By Max Botwinick, GWU Law, Prospective J.D. Candidate 2024
When Louisiana State University Offensive Line Coach James Cregg was fired last year because he visited a potential recruit, Tristan Leigh, during the Coronavirus dead period established by the NCAA during the pandemic, he knew what he did was wrong.
In fact, on March 13, 2020, the NCAA adopted R-2020-1. This legislation established a temporary recruiting dead period effective on said date until at least April 15, 2020. This recruiting dead period was repeatedly extended, and eventually the NCAA adopted emergency legislation to extend the temporary recruiting dead period in all sports through May 31, 2021.
An NCAA dead period prohibits coaches from contacting recruits and/or their parents in person. However, athletes and coaches can contact recruits via phone, email, social media, and other digital communication channels. Typically, an NCAA dead period is designed to give athletes extra time and breathing room to think and decide which school they want to attend. However, the Coronavirus dead period aimed to keep coaches and athletes safe during a tenuous and dangerous pandemic. The dead period would limit in-person contact, thus protecting university officials and recruits from the virus.
Cregg admitted to an NCAA enforcement official in May of 2021 that he visited and provided gear to a team prospect during the Covid recruiting dead period.
Then on June 2, 2021, LSU announced that it had parted ways with Cregg. In a letter from LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron to Cregg on June 2, Orgeron wrote that Cregg admitted to knowing his conduct was impermissible when he contacted those recruits. Therefore, knowing it was a violation of NCAA rules at the time allegedly constituted sufficient cause for his dismissal.
Nevertheless, On August 20, 2021, Cregg filed a lawsuit against LSU for breach of contract in Baton Rouge in Louisiana state court.
In the complaint, Cregg alleged:
- The NCAA has never issued a ruling or decision that he committed any infraction.
- The NCAA has not declared that Cregg has committed either a Level 1 or Level 2 violation, nor has he repeated any Level 3 or Level 4 violations of the NCAA bylaws.
Regarding the latter, if Cregg had committed these violations, then his employment agreement could provide a for-cause justification for LSU to terminate his employment. However, Cregg claims his firing from LSU was without just cause because the NCAA has not concluded their investigation.
The university will likely point to a similar situation, where University of Wisconsin Inside Linebackers Coach Bill Sheridan resigned from his position in May 2021, while an investigation into rules violations continued, arising from his tenure at the Air Force Academy. Coach Sheridan allegedly provided impermissible benefits to Air Force recruits and hosted prospects during the Coronavirus recruiting dead period. Air Force dismissed coach Sheridan once it reportedly learned of these allegations. The NCAA is still conducting its investigation, but that did not preclude Air Force from firing Coach Sheridan. In this situation, Air Force fired one of its coaches with just cause for the same alleged violations made by Cregg in the instant case. Ultimately, Coach Sheridan resigned from his position at Wisconsin, reportedly to shield the university from scrutiny during the investigation.
While Cregg’s argument that there was not a concrete decision or ruling regarding his actions by the NCAA is accurate, other universities have fired coaches for just cause due to alleged violations of NCAA regulations before the completion of the investigation.
However, Cregg raises a second argument that could ultimately affect the outcome of his lawsuit. The second main contention stems from an ongoing investigation conducted by the FBI and the NCAA into recruiting violations and illegal activity of the LSU football and basketball programs. Cregg alleges that other members of LSU’s Athletic Department are actively under investigation for NCAA violations, yet LSU has not terminated their employment. Specifically, Cregg cites the former head basketball coach for LSU, Will Wade. Cregg has requested that the court compel the university to release all records obtained during the FBI investigation. These records would uncover an FBI wiretap, which would reveal that Coach Wade violated NCAA rules and regulations by providing players with illegal gifts. This wiretap was reported to the public and Wade received an indefinite suspension that lasted 37 days before returning to the sideline. Furthermore, there is substantial evidence of similar and additional NCAA infractions against Will Wade, but he remained employed by LSU until March 2022. The LSU athletic department had comparable standards of evidence against Wade as it did against Cregg, yet chose to implement two different punishments that were not equivalent to the violations by each coach. The discrepancy in both situations shows a lack of uniformity in the procedure. Cregg argues that Wade should have suffered the same immediate punishment. While Wade eventually was fired, he remained head basketball coach long after the institution was notified of the evidence against him, a luxury Cregg was not afforded.
Ultimately, this case is ongoing, and whichever way the court rules, the current landscape of NCAA regulations and investigations could be altered. There a new foundation for the NCAA and its accompanying schools in determining how to handle similar situations in the future.
