Coming clean and acting quickly were the best decisions LSU made in light of the internal investigation into recruiting violations surrounding former defensive lineman Akiem Hicks and former wide receivers coach D.J. McCarthy.

Phil Breaux, a business law professor who also teaches sports law, said self-reporting the incidents and cutting ties with the player and coach involved could help LSU as the NCAA reviews the severity of the improprieties.

“One big plus is [the violations were] self-reported,” Breaux said. “No. 2, the coach who seems to be primarily involved was discharged. The third big plus is the student who was involved never participated in any of the games. It’s not to say they weren’t violations, but as far as the punishment and how the NCAA will view it, those will be very favorable toward
LSU.”

The violations highlighted in the report include illegal telephone calls during Hicks’ recruiting process and Hicks receiving impermissible transportation and housing before beginning his career at LSU.

Breaux said there are two categories to consider when it comes to punishments the NCAA could impose.

“The first is a secondary violation, which is the less serious,” Breaux said. “It refers to an isolated or inadvertent event with only a minimal recruiting advantage. All the other violations are referred to as major violations. These typically provide an extensive recruiting advantage.”

Sanctions for secondary and major categories often overlap, Breaux said.

He said several potential punishments will not be an option for the NCAA to impose upon LSU, such as vacating wins in which the student-athlete participated or prohibiting the head coach or staff members from off-campus recruiting, because the coach and player involved are no longer on campus.

The NCAA is also unlikely to suspend coach Les Miles because he was not knowingly involved in the violations, Breaux said. Miles “inadvertently” made some illegal phone calls to Hicks but did not know his calls exceeded the NCAA limit because McCarthy’s previous calls were not logged in LSU’s compliance system.

“They might impose some fines if it’s a secondary violation – it could be from as little as $500 up to $5,000,” Breaux said. “They may limit the amount of financial aid and scholarships you can use in that particular sport, up to 20 percent of the maximum number of awards. That’s a pretty serious penalty for a secondary violation.”

Breaux said the school could be placed on a two-year probationary period or be prohibited from postseason competition if the NCAA decides LSU committed major violations.

“[Probation] is a pain because you’re being watched, but you aren’t actually being punished other than being watched,” Breaux said. “That might not be that bad, unless you get into trouble again while you’re on probation. You may be punished by precluding postseason competition in the sport. That would be a big one.”

Breaux said other sanctions could range from public reprimands to a show-cause order, where LSU would take part in a hearing by the NCAA Infractions Committee and argue why the University shouldn’t be penalized.

Herb Vincent, LSU senior associate athletic director and associate vice chancellor for University Relations, said Thursday the NCAA had not yet declared an exact time frame for the investigation.

“The NCAA has to review it and decide if it wants to gather any more information,” Vincent said. “It’s impossible to know what’s on their docket and how fast they may move or discover what they want to find out more about.”

The self-reporting eases the sting the violations brought to the football program, Vincent said.

“Any time you have a problem, it’s obviously not good, but it’s important to have the mechanism in place to catch things when you do have a problem,” Vincent said. “It speaks well of our compliance department that we were able to catch this so early in the process.”
Vincent said LSU “gained no competitive advantage,” as Hicks did not participate in any games, and McCarthy was removed from the recruiting trail.

Nearly all names and locations were redacted throughout LSU’s report, and Breaux said determining how much redacting is permissible in an NCAA report is often a difficult balancing act.

“You have two scales of justice here: the public’s right to know and then on the other side are privacy rights,” Breaux said. “You want to err on the side of privacy caution if you’re LSU. Part of those names are students who cooperated.”