ATHENS, Georgia, April 4. THE specifics regarding Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle’s controversial academic review suspension have now been released, and the NCAA is alleging a Severe Breach of Conduct (Level 1) offense related to providing an extra benefit of an academic nature to a student. As such, and until the completion of the investigation, Georgia has suspended Bauerle indefinitely.
This is following Georgia officially receiving an NCAA Notice of Allegations on Wednesday, April 2.
The NCAA alleges that Bauerle “made special arrangements with a professor to add a men’s swimming student-athlete to a course for the 2013 fall semester.” This allegedly took place on Dec. 10, 2013, with the student-athlete being unable to enter the class through regular means. This, in and of itself, is an NCAA violation.
The NCAA further alleges that the student-athlete did not complete any coursework, but was provided a passing grade on Dec. 16, 2013. The allegation is that Bauerle made a special arrangement with the professor to allow for the missed coursework to be submitted during late Dec or early Jan. 2014 for the course to be considered passed, having made a deal originally to have the course be considered an incomplete. The instructor, however is alleged to have “made a clerical error and provided the student-athlete with a passing grade for the course.”
What is most damning of the allegations is that the NCAA alleges that Bauerle “carried out his plan…despite repeated instructions from athletics department personnel not to proceed in this manner.”
Although the allegations letter is heavily redacted when it comes to identifying those specifically involved, there is a high likelihood that the involved student-athlete is two-time NCAA champion Chase Kalisz, who served a short suspension from the team to clean up some academic issue during the time period of these allegations.
“While I am disappointed about the Notice of Allegations, I am proud of the Athletic Department’s response to this matter,” UGA President Jere W. Morehead said in a statement. “The University of Georgia takes its compliance obligations seriously. We have cooperated fully with the NCAA throughout the investigation, and we will continue to do so in order to bring the matter to an appropriate conclusion.”
“Allegations of this nature are extremely disappointing and we will continue to fully cooperate with the NCAA staff on this matter,” J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity said in a statement. “Until this matter has concluded, head swimming and diving coach Jack Bauerle will be suspended from all job-related responsibilities effective immediately.”
UGA Senior Associate Head Coach Harvey Humphries will serve as Acting Head Coach until the allegations are resolved according to the athletics department.
Georgia now has 90 days to respond to the allegations, and is on record as stating that no Georgia representative will provide any further public comment “until the process is complete.”
Bauerle released the following statement through the athletics department:
I regret that I have placed the University of Georgia, an institution I dearly love and have given my heart and soul to for 44 years, in this situation. While I do not agree with the charges in the way the NCAA has framed them, I made a mistake.
I want to emphasize unequivocally that the student-athlete involved in this matter did nothing wrong. Not one thing. I take full responsibility for my actions.
The academic achievements of the student-athletes in our program over the past 35 years are second to none. My record on academics speaks for itself. Our program has developed 28 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners, seven SEC Scholar-Athlete Award winners, three NCAA Woman of the Year winners, and nine Foundation Fellows.
It saddens me that our coaches, student-athletes and support staff — through no fault of their own — were drawn into this matter. I am proud that our student-athletes and our staff did not allow it to distract them during the season and that we were able to work together to reach our lofty goals. I appreciate their commitment to maintaining the high standards we have established throughout the years.
This is an ongoing process, and I will not have any other comments on this matter publicly or privately until the process has been completed.