NCAA Defense – Intentional Violations

Student-athletes enrolled at schools with athletic programs governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association understand the significant role that NCAA bylaws play in their day-to-day school life. The NCAA has an extensive set of bylaws that govern everything from a student-athlete's eligibility to make an “official” recruiting visit, to what academic standards the student-athlete must meet to remain eligible once enrolled, to when and for how long they can officially practice, to many other aspects of the student-athlete's life while enrolled in school. And it's probably not a surprise that with so many rules and regulations, the NCAA also investigates and will take disciplinary action when a student-athlete violates one or more of those bylaws.

There are different levels of bylaw violations that the NCAA can sanction a student-athlete for. Many times, student-athletes mistakenly commit bylaw infractions; that's almost to be expected, given how many NCAA bylaws there are that can apply to a student-athlete on a daily basis, and the NCAA will take that into account when deciding on a penalty. However, when a student-athlete is accused of intentionally violating a known bylaw, the NCAA is likely to treat the infraction very seriously, meaning that the student-athlete faces suspension or even a permanent ban on their continued participation in NCAA collegiate sports. This is why if you've been accused of violating any NCAA bylaw, you need help from one of the experienced NCAA Attorneys from the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation to learn more about how we can help you protect your future.

What Do the NCAA Bylaws Say About Intentional Infractions?

There are actually three sets of bylaws that apply across the NCAA's three divisions. The manual that includes the Division I bylaws is more than 400 pages long; the Division II manual exceeds 300 pages in length; and the Division III manual runs for nearly 250 pages. Despite their differences, each of these manuals treats intentional violations of the NCAA's bylaws essentially the same: very seriously.

Of course, the NCAA has an outsized influence on college sports. More than 1100 schools are members of the NCAA, and they are part of nearly 100 college conferences. There are more than half a million student athletes who play NCAA-governed sports in college each year. With so many student-athletes at so many schools having to follow so many bylaws, it's understandable that mistakes happen, and student-athletes find themselves charged with bylaw infractions even in situations where they had no idea they were violating one. In many cases, if it was a one-off kind of case and the student-athlete didn't significantly benefit from the violation, the allegations can be resolved with relatively little impact on the student-athlete's playing time or scholarship. However, when a bylaw infraction is found to have been intentional, the consequences to the student-athlete can be much more serious.

That's because the NCAA divides bylaw infractions into three types. A Level I violation is the most serious. It's considered to be a violation “that seriously undermines or threatens the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model.” One of the examples that the NCAA bylaws give of a Level I violation is “Intentional violations or reckless indifference to NCAA bylaws.” This is in contrast to a Level III violation, which is one that specifically includes “Inadvertent violations that are isolated or limited in nature.”

An intentional violation of NCAA bylaws is also considered an “aggravating factor” when the NCAA reviews the conduct that occurred in a specific case. An “aggravating factor” is one that warrants “a higher range of penalties for a particular party.” By way of example, in a case where the NCAA might suspend a student for 30 to 50% of a season for a Level I violation if the NCAA finds that there is an aggravating factor involved, the student-athlete may be suspended for 50 to 100% of the season or longer. And in some cases, if the NCAA decides that a student-athlete did not intentionally violate a particular bylaw, the infraction level may decrease from a Level I intentional infraction to a much-less-serious Level III inadvertent infraction.

This is why it's very important to vigorously defend yourself if you've been accused of intentionally violating an NCAA bylaw. This can be very difficult to do without help; the NCAA is a large organization, and NCAA investigators and its Committee on Discipline know the NCAA bylaws and procedures in detail since they work with them on a daily basis. Working with an experienced NCAA Attorney can make all the difference in the outcome of your NCAA disciplinary case. At the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team, our attorneys understand the NCAA bylaws and have helped student-athletes from all over the country defend themselves from NCAA bylaw infraction allegations.

