NCAA Accepts Iowa State's Self Imposed Penalties

The improperly logged calls/text messages case against Iowa State is over, with the NCAA accepting the university's self imposed sanctions. Athletic Director Jamie Pollard released the following statement:

"The Committee on Infractions has concluded its work and agreed with our findings and our self-imposed penalties. The violations were inadvertent and did not result in any competitive advantages. Our athletics staff cooperated fully with the NCAA throughout the process. We were proactive in reporting our findings and have made changes in our monitoring systems as a result.”

We broke down the case back in April, and it looks like completing the broadest review ever done by an NCAA member institution, involving 750,000 total calls made by coaches in all 18 sports and 2,500 individual monthly telephone bills, paid off for Iowa State in avoiding any further penalties.

According to the original statement by Iowa State, the self-imposed sanctions for these violations, which were already served by coaches (Only two of which are currently at Iowa State) during the 2011-12 season, included "a reduction in the number of coaches on the road recruiting and the number of times coaches could place calls during a four-month period, as well as requiring all coaches to attend a compliance education session on telephone and text messaging.  In addition, the department has recommended to the NCAA that Iowa State University be placed on two years probation."

Iowa State President Steven Leath also commented:

“Operating with integrity is a core value for our entire campus. We strive to maintain the highest standards at Iowa State University and will continue to place a high emphasis on compliance and adhering to standards of the NCAA. I wish to express appreciation to Faculty Athletics Representative Tim Day and Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard and his team for their thorough efforts during this review. Since learning of this issue in my first month at Iowa State, I have found our staff to be extremely diligent in investigating the situation and fully cooperative with the NCAA during the entire review. Iowa State respects the enforcement process and is grateful for this resolution.”

It appears the "major" violations were indeed fairly minor, as we previously believed, given they were accompanied by vigilant reporting. So once again, Fred Hoiberg saves the day.