SMU women’s swimming & diving head coach Ozzie Quevedo was found to have violated NCAA recruiting rules after contacting a transfer prospect prior to their entry into the transfer portal, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
Quevedo initially called the student-athlete on the phone and then emailed her father before she had entered the transfer portal. A few days later, he sent the prospect multiple messages via WhatsApp, offering her “athletically related aid” (scholarship money). The offer was denied but he continued to send her messages.
Quevedo has since “acknowledged he was aware he was engaging in impermissible conduct.”
SMU, Quevedo and the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions agreed that the coach violated recruiting rules, leading Quevedo and the program to receive seven infractions.
The punishments aren’t as stiff as they might’ve been given Quevedo reported his own infraction to SMU’s compliance office.
“Quevedo is responsible for the violations under head coach responsibility rules,” the NCAA said.
“However, Quevedo promptly self-reported the violations to the university’s compliance office and accepted responsibility for them. Quevedo also acknowledged that he was well-educated and trained on recruiting rules and the transfer process; therefore, SMU did not fail to create an atmosphere of compliance or fail to monitor the program.”
The women’s swim & dive program received Level II-mitigated penalties and Level-II standard infractions were given to Quevedo.
The penalties will restrict Quevedo and SMU’s ability to actively recruit this season, and they’ll also see the coach miss 10% of the team’s practices throughout 2024-25. He’s also been given a show-cause order that will see him be absent from practices for 15 consecutive days during the “championship season.”
The penalties are as follows:
- One year of probation.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A 10% reduction in paid official visits for the women’s swimming and diving program for the 2024-25 academic year.
- A one-week prohibition against unofficial visits in the women’s swimming and diving program.
- A four-week prohibition in recruiting communications in the women’s swimming and diving program.
- A two-week prohibition has already been served and counts toward the four-week restriction (self-imposed).
- The remaining two-week restriction must be served when the swimming and diving Transfer Portal window opens during the 2024-25 academic year.
- A one-year show-cause order for Quevedo. During the show-cause order, Quevedo must be restricted from attending practice for 15 consecutive days for the 2024-25 championship season and must attend the 2025 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar at his own expense.
- Any school employing Quevedo in an athletically related position shall suspend him from 10% of the women’s swimming and diving regular-season contests during the 2024-25 academic year.
- Quevedo cannot be present, have contact or communicate with women’s swimming and diving coaching staff members or student-athletes during the suspension period. Additionally, Quevedo may not participate in any coaching activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting or team meetings.
You can read the full resolution here.
Quevedo is coming off his first season as the head coach of the SMU women’s team, having been hired in April 2023 after a four-year run as an associate head coach at Alabama.
In his first campaign in Dallas, Quevedo led the Mustangs to a runner-up finish at the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championships, moving up one spot from where they finished the season prior—though the 2023 conference champions, Houston, moved to the Big 12 last season.
SMU is joining the ACC this season.
Notably, SwimSwam reported in April how Quevedo made numerous cuts at the end of the 2023-24 season, with several members of the women’s roster opting to transfer elsewhere.
In July, SMU announced the addition of nine swimmers to its 2024-25 roster, along with three divers, while noting that only seven swimmers from last year’s team were returning.
The newcomers include NCAA transfers Madeleine Hebert (NC State), Isabella Krantzcke (Arizona State), Mira Szimcsak (Washington State), and Madison Parker (Washington State).
The comment that 15 people quit/kicked off sounds bad till you look closer. Of the actual 12 I could find, only 5 even placed at conference. 3 of those placed 14/14/17 at their best event. 1 made a final with a 7th and the biggest loss was 1 person who won an event. Zero made NCAAs of the 12 and only 1 on the whole team. Since it’s competitive swimming, Ozzie had 2 scoring girls leave, not 15, they’ll be fine without them. History says the team will be better off after a cull. Anyone who knows the NCAA knows you have to admit a mistake to get a lesser charge, and say certain things to get the school out… Read more »
Obviously you didn’t look at the stats of the 7 that were kept and compare. He’s a great showman and narcissist. Based on your comments I can see why you think he’s a good guy.
Maybe some of the commenters here are closer (or maybe they are TOO close) to the situation than most but….
Cmon. Did Ozzie F up? Of course.
But in terms of the comments here in relation (not related to actual article) to the POOR kids now gone or done wrong by Ozzie…Give. Us. A. Break.
If it’s 14 kids that want to commit to excellence, then it’s 14 kids. 14 that do is WAY better than 25 that don’t. No discussion here.
Let’s be honest…. A high level achieving coach with the pedigree Ozzie has does NOT mix with the completely overly entitled, EXTREMELY rich roster that is the SMU Women’s “team”.. Changing that culture is a… Read more »
All I can say is wow! Being on the SMU swim team isn’t about how much money you have and you’ve made a lot of wrong and cruel assumptions.
While I think it is honorable for Ozzie to self-report ….. he actually admitted that he knew the rules full well, and basically, he did it anyway. And he knew all along he shouldn’t have done it. He knew he was breaking the rules and admitted same. “Acknowledged he was aware he was engaged in impermissible conduct.” Wait, whut??
How is he not fired?
News Flash: NCAA coach violates recruiting rules — and it’s for swimming, not FOOTBALL!
Damn, that was quick, no?
This is frustrating to watch. SMU raised over $125m as part of their ACC competitiveness campaign in a very short amount of time. The rest of the athletic program is raising its game and we see this coming from women’s swimming.
We were at the SMU vs #2Nebraska volleyball match last night where SMU won in straight sets while setting an attendance record at Moody Coliseum. That was SMU raising its game. That was SMU coaching recruiting well and coaching athletes to believe in a shared vision. Chasing away 20 women from the team isn’t that.
I want this for swimming programs, locally we all do. That said, based on what happened in the spring and now this,… Read more »
Well said. Many of these 20 swim families contributed a lot to both the new pool and the ACC campaign and for this to happen to them is really sickening.
This can show just cause for dismissal. Depends on the AD.
The fact that he admitted he knew he was breaking the rules, and did it anyway (what the??) means he needs to go. It’s one thing to admit an error – made a mistake, didn’t realize, whatever – but to admit he got caught cheating and knew he was cheating? Dude should be done.
This man is actually one of the kindest souls. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT. He has produced multiple professional athletes. Talk to them. Walking into SMU, he had to make some tough decisions about girls being removed from the team but, he also had to make the decision what was best for the program. SMU is in the ACC now, multiple girls who were on the team would not have stood a chance at these meets and would end up getting themselves and the school embarrassed. If you have ever been a serious athlete you know that if a coach cares about you, they will give you constructive criticism simply because they want what’s best for you. If they’re… Read more »
What professional athletes has he produced?