NCAA contacts UConn about report detailing recruiting violations

By Seth Davis, SI.com

Jim Calhoun did not discuss the details of the Yahoo! Sports report at his press conference in Glendale, Ariz. AP Related Links JENKINS: Calhoun addresses damaging report

A member of the NCAA's agents and amateurism staff contacted an official at the University of Connecticut on Wednesday morning to request that the university investigate allegations made in a Yahoo! Sports report that detailed potentially major violations and report its findings to the NCAA, an NCAA source told SI.com on Wednesday night.

The source, who requested anonymity because the NCAA cannot officially comment about ongoing investigations, said the NCAA would not decide whether to launch its own investigation into the matter until receiving a report from the school. Though there is no hard timetable for such investigations, the source said schools usually report their findings to the NCAA within one or two months.

"Contact was made with the school inquiring about the facts as reported by Yahoo," the source said. "It's fairly routine. The institution basically knows that they're required to investigate the facts surrounding the allegations and report back to the NCAA."

The Yahoo! Sports report, citing interviews and documents acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request, contended that the UConn coaching staff made numerous contacts with Josh Nochimson, a former student manager at the school who was a certified agent and who allegedly provided impermissible benefits to Nate Miles, a 6-foot-7 guard from Toledo, Ohio, who enrolled at UConn last fall. Miles never played for UConn because he was expelled from school in October for violating a restraining order in a case involving a woman who claimed he assaulted her. He is currently attending the College of Southern Idaho.

During a press conference Wednesday in Glendale, Ariz., UConn coach Jim Calhoun said the school was reviewing the report and would look into the allegations. Calhoun also said the NCAA's Eligibility Center had reviewed information concerning Miles' status, even though the Eligibility Center's mission is to conduct academic reviews, not determine whether a school or a prospect has had impermissible contact with an agent. UConn is preparing to play Purdue in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway, who is a member of the NCAA's men's basketball committee, which selects and seeds the field for the NCAA tournament, declined comment Wednesday.