Tickets for 'Last Chance U' star among UK's self-reported NCAA rules violations

Jon Hale | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Cats HQ Podcast: Who starts for UK in 2017-18? With Hamidou Diallo's return to school, lineup questions and more are on the table as UK beat writers Jon Hale and Fletcher Page make their projections for 2017-18. Later in the episode (29:50), the focus shifts to UK baseball's NCAA Tournament run.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A mix-up in how tickets were provided to one of the stars of the Netflix series “Last Chance U” was one of 17 self-reported rules violations the University of Kentucky athletics department made to the Southeastern Conference and NCAA during the 2016-17 academic year.

All 17 violations were of the Level 3 (non-suspension) variety and were generally handled with in-house punishments accepted by the SEC and NCAA.

Five of the violations came from the women’s basketball program. Football, women’s golf, gymnastics, men’s soccer and the swimming and diving teams accounted for two each. Men’s basketball and track and field were each reported for one violation.

The violations were provided to the Courier-Journal through an open records request.

One of the most noteworthy violations occurred when, at the request of an SEC Network color commentator, football assistant coach Lamar Thomas provided two tickets to UK’s 2016 season opener against Southern Mississippi to Brittany Wagner, at the time an athletics academic advisor at East Mississippi Community College and the breakout star of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.”

As a staff member at a junior college, Wagner would have been eligible to receive tickets from UK through the pass list for recruits but was not allowed to use the tickets left at will call under her name by Thomas.

A UK staffer recognized Wagner’s name when reviewing the will-call envelopes after the game and contacted the senior associate athletics director for compliance. Thomas said he was not aware of who Wagner was or that the SEC Network analyst had been requesting tickets for a staff member at a junior college.

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UK did not identify the SEC Network analyst involved in documents provided to the Courier-Journal. The team of Anish Shroff and Ahmad Brooks was assigned to the game.

In response to the incident, UK conducted additional rules education for the football staff and noted the school requires all requests for complimentary admissions be provided to the ticket operations staff. The SEC instituted an additional penalty by prohibiting the UK staff from making in-person off-campus recruiting contacts with prospects from East Mississippi Community College for 30 days.

Wagner has since left East Mississippi. Earlier this month, AL.com reported she plans to launch her own academic counseling and life skills coaching company to target at-risk athletes.

► A current UK freshman men's basketball player posted a picture on Snapchat with a recruit during the recruit’s official visit to campus, thus publicizing the visit in violation of NCAA rules. The image was automatically removed from Snapchat after 24 hours.

UK provided a rules education session to the entire men’s basketball team. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► While attempting to send a direct message to a recruit on Twitter to congratulate him for committing to UK, a football assistant coach accidentally tweeted him publicly. The tweet was removed after two minutes when it was spotted by the program’s director of recruiting. The NCAA ruled the entire staff should be prohibited from sending any recruiting materials/correspondence to the recruit for one week.

► Among the five violations reported this past school year for the UK women's basketball team, all were related to recruiting, and one resulted in the entire coaching staff not being able to recruit off campus from Oct. 28 to Nov. 17. Two contacts between junior prospects and a women’s basketball coach at a location other than their home or school were discovered when an outside individual forwarded a tweet of the coaches and prospects in a photograph to the SEC office.

In another violation, the UK women's basketball coaching staff exceeded the number of permissible evaluations for three recruits during the last weekend of the April evaluation period because an assistant coach failed to properly record the evaluations in the school’s electronic recruiting monitoring system. UK said staff turnover had led to a breakdown in communication.

► A UK women's golf team member competed while ineligible after a certifying officer in the College of Arts and Sciences determined a previous officer had incorrectly certified transfer hours, making her 10 hours short of meeting NCAA requirements. The golfer was reinstated, though UK was fined $500 for each contest she participated while ineligible. Plus, the SEC requested UK submit a detailed plan for how to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.

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You can read an itemized rundown of UK’s other self-reported violations – in addition to the violation involving Wagner – from the 2016-17 academic year broken down by sport below. Names of student-athletes and recruits were redacted for privacy and frequently assistant coaches charged with the violations were not specifically identified:

Men’s Basketball

► Violation: A current UK freshman basketball player posted a picture with a recruit during the recruit’s official visit to campus on Snapchat. The image was automatically removed from Snapchat after 24 hours.

