Connecticut filed a 562-page response to NCAA allegations of major rules violations by Jim Calhoun’s program in an effort to show how thoroughly the school investigated itself. It conducted 60 interviews and made 350,000 phone calls and text messages during its four-year probe.
But, according to the Hartford Courant, at least two items could prove problematic when UConn officials meet with the NCAA infractions committee on Friday:
- Neither Nate Miles (the recruit at the center of the violations) nor Josh Nochimson (the student manager-turned agent whose relationship with Miles was a no-no) cooperated with the school’s investigation.
- UConn’s compliance department was woefully understaffed.
During the time of Miles’ recruitment, the athletic department had only one person working in its NCAA compliance department, and that person was overseeing more than 20 athletic programs.
In his 40-page response to charges that he lied to investigators about illegal phone calls to Miles, [former director of basketball operations Beau] Archibald argues not only that the 113 calls and 181 texts permissible, but that they were authorized by a compliance unit that was so short-staffed it asked for his help in gathering Miles’ academic records.
The school says Archibald did not knowingly provide false or misleading information.
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