Utah basketball hit with recruiting violations

The NCAA announced this morning that the University of Utah had committed minor recruiting infractions and that head coach Larry Krystkowiak failed to “monitor his staff and promote compliance”. The trouble stems from a stretch of violations that occurred in April 2018.

These violations include an assistant coach misinterpreting the rules that off-campus recruiting activities were okay during a quiet period, and scouting a recruit at a community college. Additionally, all of Utah’s coaching staff recruited a high school athlete during this period.

Utah’s Associate Head Coach also conspired with a local community college head coach to have a recruit take a paid visit to the community college, and visit the University of Utah when he was in the area. Coach Krystkowiak never received confirmation with a compliance officer for this recruit’s trip, thus the community college coach acted as a booster in this case. Because of this, it was a violation for him to be in contact with or pay for the recruit’s visit to Utah.

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Furthermore, the press release from the NCAA states Utah committed a Level III violation when the coaching staff watched Coach Krystkowiak’s “prospect-aged” son practice with the Utes. While this is typically not a violation, the coaching staff watching apparently makes it a tryout against NCAA rules.

The NCAA panel for this case originally wanted to impose a two-game suspension on Coach Krystkowiak. The Utes head coach did not agree that the punishment fit the crime and a expedited penalty hearing was held. In the end, Utah will go on two years probation, along with self-imposed measures including a $5,000 fine and recruiting restrictions that most notably restricts the program from recruiting community college players for one year.