IU reports recruiting violation to NCAA

IU men’s basketball Coach Tom Crean committed a secondary recruiting violation Oct. 6 while contacting a prospective student athlete, according to the IU Athletics Department.

The contact availability with recruits ended Oct. 5, but Crean had contact with a high school senior the following day.

In the release, IU will reduce the number of recruiting days in person by two days to 128 days.

The release also said this was the first contact with the prospective student athlete, leaving IU with only one more opportunity to contact the prospect in the 2011-2012 year.

According to Pat Forde of ESPN.com, the recruit Crean was seeing was 2012 prospect Gary Harris of Hamilton Southeastern High School.

The No. 25 recruit in the Class of 2012 according to Rivals.com, Harris is scheduled to make his official visit to IU this Saturday for Hoosier Hysteria. Harris took an official visit to Purdue on Oct. 1. He is supposed to make visits to Kentucky (Oct. 22) and Michigan State (Nov. 5).

Assistant Coach Tim Buckley informed Crean he was allowed to contact the prospective student athlete away from campus Oct. 6.

Buckley was reported to have thought the period was a day longer than it actually was, and upon learning IU committed a violation, the athletic department allegedly reported the violation within 15 minutes to the NCAA. A letter of admonishment was issued to Buckley, meaning the assistant coach was reprimanded.

The fall contact period ended Oct. 5, and the evaluation period that started the following day is defined by the NCAA as: “the time a college coach may watch a prospective student athlete play or visit the high school but cannot have any in-person conversations with the possible recruit or the parents off the college’s campus.”

Kentucky men’s basketball Coach John Calipari watched Harris at football practice Tuesday since coaches are still allowed to watch prospective student athletes during what is now the “evaluation” period.

Forde also wrote that the “violation first came to the attention of some media members via emails from a Kentucky fan and blogger who works for KentuckySportsNetwork.com.”

This violation occurs while IU is still on NCAA probation stemming back to major violations that occurred under former Coach Kelvin Sampson. IU is on probation until Nov. 24 and has been since November 2008.