Stanford Football, Softball Programs Hit With NCAA Rules Violations

On Wednesday, Jon Wilner of The San Jose Mercury News broke the story of how the Stanford Football and Softball programs were hit with a Level II rules violation penalty levied by the NCAA.

The violations for the Football program were impermissible benefits given to a former player in the form of free movie tickets, meals, and a $3,00 loan to purchase a bike. Former WR Devon Cajuste was found to have received these benefits and apologized profusely when asked about it this week.

Cajuste would state:

“I am the student-athlete involved in the violation. I unknowingly took the impermissible benefits from my summer landlord. I look forward to moving on from this incident, and to supporting my alma mater for years to come.”

Of note, Cajuste did pay the loan back in full.

NCAA officials have all said that Head Coach David Shaw was very open and candid, and did not hide a thing during the investigation.

The Softball program was cited to be in violation of the participation rule of no more than 20 hours a week in athletic related activities for student-athletes. This rule can be found here: http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/20-Hour-Rule-Document.pdf

This was a known violation that led to the ouster of former Softball Coach John Rittman as the rules violation occurred from 2010-2014.

These rules violations have led to a public reprimand by the NCAA and a $5,000 fine. There are no other sanctions levied by the NCAA, although the Stanford Athletic department will be creating a few self-imposed penalties

Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir was very disappointed in the outcome of the events; and has stated that he “cares about winning championships, but also winning the right way.”