The announcement of violations by the NCAA can range anywhere from feeling like a nuisance to tearing apart your athletic program. For Ohio State, the NCAA’s findings on three Buckeyes’ athletics teams will have some lasting impacts in the years ahead.
Violations occurred in Ohio State fencing, women’s golf and women’s basketball programs: https://t.co/Xzi3vkxuHq pic.twitter.com/MEYo6zhVAL
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) April 19, 2022
“Over the course of several years, multiple NCAA violations occurred in the Ohio State fencing, women’s golf, and women’s basketball programs, according to a decision released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel,” read an NCAA statement. “The former fencing head coach and former women’s golf head coach violated head coach responsibility rules, and the fencing coach and former women’s basketball associate head coach violated ethical conduct rules when they did not meet their obligation to fully cooperate with an investigation.”
The majority of violations reportedly occurred within the fencing program. The panel says that the school’s former head fencing coach, Vladimir Nazlymov, “arranged, provided, or directed other coaches to provide more than $6,000 in recruiting inducements to three prospects” as well as offering up access to a local sports club that used the school’s fencing facility. There were also other violations around impermissible tryouts, recruiting inducements, and non-compliant consultations by visiting coaches.
Former women’s golf coach Theresa Hession, who retired last year, is said to have extended practices beyond allowed times and failed to properly account for student-athlete activities properly. Multiple student-athletes are said to have told compliance staff that they had concerns about late practices that caused them to be late to or miss other school obligations.
Violations in the women’s basketball program included associate head coach Patrick Klien, who resigned in 2019, providing impermissible benefits to student-athletes, including manicures, rental car loans, and textbook purchases for a player not on scholarship. Klien also asked current or former players to assist in recruiting players they did not have prior relationships with, which is an NCAA violation. Klien also paid $100 for bottle service for two prospects at a club, which is clearly an impermissible action.
All of these violations are labeled as “Level I-standard for the university, Level I-aggravated for the former fencing head coach, Level II-mitigated for the former women’s golf head coach, and Level I-aggravated for the former women’s basketball associate head coach.”
The panel prescribed various punishments, including slight reductions in the budget for the programs, recruiting restrictions, and a vacation of all fencing and women’s basketball records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible.
Both Nazylmov nor Klein were hit with 10-year show-cause penalties, in part because they did not comply with the investigation, which is itself an NCAA violation.
The fencing and women’s basketball programs were placed on four years of probation. Ohio State had previously placed a self-imposed postseason ban on the 2020-21 school year for all three programs as well.
[NCAA]
