NCAA infractions panel rules Rutgers, ex-HC Flood failed to monitor program

The NCAA announced Friday it has handed down a ruling that Rutgers failed to monitor its football program following an 18-month investigation that led to the discovery of numerous violations.

"Rutgers failed to monitor its football program over a five-year period when it did not ensure its football student host group and its drug-testing program followed university policy and NCAA rules, according to a Division I Committee on Infractions panel," per Emily James of NCAA.org.

The Committee on Infractions also ruled that former head coach Kyle Flood failed to monitor his operations staff pertaining to a host group that did not act within the university's recruiting policies. He also failed to "promote an atmosphere of compliance" pertaining to an instance in which he contacted a university instructor to make academic arrangements for a student-athlete.

"The former head coach took a casual approach to compliance as it relates to the host program," the panel said in its decision. "He exercised little, if any, oversight of the group, permitting recruiting staff to administer the program with no supervision. As the individual who had ultimate oversight of all aspects of the football program, it is implicit that the head coach was also responsible for the actions of football hosts and, ultimately, the violations they committed."

The panel also found Rutgers did not follow drug-testing policies for student-athletes, asserting that medical staff failed to notify the athletics director of multiple failed drug tests. This led to, according to the NCAA, 14 student-athletes being able to compete without having to serve penalties for their positive tests.

Rutgers responded to the NCAA's investigation in April, admitting that violations did indeed occur, and recommended self-imposed penalties of one-year probation, a $5,000 fine, a reduction in off-campus recruiting days, and a limit on official visits for high school seniors.

The Committee on Infractions included those recommendations into its ruling, officially handing Rutgers two years of probation, a one-year show-cause order for Flood and an unnamed assistant coach, a three-game suspension for Flood during the 2015 season (which was already served), as well the recruiting restrictions self-imposed by the university.