The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee affirmed the penalties prescribed by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions in the remanded California State University, Northridge, men's basketball case.
On Dec. 16, 2022, the Committee on Infractions issued its decision finding recruiting violations in the CSUN men's basketball program and prescribed penalties as Level II-Standard for the university and Level II-Aggravated for the former head coach and two former assistant coaches. CSUN appealed the financial and probation penalties, asserting that the Committee on Infractions did not properly apply and weight aggravating and mitigating factors and thus abused its discretion when prescribing a three-year probation penalty and fine of $5,000 plus 1% of the men's basketball program budget.
On Sept. 28, 2023, the Infractions Appeals Committee determined that the hearing panel of the Committee on Infractions abused its discretion in the application of an aggravating factor and failure to apply a mitigating factor. The Infractions Appeals Committee overturned the finding that the institution intentionally violated NCAA rules, which was considered an aggravating factor in determining penalties. The Infractions Appeals Committee also determined that the school should have earned mitigation for its compliance department's systems, which the Committee on Infractions had not applied in its original decision.
As a result, the Infractions Appeals Committee vacated the probation and financial penalties and remanded the case to the hearing panel for reclassification and reassessment of the probation and financial penalties.
On Nov. 15, 2023, the Committee on Infractions reduced CSUN's financial penalty from $5,000 plus 1% of the men's basketball budget to $5,000 plus 0.5% of the men's basketball budget and upheld the three-year probation period.
After this decision, CSUN filed a second appeal in the case, arguing that the hearing panel abused its discretion, inappropriately weighed mitigating and aggravating factors, misclassified the case, and prescribed unsuitable probation time and fine penalties.
In its review, the Infractions Appeals Committee determined that the Committee on Infractions sufficiently reviewed the classification of the case, did not abuse its discretion in the application of mitigating and aggravating factors, and reasonably reduced penalties. Therefore, all appealed penalties have been upheld.
The members of the Infractions Appeals Committee who heard this case were Ellen M. Ferris, committee chair and senior associate commissioner for governance and compliance at the American Athletic Conference; Jonathan Alger, president of James Madison; Tom Goss, insurance company chairman and executive; Alejandra Montenegro Almonte, attorney in private practice; Allison Rich, director of athletics at New Hampshire; David Shipley, faculty athletics representative at Georgia; and Julie Vannatta, retired senior associate general counsel for athletics at Ohio State.
