After a decision by the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee, the Division I Committee on Infractions has reduced the financial penalty for the California State University, Northridge, men's basketball program, which was found in December 2022 to have violated recruiting rules. Specifically, CSUN's former head coach and two former assistant coaches had impermissible on- and off-campus contacts with prospects during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period and provided those prospects with impermissible recruiting inducements.
The appeals committee removed one aggravating factor and applied one mitigating factor to the school's case. In light of those factors, the COI reconsidered the case classification. Even with the addition of the new mitigating factor, the COI continued to classify the case as Level II-Standard.
Consistent with the penalties for a Level II-Standard case, the panel upheld the three-year probationary period for the school, in part because this was the second Level I or Level II infractions case involving CSUN's men's basketball program within a short time.
Though the previously assessed financial penalty of $5,000 plus 1% of the men's basketball budget falls within the legislated penalty range for a Level II-Standard case, the panel agreed that some relief was warranted given the adjustments to the aggravating and mitigating factors. As a result, the panel reduced the school's fine to $5,000 plus 0.5% of the men's basketball budget.
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Tricia Turley Brandenburg, executive associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Army West Point; Rich Ensor, former commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; Jason Leonard, executive director of athletics compliance at Oklahoma; Joel Maturi, former director of athletics at Minnesota; Kay Norton, president emerita of Northern Colorado and chief hearing officer for the panel; Joe Novak, former football head coach at Northern Illinois University; and Dave Roberts, special assistant to Southern California.
