Yahoo Report: UConn violates NCAA rules in pursuit of recruit

[Hasselbeck]

Connecticut potentially committed NCAA rules violations in its recruitment of former guard Nate Miles, Yahoo Sports reported Wednesday.

The Web site reported that according to multiple sources, between 2006 and 2008, Miles was provided with lodging, transportation, restaurant meals and representation by Josh Nochimson, a former UConn student manager who had become a professional sports agent and formerly represented ex-Huskies star Richard Hamilton.

According to the report, one of UConn's assistants knew about the relationship between Nochimson and Miles as early as fall of 2006, and that phone records show UConn coaches made thousands of phone calls and text messages to Nochimson over the next two years.

The program may also have exceeded the number of phone calls allowed to Miles under NCAA regulations during its recruiting, Yahoo Sports reported, citing phone records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The NCAA allows a single phone call per month to a prospect or his family in a player's junior year of high school. Yahoo Sports reported that according to records, UConn coaches exceeded that limit over several months in 2006 and 2007 in the program's recruitment of Miles. In December of 2006 alone, former UConn assistant coach Tom Moore made 27 calls to Miles' guardian and a person Miles referred to as an uncle as well as three calls to Miles.

The Web site also reported that Moore, currently the coach at Quinnipiac, made Nochimson aware that UConn was recruiting Miles and that he knew Nochimson and Miles had talked.

According to records obtained by Yahoo Sports, over a two-year period, five different UConn coaches traded at least 1,565 phone and text messages with Nochimson, including 16 from coach Jim Calhoun.

UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway and Calhoun declined comment through a university spokesperson, according to the report. Nochimson also declined comment.

Miles, who was expelled from UConn this fall after being accused of assaulting a female student and violating a restraining order by calling her minutes after the order was issued, is now at the College of Southern Idaho, a junior college.

According to the report, player agents have increasingly become involved in players' lives while they are still amateurs, in the hopes they can land them as NBA clients when they turn pro. The trend has grown to agents steering players to specific schools, with college coaches reciprocating by delivering the player back to the agent when he decides to turn pro.

"We're concerned in terms of agents steering certain kids to certain [schools]," Rachel Newman Baker, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activity, told Yahoo Sports. "We're concerned about agreements under the table between agents and even our college coaches."

In 2006, Moore was in Chicago watching Miles at a prep tournament when he told his former student manager, Nochimson, who was there to scout potential future clients, that UConn was recruiting the 6-foot-7 shooting guard. By that evening, Miles said he had met Nochimson, according to the report.

The fact that Moore knew Nochimson and Miles were talking was an NCAA violation, according to the report. Asked if he had lost sight of the fact that Nochimson was also a representative of UConn's athletic interests under NCAA rules, Moore said "Probably. I looked at him as a young professional working as an agent, doing what he does in his career."

Miles gave conflicting statements about his relationship with Nochimson, according to the report. After at first saying he'd never heard of Nochimson, Miles said he had been his adviser. But he denied that Nochimson had ever provided him with meals or other benefits. When asked if Nochimson had arranged for him to attend IMG's Basketball Academy and Pro Training Center in Bradenton, Fla. -- which the center's director, Mike Moreau, confirmed was the case to Yahoo Sports -- Miles ended the interview.

Nochimson has moved to decertify himself as an agent after Hamilton fired him and accused him of stealing more than $1 million from him, according to the report.

Can't wait to see how the NCAA "slaps" UConn on the wrist for this one.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4014188

 

[Senser81]

Can't wait to see how the NCAA "slaps" UConn on the wrist for this one.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4014188

My guess is that nothing is done to UConn, and the Josh Nochimson agent guy is made out to be the criminal and is given a 'stern reprimand' by the NCAA.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I act surprised.

College hoops recruiting is as sleazy as it comes.

 

[Chrispy]

I love how this happened over 2 or 3 years ago and they are just now making a big deal about it. The recruit isn't even on the team anymore.

 

[Chrispy]

Jim Calhoun will receive a raise, defend it publicly, be ostracized by the media, and then vehemently defended by the entire state of Connecticut, and probably New Hampshire too..

He is one of the greatest ncaa basketball coaches of all time, Uconn basketball is like the closest sport we have to the pros that is good. He has earned everything he coached for.

 

[Chrispy]

Geno Auriemma agrees. LOL, thanks for proving my point though!

proving your point, you just stated the fuckin obvious. ohh yeah hows that jay cutler situation going for you guys LMAO

 

[Chrispy]

Ha ha you New Englanders are shameless. Thank God BC and URI exist or we might have to worry about a secession if Calhoun was ever suspended by the NCAA or asked to step down.

who says all of New England likes Calhoun, i didnt know NH or CT makes up all of New England lol

 

[Chrispy]

I was just pointing out how shameless it is to defend a guy who is the highest paid public employee in the state as an educator, and yet he can't seem to find guys who can't steal computers or other indiscretions. And on top of that he has to commit recruiting violations to get them to even attend.

And your other basketball coach is a man who has an ongoing feud with a woman, TOUGH GUY. Well done UConn, well done.

So what if hes the highest paid public employee, how much does he and his program give back to the state or different charities. Also he coached 22 players who have moved on to professional ranks. He has over 800 wins, elected to the Basketball Hall of fame in 2005, won 2 national Championships, 8 big east championships and battled Cancer. Yeah it shameless to support a coach like that.

So what if he has a fued with a woman, what now u can't even get angry at girl coaches just because they are girls, lol. U should be worrying about how your denver broncos r going to fix your team this year instead of worrying about Jim Calhoun and Uconn.

 

[Chrispy]

Read the post all the way. Notice where I said thank God for BC and URI. I bet Maine is in the Calhoun boat too, if they aren't too busy worrying about college hockey. Which would make them the only people caring about college hockey.

Yeah u stated colleges not states.

 

[Chrispy]

yes, calhoun steps over boundaries sometimes, but he's still a hell of a coach. We have nothing else to root for in Connecticut since we have no pro teams, so all we have is uconn basketball. Football program is starting to get better. Idk what got me so mad but i can understand your points.

 

[Chrispy]

I have nothing to do with this argument, but what does the broncos have to do with ANY of this? I mean seriously, bring something else.

Where did u come from?
:gtfo:

i was having a convo with glen not u.

 

[Chrispy]

lol then why post if ur not even in the argument, just stay out of it, u just had to add your 2 cents.

 

[Chrispy]

Understandable... we all miss the Whalers man. We all do...

hell yeah, to bad they had to move, im always hoping CT can get any pro sports team.

 

[Chrispy]

Maybe you can talk Sean Burke into bankrolling a new one...

haha yeah that would be sick.