Notre Dame has suspended its men’s swimming program for at least one academic year after an external review found some of its members violated National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules prohibiting gambling.
Bevacqua said the university asked the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP to conduct an independent, in-depth investigation into the issue after receiving reports of “possible misconduct” on the Notre Dame men’s swimming team.
The law firm subsequently “confirmed and expanded” the university’s initial concerns about a “deeply embedded team culture dismissive of Notre Dame’s standards for student-athletes,” including its expectation that they “treat one another with dignity and respect,” Bevacqua said.
According to Bevacqua, the outside firm also documented numerous violations of NCAA rules that prohibit gambling on intercollegiate swimming and other athletic competitions.
That is despite the school providing “clear and recurrent training” to all its student-athletes via its Athletics Compliance staff, he said.
“These findings are contrary to the University’s values and all that we stand for in Notre Dame Athletics,” Bevacqua said. “In order to ensure that this behavior ends and to rebuild a culture of dignity, respect, and exemplary conduct, we have decided to suspend the men’s swimming program for at least one academic year.”
According to the university, the coaching staff fully cooperated with and participated in the review.
The women’s swimming team and the diving teams were not involved.
The university did not identify the swimmers involved in the alleged violations. However, Bevacqua noted that while individual conduct “varied,” the “overwhelming cultural dynamic on the team necessitates a full suspension.”
A small number of team members did not take part in the alleged conduct but will regretfully “suffer the consequences of this decision,” as will athletes set to join the team this fall, he said.
The university will provide support to those affected by the decision, according to Bevacqua.
“While we are certainly disappointed by the actions that led to the decision, we recognize that our students make mistakes, and our goal is to educate and support them to the best of our ability,” Bevacqua said.
The school noted that staff members were not aware of the gambling or the “scope and extent of other troubling behaviors” because team members “effectively concealed” it from staff.
Coaching staff who did become aware of “certain isolated incidents of unacceptable conduct” treated them “seriously and professionally,” the school added.
The same rules apply to student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools, according to the NCAA.
Student-athletes who wager on their own sport at other schools, or who bet on professional sports, generally face less severe consequences according to the new NCAA gambling guidelines.
The guidelines were a response to the widespread legalization of sports betting that took place after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned a ban on state authorization of sport gambling.
