Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: Adele is big winner, Houston honored at Grammys

Notre Dame probing possible rules violations

School investigating athletes who promoted local sports talk show

Image: Charlie WeisAP
Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis said he is depending on the school's compliance officer to determine whether any rules were violated. “I’ll just let them go ahead and deal with it,” he said. “But I feel it will be taken care of very quickly.”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame is looking into whether student-athletes, including football and basketball players, violated NCAA rules with comments promoting a local sports talk show on the CBS affiliate here.

John Heisler, Notre Dame’s senior associate athletic director, said Saturday he became aware of possible violations when contacted Friday afternoon by a reporter for The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne. Heisler said the school has not seen the spots, promoting “Sports Dogz” on WSBT-TV, so it does not know if it violates NCAA rules.

“We’re just trying to figure out what this is,” he said. “I don’t know if we know for sure it’s an NCAA violation.”

Jennifer Kearns, associate director of public and media relations with the NCAA, said she could not comment on specific cases, or whether the Indianapolis-based organization was investigating the students.

Kearns said that in past situations when a student-athlete did not know they were breaking an NCAA rule it had been deemed as a secondary violation.

“The NCAA is trying to get student athletes the benefit of the doubt,” Kearns said. “If they say, ’I didn’t know this was happening,’ we try to work with them and do what’s best for them.”

Heisler said school officials would ask WSBT-TV to provide copies of the promotions.

Last year USC quarterback Matt Leinart had his eligibility temporarily revoked after appearing in a promotional segment on ESPN. Leinart was reinstated after Southern California petitioned the NCAA. The NCAA said Leinart’s actions were “unintentional and inadvertent.”

Slideshow
Image: Snee, 8, son of New York Giants player Chris Snee and head coach Coughlin's grandson plays in the confetti after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game in Indianapolis
  The Week in Sports Pictures
The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more.

more photos

Coach Charlie Weis said Saturday that the television spots by the Notre Dame players might be different because the comments weren’t used as promotions outside of the program.

“This is something run during the show, so it’s a totally different,” he said.

Weis said he is depending on Notre Dame’s compliance officer to determine whether any rules were violated.

“I’ll just let them go ahead and deal with it,” he said. “But I feel it will be taken care of very quickly.”

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement
More news
Navy v Notre Dame
Getty Images
Gray believes in Kelly

It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.

Slideshow
Tyler Eifert , Nigel Bradham
  Notre Dame's 2011 season
Check out some of the best images from Notre Dame's 2011 season.

NBCSports.com

Timeline
Michigan v Notre Dame
Notre Dame 2011 schedule
See when all the big matchups will take place with Notre Dame's 2011 schedule.

NBCSports.com

Slideshow
Stanford v Notre Dame
  Meet the 2011 Irish
Take a look at some of the key contributors for Notre Dame this season
Slideshow
Discover Orange Bowl - Stanford v Virginia Tech
  2011 Notre Dame opponents
Take a look at some of the key players the Irish will face this season
Slideshow
Image: Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio - Wisconsin v Oregon
  College cheer
Check out some of the college football cheerleaders from across the country.

NBCSports.com