On April 22, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) handed down harsh penalties on Fordham University’s men’s basketball program in what it referred to as a Level II “Major Infractions Case” via a negotiated resolution with the university. 

As part of the resolution, Fordham agreed that over two years, it “failed to monitor its men’s basketball program when eight prospects were provided impermissible benefits . . .”  The case summary prepared by NCAA as a result of the investigation describes these impermissible benefits as “$10,736 in entertainment during official visits” for the prospects and their families, including “Jet Ski rentals, tickets to New York Knicks games, tickets to the U.S. Open Tennis Championship and suite tickets for an NFL game . . . and a Brooklyn Nets game.”

The negotiated resolution also included a stipulation that two of the eight prospects competed “while ineligible after enrollment” because of the benefits described above.

In addition to these benefits, Fordham also agreed that the men’s basketball program violated the NCAA’s rules regarding publicity prior to signing, because the basketball program arranged multiple professional photo shoots for the prospects at Times Square in Fordham men’s basketball gear.

The penalties to which Fordham agreed are steep and include: three years’ probation; a fine totaling $35,000 plus 2% of the program’s budget; three recruiting-specific bans and reductions in ability to communicate with prospects; show-cause orders for three of the program’s coaches; and perhaps most significantly, vacating all 41 wins the team recorded from 2021-2023 (which includes the program-record 25-win 2022-2023 season).

Part of the reason for the severity of the sanctions may be the lack of a compliance protocol in place and Fordham’s failure to undertake its own investigation when it got wind of one potential improper expenditure. As set forth in the case summary, Fordham specifically agreed with the NCAA that it did not have a compliance system that should have detected the impermissible expenses that were being submitted for reimbursement to the athletics department, and that it failed to monitor the men’s basketball program.