The NCAA's Procedure for Investigating Allegations of Bylaw Infractions

When the NCAA is notified that a student-athlete may have committed a bylaw infraction, it will either begin an investigation into the allegation or, in some cases, will ask the student-athlete's school to do so. Infraction investigations may typically include the following steps:

• A notice about the alleged infraction, called a letter of inquiry, sent by the NCAA to the student-athlete's school
• Interviews between an NCAA or school representative and the student accused of the infraction, as well as with others who may have knowledge about the alleged conduct
• Requests for information to the accused student-athlete, other student-athletes, and the school; this can include requests for documents, emails, texts, online messages, and information contained in social media and other types of online accounts
• A search and review of information that's publicly available, such as news reports, websites, blog posts, social media posts, and the like
• On-site visits to areas that may be relevant to the allegations
• Other research as needed to help the investigation
• Communications between investigators and NCAA staff members concerning the alleged bylaw infraction, including questions and answers about the proper interpretation of NCAA bylaws
• Contact with third parties who are unaffiliated with the school who may have information relevant to the investigation
• Communications from sources who may voluntarily provide information relevant to the investigation

One thing NCAA investigators will not do is go “undercover.” They are prohibited by the NCAA's internal procedures from misrepresenting their identity to anybody else when conducting their investigation.

While the NCAA will share the information it's gathered with the student-athlete's school, that may not happen immediately. In some cases, if the NCAA believes that sharing the information would damage the investigation, it will simply notify the school that it has collected information that it can't presently share but will do so when disclosing that information won't threaten the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

An NCAA investigation can go on for months or even for more than a year. While the NCAA will typically notify the student-athlete at the beginning of an investigation how long it believes the investigation and charging phases will take, it's not bound by that estimate. The NCAA's procedures encourage the parties to work together to try to meet the original estimate, but they do provide a way for a party who believes the process is dragging along too slowly to ask for a status conference with the chair of the Committee on Infractions to discuss ways to move the matter along more quickly.

As a student-athlete who is facing an investigation by the NCAA, you will benefit greatly from having an experienced NCAA Attorney on your side. Your attorney can be your interface with the NCAA for many of the communications that must happen as part of any investigation. Your NCAA Attorney will also help protect your rights throughout the entire process and can make sure you meet your obligations as an NCAA student-athlete throughout. At the Lento Law Firm, our NCAA Attorneys understand what the NCAA bylaws require of student-athletes who are under investigation by the NCAA, and will make sure that you don't inadvertently fail to meet those expectations.

The Importance of Cooperating with the NCAA Investigation

One of the most important things to remember if you're under investigation by the NCAA is the importance that the NCAA attaches to cooperating with the investigation. The NCAA bylaws specifically state that student-athletes should “cooperate fully” with the NCAA during bylaw infraction investigations. This is the case even if the student-athlete isn't the target of an investigation but is being interviewed by the NCAA or the NCAA asks the student-athlete for information related to an investigation of another student.

This means that a student-athlete who intentionally fails to cooperate with the NCAA can find themselves in serious Level I trouble. Failing to cooperate with an NCAA investigation is considered an infraction, made worse by the aggravating factor of the student-athlete's intentional violation of the cooperation requirement.

The NCAA bylaws list the types of behavior that it considers to be consistent with full cooperation. It includes:

• Making reports of violations of NCAA bylaws to the NCAA
• Taking steps to preserve documents and other information that may be relevant to alleged bylaw infractions
• Assisting the NCAA with gathering evidence that can help the NCAA determine whether an infraction occurred
• Agreeing to be interviewed by the NCAA and sitting for the interview in a timely fashion
• Providing the NCAA with access to “all electronic devices and accounts” that could be relevant to the bylaw infraction investigation
• Maintaining confidentiality concerning the investigation, as required by the NCAA
• Instructing attorneys and others who work with the student-athlete to fully cooperate with the NCAA
• Encouraging family, friends, and other third parties who may be asked questions by the NCAA to cooperate with the NCA

One thing that's different about the penalties that the NCAA can impose for failure to cooperate with an investigation is that those penalties can be imposed by the NCAA almost immediately and, unlike other penalties, cannot be appealed. The only way to get relief from a penalty for failing to cooperate is generally to start cooperating. And if you're the focus of an NCAA investigation and are found to have committed an infraction of the NCAA bylaws, any failure to cooperate on your part will likely be treated as an aggravating factor that can increase the penalty that the NCAA levies against you.

