Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference

Recruiting Violation: GMU Hockey-Leblanc

( Commissioner's Rulings )

2019-20 Season

January 19, 2020

Facts:

NAIT has reported a potential recruiting violation by the MacEwan Women’s Hockey program in relation to current NAIT player, Megan Leblanc.

I have received detailed submissions from both institutions. Accordingly, the chronology of events can be summarized as follows:

With the MacEwan Women’s Hockey program set to join USports next season, the ACAC and MacEwan have agreed to put in place a protocol to ensure fairness in potential recruiting by MacEwan of current ACAC athletes;
The recruiting protocol was determined at the ACAC Executive meeting on October 30, 2019 and was then immediately communicated to MacEwan;
The recruiting protocol was effectively the same as was used when the MacEwan Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer programs were preparing to transition to USports;
Ken Schildroth has confirmed that the recruiting protocol was conveyed to the coaching staff of the MacEwan Men’s and Women’s Hockey programs;
The recruiting protocol was also discussed in detail at the November 27, 2019 Women’s Hockey Coaches’ meeting, which was attended by members of the MacEwan Women’s Hockey coaching staff;
The issue was also discussed at the December 2019 ACAC General Meeting;
If interested in recruiting a current ACAC athlete, the protocol requires MacEwan to first contact the Athletic Director at the athlete’s current institution before making direct contact with the athlete;
On January 6, 2020 it was brought to NAIT’s attention that Ms. Leblanc had signed a Letter of Intent to compete for MacEwan during the 2020-21 season. MacEwan had announced that same day on its Twitter feed (the post has since been deleted).
Prior to signing Ms. Leblanc, MacEwan did not contact the NAIT Athletic Director;
Upon being advised of the signing and immediately contacting MacEwan, Jordan Richey at NAIT received a phone call from MacEwan Coach Lindsay MacAlpine on January 8, 2020. During that conversation, Ms. MacAlpine indicated that she had been involved in several conversations with NAIT Coach Stef Thomson leading up to the signing. Ms. MacAlpine was of the view that there was no obligation to have contacted NAIT’s Athletic Director given that MacEwan was transitioning to USports. She further explained that the rationale for tweeting the signing was to advise other USports institutions that Ms. Leblanc had been signed and that she had not considered the impact that the announcement might have on the current ACAC season.

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 1.4 states the following:

1.4 Athletes Registered at Another Post-Secondary Institution: No member of an athletic staff or other delegate of athletic interest shall contact, directly or indirectly, a student athlete identified with another post secondary institution to discuss the possible attendance of the student athlete at their institution unless that student athlete makes the initial contact with the delegate of the institution. Contact includes, and is not limited to in-person conversation, telephone, mail, email, text, social media or other forms of correspondence, as well as contact through a parent, legal guardian or relative. (emphasis added)

If the above occurs, the following steps shall be followed:

1.4.1 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.

1.4.2 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. (Amended July, 2018)

I find MacEwan to be in violation of Rule 1.4 as well as the agreed to recruiting protocol outlined above.

Article I Section 7 Rule 1.1 deals with sanctions for recruiting violations and is worded as follows:

Notwithstanding clear communication on the part of the ACAC, the agreed to recruiting protocol was clearly breached by MacEwan, which has accepted full responsibility for its actions. Notwithstanding Mr. Schildroth’s confirmation that his Women’s Hockey coach was advised of the protocol, in writing, the protocol was not followed. The fact that Ms. MacAlpine and Ms. Thomson had discussed Ms. Leblanc’s possible transfer on a number of occasions prior to Ms. Leblanc signing the LOI is consistent with MacEwan’s explanation that it did not intend to knowingly commit a recruiting breach. However, that said, this breach warrants a response by the Conference to reinforce the importance of abiding by the relevant ACAC regulations and directives.

Based on the above, MacEwan is hereby fined $250 payable forthwith to the ACAC Office.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee
ACAC Commissioner