OU compliance makes changes after violations
Preliminary report to NCAA

By George Schroeder

Published: December 13, 2006

NORMAN — Oklahoma's compliance department has instituted several procedural changes as a result of the recent NCAA investigation into the men's basketball program.

In a preliminary compliance report sent to the NCAA's committee on infractions Dec. 1 and obtained Tuesday by The Oklahoman under terms of the state's open-records laws, OU athletic director Joe Castiglione detailed 24 measures. Many were designed to prevent rules violations in recruiting telephone calls, and several had been implemented before the NCAA investigation into the OU basketball program was completed.

OU was placed on probation last May after an investigation revealed former men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and several staff members had made 577 impermissible phone calls to recruits. None of the coaches involved in the violations remains at OU.

The report did not pertain to the NCAA's ongoing investigation into rules violations by football players Rhett Bomar and lineman J.D. Quinn. Bomar and Quinn were dismissed from the team last August when they were discovered to have been overpaid $7,406.88 and $8,137.17, respectively, for work they did not perform at a Norman car dealership. OU self-reported the violations to the NCAA, which then began an investigation.

Among the changes addressed in the preliminary compliance report:

•OU has increased its monitoring of recruiting telephone logs that are required to be maintained by coaches, aided in part by the development of a computer software system for that purpose.

•OU has instituted more frequent "spot checks of each sport's recruiting files.”

•OU has begun monitoring the phone records in each sport, both land lines and cell phones, and has developed a new compliance manual.

•OU has instituted more frequent meetings between the compliance staff and coaches in all sports.

The computer phone monitoring program, called "Comply and Verify,” was developed by OU's compliance department members during the NCAA investigation into the improper phone calls by the basketball staff. The software allows compliance department staff to cross-reference recruits' phone numbers with coaches' electronic phone records; it notes unusually high or low numbers of calls to prospects, and prompts compliance staff members to pursue an explanation.

According to the report, OU coaches are required to sign a "recruiting integrity statement” at the beginning of the school year "verifying they will only use athletic department issued phones to make recruiting calls.” The recruiting integrity statement also signals the coach is aware that each recruit and his or her telephone contact information must be entered into the "Comply and Verify” system after the recruit has been called more than one time.

In the letter, Castiglione wrote that a timetable for the changes, which had been requested by the NCAA, was unnecessary because OU "has already implemented most” of the changes.

"We believe that a status report is more appropriate,” Castiglione wrote.