXFORD - A misunderstanding about how to return a loaner car led to an unnamed Ole Miss football player being suspended, according to Ole Miss’ self-reported rule violations to the NCAA over the span of May through December of last year.

After his 2012 Chevrolet Malibu was vandalized last April, the player received a loaner car from a dealership while his car was being repaired, according to a report obtained by The Clarion-Ledger through an open records request. The violation was discovered last August.

Ole Miss announced Laremy Tunsil's use of three loaner vehicles over a six-month period was part of the impermissible benefits he received, leading to a seven-game suspension, but there is no clear indication whether this violation involves Tunsil.

Use of the loaner car, a 2013 Chevrolet Impala that had more than 39,000 miles on it, was fine because it’s consistent with dealership policy, meaning the player wasn’t receiving special treatment because of his status as an athlete at Ole Miss.

However, the trouble came when the player tried to return it three months later after the dealership completed repairs to his personal vehicle.

“After the repairs were made, [name redacted] attempted to return the loaner vehicle to the dealership but claims he was informed by the dealership that a loaner car return could only be made by the individual who had arranged the loaner; here, [name redacted],” read the report, which added player’s father set up the player’s loaner car and lived three hours from Ole Miss.

Oxford car dealership releases statement regarding Tunsil

“On or about July 7th, [name redacted] paid the local dealership for the repairs and [name redacted’s] car was subsequently returned to him for use. After speaking to the dealership post-payment, [name redacted] was under the belief that the dealership would be picking up the loaner vehicle from [name redacted’s] apartment. That did not occur. [Name redacted] subsequently remained in possession of the Impala until August 10th.”

After regaining possession of his personal car, the player continued use of the loaner vehicle, as evidenced by his receiving parking tickets and a photograph of his parking permit hanging in the car while the loaner vehicle was parked at a football facility on campus, according to the report.

The player paid $151.10 to a charity of his choice — the benefit was valued at more than $600 but the penalty was reduced — and performed 21 hours of community service and served a suspension, the exact length having been redacted in the report.

Here are the remainder of the violations Ole Miss reported to the NCAA during the eight-month span covered by the open records request. Violations that occurred before this period but weren’t discovered until this time span have been included below.

Violation occurred: 10/20/2014

Sport: Softball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: Softball coach Mike Smith sent two impermissible text messages to a 2017 recruit before Sept. 1 of her junior year of high school. He received text messages containing the schedule for a travel softball team he wanted to watch from a number he didn’t have saved in his phone and responded twice by saying “thank you.” The number belonged to the recruit.

Institutional action: Ole Miss “imposed the SEC minimum penalty for impermissible text messages and prohibited [name redacted] from having telephone contact with any prospective student-athletes for a period of 14 days (July 27-August 9).” The entire softball coaching staff also wasn’t allowed to make telephone contact with, send recruiting material to or send electronic transmissions to the recruit for the month of September.

Violation occurred: 2/10/2015, 2/18/2015 and 6/29/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: Ole Miss football coaches committed several pocket dials to recruits as described in three separate self-reports.

Institutional action: Ole Miss has continued to provide the football coaching staff with rules education and stressed all coaches to “lock” their iPhones to prevent this from happening.

Violation occurred: 3/13/2015

Sport: Volleyball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: An assistant volleyball coach made an inadvertent phone call to a 2017 recruit prior to September 1 of the recruit’s junior year. The pocket dial lasted less than one minute.

Institutional action: Ole Miss wrote in its report that it would “continue to stress to its staff to ‘lock’ their iPhones before putting them in their pockets to avoid accidental calls.”

Violation occurred: 4/4/2015

Sport: Men’s Golf

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: A person associated with the men’s golf team made an inadvertent phone call to a 2017 recruit prior to September 1 of the recruit’s junior year. The pocket dial occurred because the recruit had recently called the person, and the call lasted less than one minute.

Institutional action: Ole Miss requested relief from SEC minimum penalty, which was granted, and stated in its report that it would “continue to stress to its staff to ‘lock’ their iPhones before putting them in their pockets to avoid accidental calls.”

Violation occurred: 4/27/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Amateurism

Summary: A football player who became “essentially homeless” following an eviction from his apartment spent approximately 18 nights at a house where a teammate’s girlfriend lived. The player had been evicted from his apartment after spring workouts last year because he was caring for the teammate’s dog, though pets weren’t allowed at his apartment complex.

Institutional action: Ole Miss forced the player to repay the value of the benefit ($270) to a charity and provided rules education to the player who committed the violation.

Violation occurred: 5/18/2015

Sport: Men’s basketball

Violation type: Financial aid

Summary: An assistant men’s basketball coach paid an application fee for a transfer student, which was a violation. This came after someone referred to as “Abernethy,” presumably assistant coach Todd Abernethy, permissibly paid for official transcripts and GRE scores for the athlete to be sent to the graduate school after he signed his Southeastern Conference and Ole Miss financial aid agreements.

Institutional action: The athlete repaid the value of the benefit to a charity. Furthermore, rules education was provided and a letter of admonishment was sent to a person whose name was redacted.

Violation occurred: 5/24/2015

Sport: Men’s track, outdoor

Violation type: Awards and benefits

Summary: Members of the men’s outdoor track team were provided with vacation period per diem because they were being allowed to stay on campus through May 24, the day before the team would leave for the NCAA east preliminary. However, two members learned they didn’t qualify for the meet and left campus before May 24 but still received meal and housing per diem through May 24.

Institutional action: Each affected athlete made a donation to a non-profit organization for the amount he received but shouldn’t have, one for $35 and the other for $50.

