NCAA nearly suspended OU assistant Norvell over tweets

Sports

December 20, 2012

NCAA nearly suspended OU assistant Norvell over tweets

ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press Thu Dec 20, 2012, 11:04 AM CST

NORMAN — Twitter messages sent to high school players in February violated NCAA rules and nearly resulted in a one-game suspension for Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Among the documents released to the AP this week under Oklahoma's Open Records Act were letters between university compliance staff and members of the NCAA's rules enforcement staff concerning the fallout from Norvell's use of Twitter.

The NCAA initially wanted to suspend Norvell for one game but the university successfully appealed. Oklahoma learned of the NCAA's decision not to suspend Norvell on Dec. 4, about a month before the Cotton Bowl game between the 12th-ranked Sooners and No. 10 Texas A&M.

Oklahoma has had a series of major NCAA violations in recent years and is still on probation for the latest case involving ex-men's basketball assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro. Previous cases involved the football team and ex-basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

In this case, Norvell sent nine Twitter messages on Feb. 21 to six prospects who were high school juniors, according to a university letter sent May 14 to Chris Strobel, the NCAA's director of secondary enforcement.

"Norvell had intended the tweets to be direct messages; however, upon sending the messages, he instantly realized he had selected the incorrect messaging option and inadvertently posted the messages as public tweets,'' according to the letter from Jason Leonard, Oklahoma's executive director for athletics compliance, and Connie Dillon, the university's faculty athletics representative.

Six of the tweets contained what OU deemed to be "written offers of financial aid to juniors, which was prior to the permissible date in which an institution can provide written offers of aid to prospects.''

Norvell immediately reported the violation and "further indicated that he understood `written offer' to be offers made through traditional general correspondence'' pursuant to NCAA rules, the OU letter said. "Norvell did not realize that something as impersonal as a direct message could or would be considered a written offer of financial aid pursuant to NCAA rule.''

OU also said Norvell sent a letter to the six prospects, telling them he had violated an NCAA rule and rescinding the offer, although he said in those letters that Oklahoma still would recruit them. The university required Norvell to attend a 2012 NCAA rules seminar and banned the football staff from sending general correspondence and electronic correspondence for two weeks to the six prospects.

The university said it also provided specific rules education to its entire football staff pertaining to written offers of financial aid, electronic correspondence and the use of social media during the recruiting process.

In a Sept. 25 letter, Renee Gomila, the NCAA's associate director of enforcement for secondary infractions, said while the NCAA agreed with the university that Norvell's violation should be classified as secondary - as opposed to major - Norvell should be suspended for one game and the university should reduce the remaining number of in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with the prospects by two.

Gomila said that similar future violations "may result in the head coach being suspended from all coaching-related activities'' for at least one game.

The university filed its appeal of Norvell's suspension on Oct. 23, citing similar cases at Iowa, Clemson, Mississippi, Memphis and Tennessee. The university called the suspension "inappropriate, excessive and not supported by case precedent (institutions with like penalties).''

In a Dec. 5 response, Strobel said the NCAA enforcement staff had "reevaluated'' the case and set aside Gomila's recommendation. The letter did not give a reason for the NCAA's change of heart.

Text Only

Sports

Gasso trusts that Ricketts will find her timing again
Oklahoma pitcher Keilani Ricketts was not at her best on Sunday. The defending USA Softball Player of the Year didn’t give up a run in her two and two-thirds innings of work, but she was far from the dominant pitcher who tossed a no-hitter last week.

May 20, 2013
Sooners claim regular season finale with win over K-State
Oklahoma managed to end the regular season on a positive note Sunday. Kolbey Carpenter went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs to help power the Sooners to a 7-3 victory over Kansas State at Tointon Stadium.

May 20, 2013
Chamberlain's curtain call only the beginning
The chant reaching near-deafening levels, Lauren Chamberlain finally realized what she was supposed to do.

Moments after blasting a three-run home run that broke open what had been a close regional final, the sophomore tepidly stepped up out of the dugout and waved to the home crowd, enjoying the first curtain call of her career.

May 20, 2013
OU's dominant victory a shining example of how tough Sooners are in softball
On the first day Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso thought it was better to go with Michelle Gascoigne over Keilani Ricketts against Arkansas’ bats, the Sooners beat the Razorbacks by five runs.

A day later Gasso had the same thought. OU prevailed by 13 runs.

May 20, 2013
Cowboys fall short in Big 12 regular season finale
Oklahoma State University played catch up the entire game of Saturday’s series finale with West Virginia at Allie P. Reynolds, and never could quite get over the hump.
The Cowboys would respond after each Mountaineer score but it wouldn’t be enough as they lost the finale 5-4 on Senior Day.

May 20, 2013
Referees stop Lake Eufaula Classic with South on top
It was an outcome unlike any in the 29 years of the Lake Eufaula Classic, and a bruise different than any player has ever departed with.

Officials, following the second serious skirmish of the game, walked off the field and the game was called, the South leading the North 12-10 at Paul Bell Stadium.

May 20, 2013
Grand Junction Bound: Connors State advances to JUCO World Series
All season long, Connors State coach Perry Keith has said his team was winning a lot of ball games ugly.

On Saturday, the game between the Cowboys and No. 1 Delgado (La.) was anything but as Connors beat the Dolphins 3-1 to capture the South Central district championship and a berth in next week’s NJCAA College World Series.

May 20, 2013
Young Americans waste no time qualifying for Indy 500
Bump Day at Indianapolis followed the script.
No surprises, no drama and no drivers getting bumped.
On a day devoid of tension and rumors, all nine drivers who made attempts on the second and final day of Indianapolis 500 qualifications made it into the 33-car field, led by two young Americans - Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal - who easily had the two fastest cars on the track.

May 20, 2013
NCAA WOMEN'S BB: Texas Tech hires OSU assistant Candi Whitaker
Texas Tech has hired Oklahoma State assistant Candi Whitaker to coach its women's basketball team.
The school announced Monday that the former Lady Raiders player would return to her alma mater as coach. The move comes about a week after Kristy Curry left for Alabama.

May 20, 2013
Pacers, Heat start bracing to square off again
A year ago when Miami and Indiana faced off in the postseason, there were blood-drawing hits, flagrant fouls, technical fouls, choke signs being directed toward LeBron James and more than a few sharp-tongued comments.
Here they possibly go again, at least on the comment front.
The Eastern Conference finals between the Heat and Pacers won't begin until Wednesday night, but there's already signs that the animosity present throughout last season's Miami-Indiana second-round series will likely return this time around.

May 20, 2013
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

NCAA nearly suspended OU assistant Norvell over tweets

Over the past two weeks the price of a gallon of gas has jumped more than 20 cents. As of Wednesday, it cost 3.64. What do you attribute the sudden rise in cost?

Site Map

Contact Us