NCAA delivers blow to Reddies

Women’s hoops handed probation

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Glen Jones was hired as Henderson State University's president in July 2012, three weeks before the school began an investigation into NCAA rules violations within its women's basketball program.

Since then, the school has changed coaches twice, hired Shawn Jones as its athletic director and imposed a slew of sanctions based on its investigation.

Tuesday, three years after first being made aware of the violations, the NCAA Division II Committee on Infractions released its final report in which it placed the Reddies' women's basketball program on two years of probation through July 28, 2016, imposed a $2,500 fine and placed show-cause orders on two former head coaches who led the program in 2009-2012 when the violations occurred.

The NCAA's violations come after Henderson State imposed sanctions that included a reduction in scholarships from 10 to 5.05 during the 2013-2014 academic year, the loss of text-messaging privileges for recruiting, not allowing any off-campus recruiting or official visits and the elimination of all tryouts in 2012-2013.

Shawn Jones, who was hired in November 2013 after Kale Gober took a job inside the University of Arkansas athletic department, said Tuesday the NCAA's findings represent closure and a new beginning for Henderson State women's basketball under Coach Jill Thomas, who was hired in April 2013.

"I felt optimistic that we would be able to move forward in a positive direction today, and certainly based on the findings and based on what the NCAA has released we're certainly doing that," he said. "We're not scared of the probation. We respect that it's there, and certainly respect that process, but we're doing things the right way now."

The report said the NCAA became aware of violations in July 2011 from an unspecified newspaper article. Josh Matthews was fired in April 2011 after five seasons as coach and Chris Oestrich was hired as his replacement, going 14-13 in his only season before resigning two days before the 2012-2013 season began.

Glen Jones said the NCAA contacted Henderson State in July 2012 and requested it conduct its own investigation into the allegations, which was conducted by Henderson State general council Elaine Kneebone and the Compliance Group, which is based in Lenexa, Kan.

Findings from that investigation led to Henderson State's self-imposed sanctions.

"We felt that was appropriate given the facts and circumstances surrounding our situation," Glen Jones said. "When we fall short of [our] standard, I think it's important that we take [necessary] actions."

The NCAA's report did not name the head coaches who received show-cause orders and Glen Jones declined to identify them Tuesday because it is a personnel matter.

The report only referred to the coaches as "Head Coach 1" and "Head Coach 2," but it said "Head Coach 2" served as an assistant to "Head Coach 1." Matthews was fired in April 2011, and Oestrich was promoted from assistant to interim head coach before being named head coach midway through the 2011-2012 season. Oestrich resigned Nov. 8, 2012.

In the report, Matthews (Head Coach 1) received a one-year show-cause, and Oestrich (Head Coach 2) received a two-year show cause.

Oestrich was delivered the heavier blow for a "failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance as well as unethical conduct," the NCAA said. The NCAA said Oestrich bought meals for recruits, provided them with transportation, offered a loan to a recruit for travel costs and provided "false or misleading" information regarding inquiries over whether he sent text messages to recruits during the school's investigation.

Both coaches, the NCAA said, participated in impermissible activities during official visits and exceeded the limits on contact by phone and conducted practices outside of the playing season.

The NCAA said Matthews also committed secondary violations when he spent $120 on contact lenses for a player and bought a textbook for another player's summer school class.

When Matthews was fired in April 2011, he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he spent $7,000-$10,000 of his personal funds for his program.

"If you're not willing to invest your money when you have no recruiting budget, there's no money to recruit," Matthews said at the time.

Henderson State agreed with the NCAA's charge of failure to monitor the women's basketball program, which led to the self-imposed sanctions. Henderson State has restructured its compliance department to require compliance officer Lenette Jones to report to Kneebone for one year, and now the school requires coaches to request and report travel, report phone conversations with recruits, report tryout schedules and attend rules education meetings.

"I think it's important that we take important and [necessary] actions to really redirect our activities in the directions we'd like to see this go," Glen Jones said.

Thomas went 13-14 last season with half of the allowed scholarships. This year, the team is expected to have eight freshman players.

Sports on 07/30/2014