You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Tuesday that Georgia Tech’s women’s basketball program would be placed on probation for three years after coaches violated league rules by forcing team members to practice longer hours than permitted and on scheduled off days.
The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions hearing panel, which made the decision to punish Georgia Tech, concluded that over the course of three academic years the women’s basketball program coaches, including head coach MaChelle Joseph, routinely made athletes participate in activities that exceeded daily and weekly limits. Additionally, the panel said, the women’s basketball staff did not give student athletes required days off.
According to the report the panel released, the director of women’s basketball operations provided players with the practice schedule. However, a former women’s basketball assistant coach would notify them with very little warning that the schedule had changed, requiring them to show up to practice earlier than dictated. Multiple student athletes told the panel that the team was also regularly required to practice an hour or more longer than scheduled. The coaches also demanded additional practice time for some players -- with one reporting it as a punishment for being late. Members of the athletics department staff confirmed that the team exceeded scheduled practice hours, the panel said in the report.
As part of the punishment, Georgia Tech must pay a fine of $5,000 plus 1 percent of the women’s basketball program’s budget and undergo a comprehensive compliance review by an outside agency. Joseph has a one-year show-cause order -- essentially a suspension -- and if another NCAA school hires her after one year, she will face a suspension from 15 percent of regular-season games. An unidentified assistant coach received a five-year show-cause order.
