Yesterday, Central Florida was hit an NCAA Notice of Allegations as an investigation into potential recruiting violations with the men’s basketball and football programs continues. The school has already felt the effects of that investigation with the resignation of athletic director Keith Tribble and football receivers coach David Kelly, which also occurred yesterday.
Below is a summary of the allegations against Tribble and Kelly as it pertains to the football side of the notice; to read the full document, click the NOA link above.
Earlier today, though, football coach George O’Leary spoke about the allegations, denying that they were a systematic problem. For what it’s worth, O’Leary wasn’t mentioned in the NOA.
“Anytime the NCAA comes in you better have all your T’s and I’s dotted and crossed,” O’Leary said. “They come in usually for a reason. And I just think it’s a very unfortunate situation for people involved. And I think the university did what they had to do and I think basically have to move on from this point.
“I worry more about the student-athletes that they all move forward and understand that we lost good people and that we’ve got to continue to move ahead. I addressed it that basically people have responsibilities as far as players or coaches and it’s pretty well spelled out that direction. We’re held accountable for our actions, too.”
From the NOA:
- Tribble and Kelly were allegedly aware of impermissible phone calls made by Ken Caldwell, a recruiter for a professional sports agency, as well as Caldwell’s associate Brandon Bender, to five football recruits from March 2009 to July 2011.
- The NOA goes on to claim Caldwell provided impermissible benefits to men’s basketball and football athletes from March 2009 to March 2011.
- Tribble is been believed to have “violated principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly (a) attempted to provide an improper inducement to the mother of a prospective student-athlete and (b)provided false and misleading information to the institution and enforcement staff.”
- Additionally, Tribble is accused of having “arranged for the institution to provide an extra benefit to [name redacted], a friend of then-men’s basketball student-athlete [name redacted]... in the form of out-of-state tuition fee waiver valued at approximately $9,567 per year” in September, 2009.
- Kelly is said to have “provided false and misleading information to the institution and enforcement staff [on Aug. 29, 2011] when questioned about his knowledge of or involvement in violations of NCAA legislation” when it came to Caldwell and Bender assisting in the recruitment of football players.