Pitt goes on three-year probation
Pitt’s Department of Athletics will be on probation for the next three years as part of a negotiated resolution with the NCAA in light of multiple Level II violations.
The violations in question were committed by the men’s basketball and football programs and took place between August 2015 and March 2018. Per a press release, Pitt self-reported the violations and participated in a “cooperative investigation” with the NCAA.
“Pitt Athletics is steadfastly committed to integrity and NCAA rules compliance,” Director of Athletics Heather Lyke said in the press release. “A reflection of that strong commitment is the fact that, upon discovering these violations, we immediately provided a self-report to the NCAA and began a cooperative and thorough review. While disappointed in the violations, I am confident that our already-strong culture of compliance will help each of our programs avoid such situations in the future.”
At the center of the violations is the men’s basketball program and former head coach Kevin Stallings. According to press releases from Pitt and the NCAA, Stallings allowed non-coaches to participate in “NCAA-defined coaching duties,” both on the court and off the court. The NCAA and Pitt also said that Stallings and his staff attempted to delete practice film that showed the aforementioned non-coaches participating.
The violations also included personalized recruiting videos that were made for 12 prospects.
According to the NCAA, in agreement with Pitt, Stallings “did not promote an atmosphere for compliance.” He was fired by the University in the spring of 2018 after coaching the Panthers to a winless ACC record in the 2017-18 season.
As part of the penalty for the violations, the NCAA gave Stallings a three-year show-cause order, requiring any school that hires him during that time to suspend him from 30% of the games in his first season of employment.
Additionally, the NCAA gave a three-year show-case order for a former director of basketball operations who assisted in the various violations and was also uncooperative in the NCAA’s investigation. While he is not named in the press release, Stallings’ first director of basketball operations was Dan Cage, who was elevated to an assistant coach position in Stallings’ second season.
On the football side, the NCAA found similar violations, stating that head coach Pat Narduzzi was present when quality control staffers participated in “impermissible coaching activities,” including “occasionally throwing footballs and holding play cards for the scout teams during practices.”
Narduzzi’s penalty was less severe than the one Stallings received. He was required to spend one week of the most recent recruiting contact period off the road and will also be forced to miss two days of training camp practice in August.
The NCAA also assessed a fine of $5,000 and 0.5% of the budgets for football and men’s basketball.