UConn Reportedly Gulity of Violating NCAA Recruiting Rules

SPORTSGUYSBLOG.COM - UConn may be doing well on the court right now in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, but they now have a big off-court issue: they reportedly violated the NCAA’s recruiting rules between the years of 2006-2008.

A Yahoo! Sports report released Wednesday reported that in recruiting former guard Nate Miles, the University of Conneticut provided Miles with an NBA agent, who was friendly with UConn and had worked with Detroit Pistons’ star and former UConn player Richard Hamilton. 

The agent in mention, Josh Nochimson, reportedly paid for a portion of Miles’ expenses that included everything from hotel costs to food.

Under NCAA Rules, as someone involved with UConn basketball, Nochimson was not allowed to recruit players.

Miles has had a shaky history of answering questions about Nochimson.  At first, he answered that he didn’t know the man, then later claimed that Nochimson was his adviser. 

In an interview, Miles said that Nochimson had never provided him with any financial aid in paying for his expenses, but when asked if he would attend a training center that Nochimson set him up with, he abruptly stopped answering questions.

UConn is also reportedly guilty of exceeding the limit of allowed calls made to Miles.  By NCAA rules, the school is allowed to contact the player or the player’s guardian once a month during the prospect’s junior year in high school. 

According to Yahoo! Sports, UConn violated this rule by 29 phone calls.  The math proves that there were 30 calls made to Miles in one month—specifically December 2007.

Unfortunately for UConn, the illegal recruiting calls to Miles didn’t exactly pay off, due to the fact that Miles was expelled from school for being guilty of female assault.

In defense, UConn will most likely release a statement Wednesday claiming that they did know they were violating the rules, simply because they were the ones who actually provided these phone records to Yahoo! Sports. 

The school will, however, try to push forward the notion that at least one of the calls made from Jim Calhoun to Miles’ home, a call that lasted nearly an hour, was regarding Richard Hamilton.

The NCAA will look into these allegations and will probably respond quickly.  It could take just 24 hours for the NCAA to decide what to do about this case.  They will examine the allegation that UConn made more phone calls to Miles than allowed, and they will also examine whether or not the UConn staff knew that Nate Miles was dealing with a registered NBA agent.

Related posts:

1. UConn Do It: Can The Men and Women Huskies Repeat Their Historic 2004 Seasons?
2. Another Pitt-Fall for UConn: Panthers Win 70-60
3. 5 Freshmen to Watch This Year: NCAA Basketball