You can avoid an allegation of failure to cooperate by working with an experienced NCAA Lawyer. Your attorney will guide you through the NCAA investigation process and will be able to advise you as to how you should respond to NCAA information and interview requests. The last thing you want is to compound a situation where you're being accused of a bylaw infraction by committing the separate infraction of failing to cooperate with the investigation. Your NCAA Attorney will help make sure that doesn't happen.

The opposite of failing to cooperate is what the NCAA calls “exemplary cooperation.” This is when a student-athlete does more than what's required in terms of helping the NCAA with the investigation. Exemplary cooperation includes:

• Volunteering information – anything that is “pertinent” to the investigation, including statements, documents, electronic information, records, and generally anything the NCAA may not already be aware of that is relevant to the investigation
• Providing the NCAA with the names of other people who might have information relevant to the investigation
• Moving quickly to gather and deliver requested information for the investigation
• Where a violation has occurred, take proactive steps to correct the issue
• Telling the NCAA about any other bylaw violations that the NCAA might not know of

Exemplary cooperation comes on top of the required level of cooperation; in other words, you don't get credit for exemplary cooperation if you've failed to cooperate in other ways with the NCAA's investigation.

Exemplary cooperation can result in benefits to the accused student-athlete. The NCAA may consider the student-athlete's exemplary cooperation to be a “mitigating factor” that can justify a reduction in the penalty that the NCAA may apply in a situation where the student-athlete is found to have committed a bylaw infraction.

The extent to which you provide exemplary cooperation may depend on the facts of your particular case and, of course, on your ability to provide additional information about it or about other infractions to the NCAA. Your NCAA Attorney can help you evaluate your situation to determine to what extent you may be able to provide that additional level of help to the NCAA, and in particular, whether doing so could improve the possibility that the outcome of your case will be one where you can continue to compete and your scholarship if you have one, will remain unaffected.

Interview Procedures During an Investigation

If you've been accused or are suspected of violating an NCAA bylaw, you're likely to be interviewed by an NCAA investigator, who, in most cases, will make an audio recording of the interview. You have the right to object to having your interview recorded; when that happens, however, the NCAA interviewer will prepare a written summary of the interview that will be used instead of the actual transcript. In most cases, it will be better to rely on the actual recording rather than a summary that may be incomplete, inaccurate, or biased. Your NCAA Attorney can advise you on whether, in a particular case, it may be better to object to having the interview recorded.

You also have the right to make your own recording of the interview, which can be helpful if only so that you immediately have it on hand and don't have to rely on the NCAA to provide it to you. If you intend to record your interview, you will need to notify the NCAA that you intend to do so before the interview. Your lawyer can help make sure that notice if you decide to record your interview, is delivered on time.

Anybody who is interviewed by the NCAA will have a right to review the recording of the interview made by the NCAA and receive a written transcript as well. In cases where the interview was not recorded, the interviewee can review the written summary, though they may have to do so via the NCAA's secure website or in person at the NCAA's national office. All parties involved will need to agree to the NCAA's confidentiality requirements before they will have access to interview recordings, transcripts, or summaries.

Student-athletes may have an attorney present during their interview. If you're being interviewed with an attorney present, your lawyer can make sure the questions you're asked by the NCAA investigator are clear and that you understand the questions before you answer them. This can go a long way towards making the interview more helpful to the NCAA and will also avoid a situation where an unclear question results in an inaccurate answer that may end up hurting you.

If you're under the age of 18 when you're interviewed, you can ask to have a parent or guardian present as well. The NCAA has the right to refuse to allow this for a number of reasons; your NCAA lawyer can help you decide whether or not it makes sense in your case to ask for a parent present in addition to your lawyer.

Termination of an Investigation

Not every investigation ends with formal charges being brought against the student-athlete. Where the information gathered “does not appear to be of sufficient substance or reliability to support potential violations of NCAA bylaws,” the NCAA enforcement staff may terminate the matter. In that case, no action will be taken against the student-athlete.

