CHICAGO _ DePaul's beleaguered men's basketball program took a hit Tuesday when the NCAA announced coach Dave Leitao will serve a three-game suspension and the program will be placed on three years of probation for a recruiting violation.
A Division I Committee on Infractions panel found that a former DePaul associate head coach violated NCAA ethical conduct rules by directing a former director of basketball operations to provide impermissible benefits to a recruit. The committee ruled that Leitao violated his head coaching responsibility by not stopping the violation.
The report did not name the assistants or the recruit, who later enrolled at DePaul. The committee determined that "a culture of silence pervaded the program" and allowed the violation to occur.
According to the report, the former associate head coach arranged for the assistant director of basketball operations to live with the recruit and ensure he completed the coursework needed for eligibility. That assistant did not complete the recruit's work but monitored him, the panel said.
The panel concluded that the athlete competed while ineligible because of the rules broken before he enrolled.
"The head coach did not promote an atmosphere of compliance because three men's basketball staff members knew about the arrangement but did not report the violation or question whether it was allowable," the report said. "Even more troubling to the committee was the director of basketball operations stated he knew the contact was a violation but did not report it because he did not want to be disloyal, cause tension, get in the way of the associate head coach or otherwise hurt his career. He also did not know how to report violations. The committee said the assistant director of basketball operations was also concerned for his future and did not question the associate head coach's directions."
The committee found Leitao did not carefully monitor his staff and "did not actively look for red flags," even when the basketball operations assistant was absent for two weeks.
DePaul released a statement that it found the panel's decision "disappointing."
"This infraction was an isolated incident directed and then concealed by a former staff member that resulted in, at most, a limited recruiting advantage relative to one former student-athlete," the statement said.
DePaul said it self-reported the incident in January 2018 and has cooperated with the NCAA.
"Coach Leitao is a man of character and integrity who has the support of the administration in leading our men's basketball program," DePaul's statement read.
In addition to Leitao's suspension for the first three games of the 2019-20 regular season and the program's probation period, the committee ruled that the former associate head coach will have a three-year show-cause order and that DePaul must vacate records when the ineligible athlete competed.
DePaul also self-imposed recruiting restrictions, reducing six men's basketball recruiting days during the 2017-18 academic year and six more in April. The program also must pay a $5,000 fine and 1% of its men's basketball budget.
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