UCF’s Athletic Director Resigns Due To NCAA Probe

UCF Athletics Director Keith Tribble has resigned following the release of an NCAA report detailing violations that took place within the football and men’s basketball programs, President John C. Hitt announced Wednesday.

Additionally, the football team’s top recruiter, assistant head coach David Kelly, has resigned.

Both resignations came after the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations specifically cited Tribble and Kelly for unethical conduct when meeting with NCAA investigators. Head coach George O’Leary was not implicated in the report.

Hitt also announced the suspension of men’s basketball coach Donnie Jones for three conference games without pay.

The suspension was imposed by the university, not the NCAA.

’Serious charges’

“These are serious charges that are as unacceptable to me, as I am sure they are to all of our fans,” Hitt said. “I expect our athletics leadership to set the standard for compliance, and that is not what took place.”

Al Harms, UCF’s vice president for Strategy, Marketing, Communications and Admissions, will serve as interim athletic director. Hitt said there is no timetable to name a permanent director of athletics. O’Leary will look to fill Kelly’s position.

The 16-page report details the involvement of Chicago man Ken Caldwell, described as “a recruiter for a professional sports agency,” and his associate, Brandon Bender of Louisville. The two men were found to have violated recruiting rules by having “assisted the institution in the recruitment of six men’s basketball and five football prospective student-athletes.”

The report goes on to detail several instances of rules violations. According to the report, Caldwell and Bender had repeated telephone and in-person interaction with prospective recruits (whose names have been blacked out in the report to protect the student-athletes), with Tribble, Jones and assistant men’s basketball coach Darren Tillis all having knowledge of the contact.

Caldwell and Bender also had repeated telephone and in-person contact with football recruits, all of which Tribble and Kelly were aware of, according to the report.

More damning was the report’s detailing of email communication between Caldwell and Tribble. Several subject lines of the email exchanges were cited, including a message from Caldwell to Tribble sent on Dec. 18, 2010 with the subject line, “Your next receiver from me.”

Tribble previously had denied a relationship with Caldwell.

Caldwell also was found to have “provided impermissible benefits to men’s basketball and football student-athletes and prospective student-athletes.”

Some specific instances include allegations that Caldwell made deposits into a men’s basketball player’s bank account and provided a laptop computer to a prospective football recruit.

The NCAA also found Caldwell to have been paying tuition and travel expenses for current and prospective student-athletes.

Ethical violations

Tribble and Kelly were cited for ethical violations when both provided false and misleading information during the course of the investigation. Tribble denied knowledge of Caldwell’s involvement in the recruiting of specific prospective student-athletes, as did Kelly.

Jones was cited in the report for having “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance” within his program. The allegations state that Jones was aware of Caldwell’s role in assisting with the recruitment of prospects and “failed to try to stop or discourage the activities.”

“As the program’s head coach, I accept responsibility for mistakes when they occur,” Jones said.

The NCAA allows institutions 90 days response time once they release their allegations.

“When you are a repeat offender, you do go to enhanced penalties,” Hitt said. “My hope is, the way we have dealt with this … will be taken into account by the NCAA.”