Outcome: UK provided a rules education session to the entire men’s basketball team. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

Football

► Violation: While attempting to send a direct message to a recruit on Twitter to congratulate him for committing to UK, an assistant coach accidentally tweeted him publicly. The tweet was removed after two minutes when it was spotted by the program’s director of recruiting.

Outcome: UK issued the coach a letter of admonishment and provided education to the entire staff about the rule. The NCAA ruled the entire staff should be prohibited from sending any recruiting materials/correspondence to the recruit for one week.

Women’s Basketball

► Violation: The coaching staff exceeded the number of permissible evaluations for two recruits by one and for a third recruit by two during the last weekend of the April evaluation period because an assistant coach failed to properly record the evaluations in the school’s electronic recruiting monitoring system.

UK asserted the violation occurred in part because turnover in the staff (all three assistants were replaced after the 2015-16 season) had led to a breakdown in communication. The coach responsible for the violation was no longer employed at UK by the time it was reported.

Outcome: UK reduced its evaluations for the first two recruits by two each and the third recruit by four. The new women’s basketball staff received additional rules education and implemented a new system to include better communication and cross-checking to prevent the same violation from occurring in the future. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: Head coach Matthew Mitchell and an assistant had impermissible contact with a junior recruit at a location other than her home or school when the recruit accompanied her mother, a high school coach, in driving the UK coaches to the airport after a home visit.

Outcome: UK prohibited the coaches from participating in any off-campus recruiting or making telephone contact with the recruit for 14 days but petitioned the SEC to stagger the 14 days between the two coaches to alleviate “undue hardship” on the other members of the staff during a period with a large number of visits occurring during Big Blue Madness.

UK also asked for relief from the SEC’s typical penalty of no on-or-off-campus contact with the prospect for 30 days by proposing a 45-day ban from contact with the exception of the Big Blue Madness practice. The staff was prohibited from making telephone contact with the recruit for 60 days, and a letter of admonishment was provided to each coach in addition to rules education for the entire staff. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: Within a few days of being hired, an assistant coach retweeted a current player’s picture and reference to a recruit and high school team. She also had retweeted a high school coach’s tweet but deleted it after being informed by another coach that retweet was not allowed.

Outcome: UK sought relief from the conference penalties because the violation occurred prior to the coach’s rules education session and the NCAA had approved legislation that would have made the retweets permissible as of Aug. 1 but did issue a letter of admonishment to the coach and remove her from off-campus recruiting for a two-week period. The SEC imposed additional penalties to preclude the coach from off-campus recruiting for 16 days and prohibited the entire staff from having in-person contact with the recruit involved for 30 days. The NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: Two contacts between junior prospects and a women’s basketball coach at a location other than their home or school were discovered after an outside individual forwarded a tweet of the coaches and prospects in a photograph to the SEC office.

One of the prospects came to dinner on Sept. 26 at a teammate’s home where the UK assistant Lin Dunn was conducting a visit. Dunn thought only the family of the recruit she was visiting would be present for dinner but said she was unaware it was a violation for the other prospect, who was described as a “best friend” of the recruit Dunn was visiting, to join them for dinner.

On Sept. 29, Mitchell and assistant Niya Butts visited two recruits at their school. One of the recruits, a junior, accompanied the coaches to dinner at the other recruit's home, a violation of the rule limiting the coaches to contacting the junior only at her home or school.

Outcome: UK prohibited all members of the staff from making in-person contact with either involved recruit for 30 days, telephone contact for 60 days and permitted just one additional off-campus contact with each recruit for the 2016-17 year. Dunn, Mitchell and Butts were each prohibited from making telephone calls or conducting off-campus recruiting with any prospect for 14 days.

Because the violation occurred on more than one occasion, the entire staff was precluded from off-campus recruiting for a three-week period from Oct. 28 to Nov. 17. A letter of admonishment was issued each involved staff member. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: An assistant coach pocket-dialed a 2018 prospect prior to Sept. 1 of her junior year. The prospect returned the coach’s call two minutes later, and the coach said she spoke to the prospect for 22 minutes to “be polite.” The coach noted she was not actively recruiting the prospect and hadn’t had any phone calls with her prior to or since the violation.

Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making or receiving calls or sending electronic correspondence to any recruit for 14 days. The entire staff was prohibited from any telephone calls or electronic correspondence with the affected recruit for 30 days. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

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Women’s Golf

► Violation: An assistant coach evaluated a 2017 prospect on Nov. 11 during a

dead period.

Outcome: UK issued the coach a letter of admonishment, assessed a 2-for-1 penalty to count the impermissible evaluation as three of the seven recruiting opportunities for the prospect and removed the coach from off-campus recruiting for three days. The SEC and NCAA did not assess any additional punishment.

► Violation: A certifying officer in the College of Arts and Sciences determined a previous officer had incorrectly certified transfer hours for a golfer, making her 10 hours short of meeting the NCAA’s 60 percent requirement for degree-applicable coursework and meaning she had competed while academically ineligible.

► Outcome: The UK registrar’s office conducted an educational session about the athletic certification process in September 2016, and UK planned to make the meeting an annual education session with athletic certifying officers.

The athlete was declared ineligible, but reinstatement was sought and approved. The SEC requested UK submit a detailed plan for how to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future, including an explanation of athletics role in the certification decisions by Feb. 1, 2017.

The NCAA fined UK $1,500 ($500 for each contest the athlete competed in while ineligible).

Men’s Soccer

► Violation: An assistant conducted an impermissible telephone call with a rising junior recruit after the recruit left a voicemail asking for an evaluation of his performance at a recent camp.

Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making telephone contact with any recruit for 14 days and the staff from calling the involved recruit for 60 days. The NCAA did not take any additional action.

► Violation: An assistant coach replied to a text from a class of 2019 prospect prior to the permissible time period to communicate. The recruit had texted the coach to let him know a time he would call the coach, and the coach responded “sounds good” despite the prospect not yet being eligible to receive electronic correspondence.

Outcome: UK prohibited the staff from providing any recruiting material to the recruit for a two-week period following the first permissible date for such materials and conducted a rules education session with the staff. The NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

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Gymnastics

► Violation: An assistant coach accidentally called a recruit prior to Sept. 1 of her junior year by hitting the number from the phone’s recent calls list. The coach immediately hung up the phone, and when the recruit called the coach back the coach quickly informed the recruit the initial call had been a mistake and ended the conversation.

Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making any telephone contact with the recruit for 14 days and the entire staff from making calls to the recruit for 60 days. Rules education on phone calls was provided to the entire coaching staff. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: The mother of a UK gymnast used her daughter’s name and image to promote a product marketed to improve facial complexion created by her employer in a Facebook post. The mother reported she had not received any direct compensation for the post, and the gymnast said she had given her mother permission to post the testimonial because she thought it was allowed since they were not paid for it.

Outcome: UK "rendered" the gymnast ineligible for competition and contacted the athlete and her mother to inform them of the violation and instruct them to remove all endorsements of the product. A rules education session was provided to the gymnast and her mother. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

Track and field

► Violation: Head coach Edrick Floreal mistakenly sent an automatic text message reply of “Sorry, I can’t talk right now” when he was unable to answer a call from a recruit during a meeting.

Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making telephone contact with the recruit for 14 days following the violation, prohibited the track and field program from making calls, sending recruiting materials or electronic transmissions to the recruit for 30 days and issued a letter of admonishment to the coach. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

Swimming

► Violation: An assistant coach accidentally texted a class of 2020 recruit prior to Sept. 1 of his junior year because there was a prospect with the same name in the system who was eligible to text. The staff was not recruiting the prospect contacted.

Outcome: UK prohibited the assistant from making telephone contact with any recruit for 14 days. The entire staff was prohibited from calling the involved recruit or sending him recruiting materials or electronic transmissions for 30 days. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.

► Violation: An assistant coach made a phone call to a recruit in the same week another assistant had already contacted the recruit by phone because she had failed to use the recruiting application that would have alerted here another staffer had already called the recruit that week. A rule allowing phone calls at coaches’ discretion that would have made the second call legal had been passed but would not be implemented for another eight days after the violation.

Outcome: UK prohibited any staff member from making or receiving calls and sending electronic correspondence to the involved prospect for two weeks and conducted a rules education session with the staff. The SEC and NCAA did not issue and additional penalties.

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonHale_CJ.