Clemson announces 17 NCAA secondary violations

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Clemson's athletic department reported 17 NCAA secondary violations on Friday, including one where a head coach gave staffers an improper money gift last spring and an assistant coach who posted a message on a prospect's Facebook wall.

Twice a year, the school issues such reports because of Freedom of Information Act requests by the Associated Press and other media outlets. The Clemson coaches, assistants, athletes or sports involved were not included in the report that covered from last March through January.

The school said several of the violations involved infractions that took place before the athlete enrolled at Clemson. Athletic department spokesman Tim Bourret said such incidents are now processed through the school's compliance office.

Bourret would not identify any of the sports, personnel or athletes involved.

One infraction that occurred last May involved a head coach who tried to use money earned from an athletic camp to give staffers a bonus as a token of thanks, Bourret said. However, Clemson's compliance office found that violated NCAA rules on salary supplements. The head coach received a letter of admonishment and a review of the rules.

The recipients had to pay back the coach's gift. Bourret said the athletic department later made good on the coach's generosity through proper channels. He said it was not a large amount of money.

That was among the nine Level II violations, a less serious category that are reported by Clemson to the Atlantic Coast Conference office as they occur.

Another incident took place in January when the compliance office was contacted by another school about a Tiger assistant posting on a high school student's Facebook wall. That staffer got a letter of admonishment and a review of legislation.

Five of the violations dealt with Clemson athletes who had competed with professionals or received prize money at pro events before college. In all cases, the NCAA declared the athlete involved ineligible and then restored eligibility. One athlete was asked to repay $445 in improper prize money to charity. Another athlete was docked two contests and made to repay $255 to charity. In a third instance, an athlete was ordered to repay $158 in prize money.

Those violations were all classified as Level I, secondary infractions sent directly to the NCAA for processing.

The rest of the Level I violations were:

• signatures from necessary employees had not been collected before the NCAA deadline of Oct. 15;

• a walk-on athlete practicing past the 14-day temporary period before requesting final amateurism certification with the NCAA;

• last November, prospects on unofficial visits were inadvertently videotaped in the locker room during a trophy presentation, which played on the school's Web site.

The date of the last infraction was Nov. 22, a day after Clemson's football team clinched the ACC's Atlantic Division with a victory over Virginia.

Bourret said Clemson did not wish to make any additional statements regarding the violations.