Other Information the NCAA Can Consider

The NCAA isn't restricted to information gathered during an investigation when it is evaluating a bylaw infraction case against a student-athlete. It can also consider rulings from or evidence submitted in court or other judicial tribunal settings such as arbitrations, where that information may be relevant to the case.

The NCAA can also treat the student-athlete's failure to provide information that the NCAA believes the student should have had as a “negative inference” in the bylaw infraction case against the student-athlete. This means that the NCAA is free to act as though the information if it had been provided, would have supported the allegations against the student-athlete.

When you work with an experienced NCAA Attorney from the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team, you substantially reduce the chances that the NCAA will make any negative inferences against you for your failure to provide information to its investigator. That's because your attorney will be able to help you find the requested information or, where it's not available, will provide the NCAA with a suitable explanation for the efforts that were made to find it and, if possible, why the information could not be found.

Formal Allegations Against a Student-Athlete

At the close of the investigation, unless the NCAA enforcement staff decides to terminate the matter, the staff will decide what bylaw infraction charges to bring against you. These are made in what is called a Notice of Allegations, or NOA. The NCAA will review the draft of the NOA internally, and you and your NCAA attorney will also have a chance to review it. You and your attorney can also submit arguments on your own behalf but must meet certain page-length requirements and submit the arguments within a certain deadline.

There are several ways that the NCAA resolves bylaw infraction allegations. Not all of these ways involve live hearings before the Committee on Infractions. Some cases are resolved through a “Limited Resolution” process that can either take the form of a “Written Record Hearing” or a “Summary Disposition.” The circumstances when either of these two types of procedures are used are different, and your NCAA Attorney can advise you on which makes the most sense in your particular case. In both cases, your lawyer will be able to draft and submit arguments and evidence to the NCAA on your behalf.

More serious cases will be heard by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions and will involve witness testimony and evidence introduced by both sides. As with all types of hearings, there are specific deadlines that must be met and procedures that must be followed by the parties. Your NCAA lawyer will know what is required, can make sure you meet the requirements and will help present your defense in as compelling a manner as possible.

The best way to make sure your NCAA bylaw infraction case is vigorously and properly defended is to work with an experienced NCAA Attorney from the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. Our NCAA Lawyers understand what is necessary to defend our student-athlete clients from NCAA bylaw infraction charges and are ready to help from day one.

How Your NCAA Attorney Can Help

As noted, if you are suspected of having violated an NCAA bylaw, your NCAA Attorney will be ready and able to help you from the very beginning of the NCAA's investigation. Your attorney can:

• Make sure you meet your obligation to cooperate with the NCAA's investigation
• Take steps to protect yourself against allegations that you intentionally violated NCAA bylaws
• Appear with you during your NCAA investigation interview, helping clarify the questions you're asked so that you don't answer anything you don't fully understand
• Search for and collect evidence that can be used to defend you as well as to meet your disclosure obligations to the NCAA
• Negotiate on your behalf with the NCAA to resolve your case, and otherwise communicate with the NCAA during the investigation so that you don't have to
• Pay attention to case deadlines and make sure you meet them
• Defend you at your hearing or in an alternative form of the case resolution procedure
• Appeal your case if the NCAA rules against you

How the Lento Law Firm Can Help

At the Lento Law Firm, our Student Defense Team includes NCAA Attorneys with years of experience helping student-athletes from all over the country who find themselves the target of NCAA bylaw infraction investigations. We represent student-athletes attending Division I, Division II, and Division III schools, and we understand the NCAA's lengthy and complex bylaws and investigation procedures. Our NCAA Lawyers are ready to fight for you, to defend you against bylaw infraction allegations and to help protect your athletic and academic future. We understand how important it is for you to be able to participate as a student-athlete in college, and our promise is that we will fight to keep you eligible, competing, and learning during your entire collegiate career.

If you've been notified by the NCAA or your school that you're under investigation for alleged NCAA bylaw infractions, don't delay – call the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. Your future is important to us – let us help you protect it!