Violation occurred: 7/9/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: A football recruit projected to qualify enrolled at Ole Miss last summer and began receiving financial aid. However, the recruit incorrectly entered one subscore of his ACT, which he took multiple times in order to qualify and was instead two points shy of qualifying status. An Ole Miss worker didn’t catch the recruit’s error, and the violation was discovered when the NCAA Eligibility Center certified the recruit as a non-qualifier.

Institutional action: The recruit repaid a pro-rated amount of his Summer II financial aid and withdrew from courses. He completed an additional 0.5 credits of core courses to raise his GPA and was certified as a qualifier 20 days later. In an effort to combat future such mistakes, Ole Miss created checklists to review recruits whose academics are close to the minimum required to qualify.

Violation occurred: 8/21/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Amateurism

Summary: Photos of a football player appeared on social media postings belonging to a for-profit company called Timeless Generation owned by his brother and two friends. The player wasn’t compensated and the fact he played football at Ole Miss wasn’t highlighted in the postings.

Institutional action: Ole Miss issued a cease and desist to the company and provided rules education to the player involved.

Violation occurred: 9/8/2015

Sport: Men’s golf

Violation type: Athletics personnel

Summary: An outside consultant provided a two-hour presentation, which normally lasts five hours, regarding something the consultant invented that combines shot distribution patterns and PGA Tour scoring statistics. The coaching staff thought this would be permissible because it didn’t involve any single athlete being coached.

Institutional action: Ole Miss provided rules education to the coaching staff.

Violation occurred: 9/11/2015

Sport: Softball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: Siblings of two recruits on official visits, two siblings total, were allowed to eat two meals apiece for free when they should’ve each been charged $49.05.

Institutional action: Ole Miss declared both recruits ineligible until proof each one has paid $49.05 apiece to a charity of her choice.

Violation occurred: 9/11/2015

Sport: Volleyball

Violation type: Awards and benefits

Summary: The volleyball team received a permissible post-game meal on campus that several parents attended. Each parent paid $10, though the per person cost of the meal was $12.87.

Institutional action: One player paid $2.87 to cover one of her parents attending, while another who had two parents attend had to pay $5.74 to cover the difference. Both payments went to a charity of the athletes’ choice.

Violation occurred: 9/25/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Awards and benefits

Summary: The father of a football player ate a meal at the alumni association’s annual athletic letter winner hall of fame induction dinner but didn’t pay the cost of $50.

Institutional action: The football player paid the amount to a charity of his choice.

Violation occurred: 10/3/2015

Sport: Softball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: A softball commit tweeted “are you ready” in reference to the Ole Miss football team’s game against Florida last fall, and a softball coach replied to the tweet by saying “HYDR.”

Institutional action: The coach wasn’t allowed to recruit off-campus from Oct. 5 to Nov. 3 (30 days), and the softball coaching staff wasn’t allowed to have any in-person contact with the recruit from Oct. 5 to Jan. 2 (90 days).

Violation occurred: 10/8/2015

Sport: Women’s basketball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: Ole Miss paid for a recruit to receive transportation to an airport in Fort Lauderdale in a “standard vehicle,” which is permissible for an official visit, but the recruit was picked up in a limousine because no other vehicles were available. The staff learned of this via SnapChat.

Institutional action: The staff contacted the compliance office and then attempted to ensure the recruit would receive a ride home from the airport to her home following the official visit in a “standard vehicle,” as allowed by NCAA rules.

Violation occurred: 10/9/2015

Sport: Men’s basketball

Violation type: Awards and benefits

Summary: The girlfriend of a men’s basketball player stayed with a booster for three nights before a football game last October because the booster and player thought it would be fine because neither the player nor his family was receiving housing. The girlfriend stayed in a hotel room belonging to the player’s family after the violation was discovered.

Institutional action: The player donated $75 to a local charity — the value of the benefit was estimated to be $73.03 — and rules education was provided to the booster. The Southeastern Conference also didn’t allow the booster to attend Ole Miss’ first two SEC home men’s basketball games.

Violation occurred: 11/4/2015

Sport: Women’s track (outdoor)

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: An assistant track coach inadvertently responded to a text message from a high school senior who scheduled to make an official visit the next day. The coach didn’t have the number saved in his phone, causing him to be unsure who he was communicating with.

Institutional action: Ole Miss kept the coaching staff from sending any recruiting correspondence and from calling any recruits for one week (Nov. 29 – Dec. 5).

Violation occurred: 11/5/2015

Sport: Volleyball

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: A recruit made an official visit in September with her family, but they arrived Nov. 5, one day before the visit was scheduled to begin. Ole Miss paid for the lodging of the recruit and her parents, causing the official visit to begin then and leading her official visit to surpass the 48-hour limitation.

Institutional action: Ole Miss forced the recruit to pay the value of the lodging, $109, to a charity and provided rules education reminders to all of its coaching staffs.

Violation occurred: 11/12/2015

Sport: Men’s and women’s cross country

Violation type: Awards and benefits

Summary: Multiple runners received an extra $10 in meal per diem while at the NCAA south regional cross country meet because the meal rate for Birmingham was used instead of Tuscaloosa. Alabama was hosting the meet.

Institutional action: Each affected athlete donated $10 to a nonprofit organization.

Violation occurred: 11/21/2015

Sport: Football

Violation type: Recruiting

Summary: A recruit visiting Ole Miss took a picture with a former Ole Miss football player and had “limited, unplanned” contact with the former player.

Institutional action: The compliance department provided rules education to coaches.

Bjork: NCAA says investigation into Ole Miss is over

Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.