NCAA Rules Information

We looked at the NCAA rules about gambling last week. The NCAA membership strictly prohibits gambling on intercollegiate and professional athletics. Student-athletes and employees in the athletics department face stiff consequences if they would cross this line. Clemson donors help protect the integrity of intercollegiate athletics by refusing to bet or to give information that would be useful for the gaming industry.

The NCAA database for secondary and major rules violations has been maintained since the fall of 2000. The secondary database reports 13 incidences of gambling by intercollegiate student-athletes or athletic department personnel at the NCAA I level.

Of the thirteen cases reported in this short period of time, four involved student-athletes that placed bets on college and/or professional games. In all four instances the student-athletes were withheld from competition as a term of reinstatement, and in one case three of the four students cited were ruled permanently ineligible. Student-athletes were involved in two other cases, charged with organizing betting opportunities. In one case, the student-athlete was reinstated after being withheld from competition, but in the other case the student-athlete was permanently barred from NCAA competition and practice.

There were four cases of coaches gambling on intercollegiate sports. In all four cases the coaches faced serious consequences. One coach was suspended from coaching for two years, while two coaches in another case were forced to resign. The coach in the third case was reprimanded and unable to coach for a period of time. In the last case, the coaches that organized an office pool had to dismantle the pool, return funds and they each were reprimanded.

That is a total of ten cases directly involving student-athletes or coaches. These folks were at NCAA I schools – rules education is provided regularly at the NCAA I level. It is unlikely that any of those involved could claim ignorance about the impropriety of gambling. What is likely is that they did not foresee consequences for themselves or their schools – and they plunged ahead.

The other three cases involved support staff who violated NCAA Bylaw 10.3 and the actions taken varied from dismissal to reprimand. Since 2000, the NCAA membership has dealt with only one 10.3 violation in a major NCAA violation. While investigating other instances of extra benefits to student-athletes at an I-A school, the enforcement staff discovered that a coach provided a student-athlete with $500 to repay gambling debts. The coach lost his job and received a “show cause” from the NCAA Committee on Infractions that strongly deters another NCAA school from hiring the coach. Serious consequences for knowledge of gambling!

If you have questions about the NCAA’s stance on gambling – visit www.ncaa.org for more information. If you have questions or comments that will strengthen Clemson’s commitment to the principles of the NCAA or ACC, please call 864-656-1580 or visit compliance services’ at www.clemsontigers.com.