I just finished reading through the 23-page notice of allegations that the NCAA has given to UConn. A lot of the detail is blacked out, but from what we already know, the majority of it seems to deal with the recruitment of former Husky Nate Miles and former UConn manager and agent Josh Nochimson.
First off, I’m not an expert on these matters beyond watching what happens when the NCAA hauls in other schools for breaking the rules, but my initial reaction is that I’m not incredibly worried (Meacham on the other hand, seems much more concerned, so I’m sure he’ll be along).
Most of what I can tell from the report (again, much of it is redacted) is stuff we already knew. The UConn staff, especially Beau Archibald and Patrick Sellers, were making way too many impermissible phone calls (114 impermissible phone calls & 181 texts (to [BLANKED OUT NAME] for Archibald and 19 calls from Sellers to four different players).
In addition, Josh Nochimson just seems like all around bad news, and the recruitment of Nate Miles seems to be just as big of a mess as everyone has reported.
The two coaches accused of misleading the NCAA are Archibald and Sellers. Sellers looks like he might have just gotten mixed up at one point, denying he saw Nochimson’s name on a redacted something or other in Jan. 2009, but then saying he did see it during a follow-up interview in October. Archibald, on the other hand, does not look quite as good. The NCAA is alleging he denied knowing Ron Shade, an associate of Nochimson’s, despite placing 16 phone calls to and two text messages to him (including one on Christmas Day) long before his interview.
Calhoun is named for two reasons. First, the report says he apparently knew that Archibald was making improper phone calls to a recruit (name redacted) and did not stop it. Second, the NCAA is alleging that he was not doing enough to monitor the relationship between Nochimson and the program, despite knowing that there might be issues.
UConn is also accused of improperly giving out 26 free tickets to high school basketball coaches in 2007 and 2008.
My instant reaction to all of this is that while none of it is good, and the Nochimson stuff is particularily bad, UConn should probably be ok. They’ll certainly receive some penalty from the NCAA, but since Miles never suited up for the Huskies, it will probably be mild. The one x-factor is if one of the redacted names if Ater Majok. Majok, who reportedly had some contact with Nochimson during his recruitment, has suited up for the Huskies, so who knows what the NCAA might do with that. However, Calhoun's statement said the NCAA investigation was focused on a "particular" athlete, who one would have to assume is Miles, so UConn might be in the clear on Majok.
UPDATE: After reading some reaction to this, I feel I should be more clear. I certainly did not use precise enough language when I said the penalty should be "mild." I full expect UConn to be hit with some form of recruiting restrictions, and possibly even the loss of a scholarship or two (which seems to be the general consensus in the press). However, I do not think this is going to mean any sort of postseason penalties for UConn, which is what I was really worried about.