Reucruiting Violation: CUE Volleyball

2019-20 Season

March 28, 2019

Facts:

CUE has self-reported a potential recruiting violation by the staff of its Women’s Volleyball team.

According to CUE, on March 3, 2019, two OC Women’s Volleyball players, Megan Gladdie and Karley Dieken, attended a CUE talent identification camp.

Both players had already applied to CUE for the 2019-20 academic year in advance of the camp. CUE had made OC aware that Ms. Gladdie would be attending the camp. However, the following facts apply to Ms. Dieken’s attendance:

• CUE received no advance notice that Ms. Dieken would be attending the camp.
• CUE’s first knowledge that Ms. Dieken was an OC athlete came after the camp had concluded, when she approached CUE AD Joel Mrak, who had assumed during the camp that she was a high school athlete.
• Ms. Dieken advised Mr. Mrak that she had e-mailed the CUE Coach in advance of the camp; however, the Coach advises that he had never received an e-mail from Ms. Dieken and the Coach was not in attendance at the camp due to a death in his family. The camp was run by two assistant coaches, who were also unaware of Ms. Dieken’s affiliation with OC.
• Immediately upon learning that Ms. Dieken was an OC athlete, Mr. Mrak reached out to Linda Henderson at OC to advise her of the potential violation.
• Ms. Henderson responded that she was already aware that Ms. Dieken would not be returning to OC in the Fall of 2019 and that she did not feel that a violation of the Operating Code had taken place; nonetheless, Mr. Mrak has requested a formal ruling

Ruling:

Article I Section 7 Rule 1 of the ACAC Operating Code states as follows:

Recruiting Rules

1.1. Violations: The Recruiting Rules are in place to protect the integrity of the ACAC. Violations of these rules are serious offences. Any ACAC member should
bring to the attention of the ACAC President accusations of recruiting violations with supporting documentation. The ACAC President must refer recruiting violations to the ACAC Commissioner who will investigate and report the findings to all ACAC members. An escalating severity of consequences scale is recommended and is to be applied at the discretion of the Commissioner.
(Amended November, 2010)

In addition, Rule 1.6 states the following:

1.6. Athletes Registered at Another Collegiate Institution: No member of an athletic staff or other delegate of athletic interest shall contact, directly or indirectly, the student of another collegiate institution to discuss the possible attendance of the athlete at their collegiate institution unless that student makes the initial contact with the delegate of the institution. If the above occurs, the following steps shall be followed: 1.6.1. Once the athlete has made initial contact, it is the responsibility of the athletic staff member or delegate to immediately inform the athlete of the process that must be followed (see 1.6.2 below). Should the athlete want more information, the athletic staff or delegate may inform the athlete of application and registration procedures, provide information on the athletic program and answer any questions the athlete may have. ACAC OPERATING CODE Article I Section 7 – RECRUITING Page 35 of 218 1.6.2 At the earliest possible time, the Athletic Director shall officially inform the other institution’s Athletic Director that the athlete has made initial contact and requested information regarding the institution’s athletic program. The AD of the previously-attended institution must be notified by the receiving AD that he/she has received the information. Information on the athletic program and questions answered may then be passed along to the athlete.

Finally, Rule 2.1 is worded as follows:

Player Identification Camps (ID Camps) 2.1. Talent identification and evaluation camps are not open to student-athletes who have participated in the ACAC at another institution in the same year as the camps are staged. An exception to this rule will be allowed if the student athletes have applied to the host institution for the next athletic-academic season and/or attended the host institution in the same athletic-academic year. (Added May, 2007)

There is no evidence to suggest that CUE intended to violate any of the above rules. In fact, I find on the facts that there has been no violation of the ACAC Operating Code. At the time Ms. Dieken participated in the camp, CUE was unaware that Ms. Dieken was an OC athlete. Had CUE been aware of Ms. Dieken’s affiliation with OC, I am confident that CUE would have made OC aware that Ms. Dieken had been in contact with them. Under the circumstances, CUE contacted OC immediately upon learning of Ms. Dieken’s affiliation with OC.

Based on the above, there has been no violation of the ACAC Operating Code and no sanctions will follow from this incident.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee
ACAC Commissioner