In the fourth section of the NCAA’s report on Syracuse University, titled “Analysis,” the NCAA details the exact violations committed by the university.

The NCAA began by detailing how athletes received impermissible extra benefits, both academic and monetary. In addition, the NCAA wrote that the university failed to follow its self-written drug-testing policy, showed a lack of institutional control and that the men’s basketball head coach failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in the program, among other violations.

These violations were not limited to one particular program in the athletics department, or limited to one particular university or non-university employee. Rather, these problems were widespread and occurred over a long period of time, according to the report.

The report classifies each violation as a Level I, II or III violation. The NCAA report defines the levels of violation this way:

Level I – Severe breaches of conduct that seriously undermine or threaten the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model.

Level II – Significant breaches of conduct that may compromise the integrity of the Collegiate Model.

Level III – Less serious breaches of conduct that are isolated or limited and provide no more than minimal benefit or advantage.

Below is a breakdown of the exact infractions detailed in subheads I-L of the Analysis section (click here for sections A-D, and click here for sections E-H), including the violated NCAA Bylaws, level of violation, whether the NCAA and Syracuse agreed on the infraction and abridged explanations.

I. Institutional employees providing non-local transportation

Explanation: The report details how in early 2005 and the spring of 2006, two SU Athletics employees provided two SU student-athletes with impermissible transportation.

The employees gave the student-athletes rides in a car, determined by SU as exceeding “local” transportation, on five different occasions, according to the report. On one of the five occasions, an SU assistant men’s basketball coach drove a men’s basketball player 45 miles. On four occasions, a member of SU’s academic support staff drove an SU football player a total of 128 miles.

Bylaws violated: NCAA Bylaw 16, which prohibits a school’s employees from providing student-athletes with transportation outside of, on an occasional basis, reasonable local transportation.

Level of violation: Level III

Consensus: SU and the NCAA enforcement staff “substantially agreed” that violations of the bylaws occurred in regards to providing non-local transportation to student-athletes, according to the report.

J. Failure to cooperate

Explanation: A former SU academic coordinator failed to cooperate with the NCAA’s enforcement staff for seven months during 2013-2014, according to the report.

The former academic coordinator eventually took part in an interview and in SU’s hearing. But by not cooperating for seven months, she failed to uphold her NCAA membership obligation, the report says. The NCAA enforcement staff wanted to speak with the former academic coordinator because, the report says, she was “an individual who potentially had knowledge of student-athlete support provided to the men’s basketball student-athletes.” The report says the former academic coordinator declined the interview requests after seeking “advice from institutional representatives unfamiliar with NCAA process” and personal discomfort. After a change of heart, she fully cooperated, the report says. “Although untimely, her eventual cooperation reduces what would otherwise have been considered a Level I violation,” the report says.

Bylaws violated: NCAA Bylaws 10 and 19, which require all individuals of a member school of the NCAA to provide relevant information to an investigation of potential violations to the NCAA enforcement staff when requested to do so.

Level of violation: Level II

Consensus: The former academic coordinator later submitted to an interview and took part in SU’s hearing and admitted that she did not originally participate.

K. Head coach responsibility

Explanation: The report cites various past NCAA rulings that established that any head coach has to “promote an atmosphere of compliance within his program and monitor the activities of those who reported directly and indirectly to him.”

Under the subheads “Student-athlete academics” and “The representative” — referring to who The Post-Standard has identified as Jeff Cornish — the NCAA details a handful of instances in which Boeheim failed to fulfill these responsibilities.

Bylaws violated: NCAA Bylaw 11 and section 2 of the NCAA Constitution

Level of violation: Level I, “because many of the underlying violations were Level I”

Consensus: As written in the report, “Neither the institution nor the head basketball coach agreed with the enforcement staff that the head coach failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance and monitor his staff.”

L. Lack of institutional control

Explanation: Over the course of 10 years, the university failed to control and monitor the conduct and administration of its athletics programs, according to the report. It employed deficient monitoring systems, which allowed violations to occur on and off campus in the following three areas:

• Student-athlete academics
• The university’s compliance with its own drug policy
• Staff and student-athlete relationships and engagement with the community and a representative

According to the report, student-athletes and university staff “committed violations freely or did not know that their conduct violated NCAA legislation.” Many violations went undiscovered for years, and university staff members failed to ensure that relationships and activities met NCAA requirements. The report reads that, in at least one instance, a staff member failed to report potential academic violations “mindful of potential retaliation.”

The report adds that “the institution permitted athletics success to supersede NCAA standards of conduct and in doing so allowed its athletics programs to operate contrary to the integrity expected by the Division I membership.”

Bylaws violated: NCAA Bylaws 2 and 6 require each member institution monitor its programs to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations of the NCAA.

Level of violation: Level I

Consensus: The university did not agree with the NCAA enforcement staff that it lacked control and monitoring over its athletics programs, according to the report.

Published on March 9, 2015 at 1:57 am

Contact Justin: [email protected] | @jmattingly306