The fate of embattled Georgia coach Jack Bauerle was announced on Tuesday, including a fine of $5,000, a public remand and censure, suspension from 9 regular season competitions during the 2014-2015 season, and a “one-year show-cause” order through April 3rd, 2015. That show-cause order means that Bauerle’s punishment will follow him if he were to go to another institution before April 3rd, 2015.
The suspension means that Bauerle will miss 9 regular season events this season, and won’t be able to participate in any recruiting activities until April 3rd, 2015.
According to the decision, Bauerle has served 6 of the NCAA’s definition of 9 regular season competitions, meaning that he will miss at least the upcoming South Carolina and Texas dual meets in January, and possibly the Tennessee dual meet as well (depending on whether or not the NCAA defines the earlier Tennessee Diving Invite as a regular season meet).
See the full infractions decision here.
Bauerle was suspended almost a year ago after accusations that he helped two-time defending NCAA 400 IM Champion Chase Kalisz receive special academic treatment. Kalisz was reinstated shortly after that suspension, but Bauerle remained suspended to varying degrees ever since, including not being allowed on deck as his women’s team won the 2014 NCAA Championship.
The NCAA reported that Kalisz was fully truthful when questioned about the incident, so his eligibility is not affected.
SwimSwam’s Troy Gennaro is currently participating in the conference call with the NCAA discussing the decision. More details will follow the completion of that call.
The full NCAA press release is below:
The University of Georgia head swimming and diving coach did not promote an atmosphere for compliance when he made special arrangements for a student-athlete to enroll in an independent study course to maintain eligibility, according to a decision issued by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel.
Penalties include a $5,000 fine, a nine competition suspension for the head coach and a one-year recruiting restriction for the head coach.
During the fall 2013 semester, the head coach was concerned that a student-athlete might not meet progress-toward-degree requirements and would not be eligible for competition the following semester. The head coach reached out to athletics administrators to discuss options, including adding an independent study class to ensure eligibility. The senior associate athletics director told the coach that adding the course was not recommended because classes for the current semester had ended.
After told not to get involved and not to proceed with the independent study course, the head coach asked a professor in the psychology department to admit the student-athlete into a pass/fail independent study course. The professor agreed and it was determined the student-athlete would complete the work the following semester. The student-athlete did not meet the prerequisites for the course, so the professor agreed to waive those requirements. Because the head coach created the special arrangement, the student-athlete received a benefit not available to the general student body and not allowed by NCAA rules.
The head coach failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance when he set up the special academic arrangement for the student-athlete. The head coach received clear instruction not to contact professors about student-athletes. Despite the instruction, he moved forward with contacting the professor multiple times about the independent study course. The head coach acted contrary to university policy and to the advice and caution provided by the staff responsible for athletic academic services and athletics eligibility certification. The coach also did not consult with the compliance office.
Penalties and corrective measures include:
- Public reprimand and censure.
- A fine of $5,000.
- A one-year show-cause order for the head coach from April 4, 2014 through April 3, 2015. The panel adopted the university’s suspension of the head coach beginning in 2014 and continued the suspension until 2015. The head coach is restricted from all recruiting duties during that period. Additionally, the head coach will be suspended for nine regular season competitions during the 2014-15 season. The public report contains additional details.
Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Carol Cartwright, president emeritus at Kent State University; Greg Christopher, chief hearing officer and athletics director at Xavier University; Thomas Hill, senior vice president for student affairs at Iowa State University; Roscoe Howard, Jr., attorney; Joel Maturi, former University of Minnesota athletics director; Sankar Suryanarayan, university counsel, Princeton University; and Rodney Uphoff, law professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Having known this Coach for 50 plus years, I believe Jack made a mistake and did not believe that a student athlete should not be afforded the same opportunities in late enrollment that non-athletes were afforded. , I believe that contacting the Professor was his only mistake. The fact of the matter is that the practice of allowing UGA students to enroll in courses long after the class has started seems to have been a loophole in the system available to non-athletes. There are many many cases of much more egregious outright offenses that have been committed over the years, The revenue stream generated by Football and Basketball certainly provides added pressure for Coaches and Athletes to do things way… Read more »
Let’s all pretend that UGA varsity swimmers are “student-athletes” in that order.
Let’s pretend that Carmelo Anthony really just wanted to STUDY at Syracuse University for a year before going pro. Let’s pretend basketball was just an extra-curricular activity while he wasn’t studying.
The NCAA is a joke.
these are completely irrelevant comparisons
Jack was already a head coach at Georgia when the Jan Kemp allegations led to the resignation of the University President. He was also there when basketball coach Jim Harrick was forced out for academic fraud. Don’t see a reasonable excuse for Bauerle’s behavior. Clearly wasn’t as bad as earlier football and basketball infraction or anything that happened at UNC, but isn’t laudable behavior either. Kind of shocked that some feel Jack’s actions will be viewed positively by some recruits and their families.
After 44 years in coaching, Bauerle knew very well what he was doing and why it was completely unacceptable. The NCAA “Report” is useless pablum, based not in rules but in whitewash, pretense and dissimulation. For what it’s worth, I suggest to UGA that they judge Bauerle through the lens of another coach of comparable tenure, Dan Magill. Due to the high standards he set, Magill’s graduates were (and are) some of the most talented student-athletes ever at any NCAA institution. Magill was the embodiment of integrity. Bauerle has made UGA a punchline.
Couldn’t agree more. This offense should be a slap on the wrist for a new coach– not a coach of 44 years, not to mention the long time head coach of a national champion collegiate program. He knew what he was doing to work the system and is only sorry that he was caught. What kind of ethics does that set for his administration and swimmers? As a long-time Dawg fan, I expect more. I think it’s time for new blood– look how well the team performed this year without him. It takes more than Jack’s ego to bring a team to that level which his coaching staff has demonstrated.
Well in the grand scheme of it all, we now have a new NCAA and American record in the 400 IM.
I’d encourage anyone commenting with a strong position in any particular direction to actually read the full report linked in the article. It does not seem like some commenters have done so.
I don’t have a horse in this race as far as school, conference, etc., although I will disclose that Bauerle has always come across to me as a decent guy, Kalisz seems like a polite, well-spoken young swimmer, and like most swim-fans I got no specific love for the NCAA.
That said, the report describes a violation on Bauerle’s part fairly objectively (read starting pg. 4). No doubt the kind of thing that happens regularly across sports and schools, and I share the question on why it took… Read more »
Your last paragraph is spot on. Given the history of success of both coach and athlete in this case, I’m sure they’ve applied this principle consistently to swimming, they just needed to extend it to the classroom. A valuable lesson learned for both.
A lot of bluster about rules that nobody likely knows in detail. Any interest in the fact that a college kid should not need help. You have to be pretty bone headed and inept to need intervention at all. Does kid X deserve to be in college, athlete or not?
Bauerle should be asked to leave UGA and the NCAA should not permit him to coach in college for at least two years. The Bauerle “sanction” is laughable.
Similarly, UNC should suspend offending athletic programs, and fines should be imposed based upon a reasonable percentage of athletic revenue upon final resolution of the Wainstein Report findings. If other UNC athletic programs must suffer, that is terribly unfortunate and entirely the fault of the UNC athletic director and staff.