ATLANTA — Georgia Tech's basketball team will be banned from the NCAA Tournament this year, as well as other postseason tournaments as part of sanctions announced against the school on Thursday.
Other penalties will include four years of probation, recruiting restrictions for each of those years, the loss of a scholarship for each of those and vacated records from the time of the violations.
The NCAA said the penalties stem from violations involving two boosters of the men's basketball program and their interactions with the recruitment of a player described as a "highly touted prospect."
In a release, the organization outlined how two boosters had "provided impermissible benefits to the men's basketball program."
A former assistant coach allegedly set the highly-regarded recruit up with the booster, who brought the recruit to a strip club, along with a host described as a former Georgia Tech player on the local NBA team - the Hawks. The booster allegedly gave the recruit $300 to spend there.
"The committee stated firmly that adult entertainment has no place in the recruiting process," the NCAA release said.
The other violations are related to a booster who gave two Georgia Tech players and one potential transfer, thousands of dollars' worth of shoes, clothes, meals, transportation and lodging.4
During a conference call with Georgia Tech, the school's athletics director called the situation "embarrassing" and said the violations don't align with Georgia Tech values.
“In the two years since I have been back as athletics director, I have been committed to NCAA rules compliance and ethical behavior as an integral part of our culture at Georgia Tech as I have throughout my entire career. We took swift action when we learned of these rules violations and cooperated fully with the NCAA investigation," said Todd Stansbury in a statement. "As part of this two-year process, we have reiterated throughout our organization that violations of NCAA rules will not be tolerated and have implemented a series of additional educational measures and reviews within our standard processes that emphasize our commitment to complying with NCAA rules.
"These are distractions and get in the way of what they are trying to build," Stansbury added.
The school has 10 days to decide if they want to appeal the NCAA's decision.
The NCAA announced the following sanctions:
- Four years of probation.
- A 2019-20 postseason ban for the men’s basketball team.
- A fine of $5,000 plus 2% of the men’s basketball program budget.
- A reduction of one men’s basketball scholarship during each year of probation.
- Recruiting restrictions for the men’s basketball program that will apply for each year of probation, including:
- An eight-week ban on unofficial visits.
- A three-visit reduction from the permissible number of official visits.
- An eight-week ban on recruiting communications.
- A reduction of 19 recruiting-person days from the permissible number.
- A three-year show-cause order for the former assistant coach. During that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply.
- A vacation of records in which the men’s basketball student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public decision release.
- A prohibition from scheduling official visits in conjunction with home men’s basketball competitions during the first two years of probation.
- Disassociations of the following individuals (self-imposed by the university):
- A three-year disassociation of the former assistant coach.
- A three-year disassociation of the former Georgia Tech men’s basketball student-athlete and booster.
- A disassociation of the head coach’s friend and booster.
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