NCAA finds former Air Force men's golf coach violated rules by wagering on pro and college sports

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — A former Air Force men’s golf coach violated NCAA rules after wagering on professional and college sports, including Falcons football games, the Division I Committee on Infractions released Thursday.

The name of the former golf coach wasn’t in the report or released by the school.

The report said that over the course of four months in 2020, the golf coach bet $9,259 on 253 occasions. Of which, 107 were on NCAA events and six on Air Force football games. He created an account for online wagering by using his then girlfriend’s identification and his own personal email address, the report said.

In addition, Air Force men’s ice hockey program was sanctioned for a recruiting violation. The report said two assistant coaches conducted conversations with a student-athlete who was potentially interested in a transfer but had not yet entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Among the penalties Air Force received are three additional years of probation, which will be served after the school’s probationary period ends from a previous infractions case. The school’s probationary period now runs through September 2027.

There will also be a two-week prohibition in recruiting communications in men’s hockey.

For the former golf coach, there’s a five-year show-cause order in place. The report adds that any member institution that employs him “shall restrict the former head coach from any athletically related position. If the former head coach becomes employed in the first year after the show-cause order, he shall be suspended for 50% of the men’s golf regular season.”

“The U.S. Air Force Academy is pleased to have this issue resolved after working collaboratively with the NCAA Enforcement Staff and taking full responsibility, consistent with our institutional values,” Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark and Director of Athletics Nathan Pine said in a joint statement. “While the individuals’ actions were disappointing, the identification of the infractions and work throughout the negotiated resolution process shows that we have a robust NCAA compliance program and that our monitoring procedures are working.

“We will learn from the missteps and double down on our educational and monitoring efforts to avoid future infractions.”

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