The TCU men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs, and their former head coach Sammy Busch, have been sanctioned by the NCAA for coaching limits and practice violations in men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs.
According to the NCAA, in Busch’s 6 months as the program’s head coach, he instructed team managers to “engage in coaching activities on numerous occasions,” which resulted in the program exceeding the limit of 6 coaches. The NCAA also says that the former head coach, who was not named in the report but is Busch, led athletically related activities beyond the time limits allowed beyond the time limits allowed by NCAA rules.
Busch was hired in August of 2017 as the head coach at TCU and resigned in February of 2018, just days before the Big 12 Championship meet. At the time, the school said that they conducted an “internal inquiry into program rules, policy and procedure violations,” and that Busch was cooperating, but they did not expand on what those violations were.
The the team’s end-of-season banquet was eventually cancelled. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram also reported that Busch was in hot water after allegations that he verbally berated staffers at the TCU rec center, had a physical altercation with an assistant coach, and was seen “at local bars drinking and fraternizing with students.”
The Star-Telegram report goes on to say that “a series of embarrassing social media posts and behaviors by some members of the team” caused the athletic department to cancel the team’s banquet, which was to happen the weekend of April 7. “The department is frustrated with the team, and the team is frustrated with the department,” the report said.
The case before the NCAA did not mention any of the above-referenced intrapersonal issues. It was ultimately resolved not through a formal hearing but via an alternative process called a “cooperative summary disposition.” For this process to be used, involved parties must all agree to the facts of the case, as compared to a hearing where parties may dispute the facts of the case.
After that process was completed, the NCAA committee on infractions proposed a set of penalties against the university and Busch himself, which Busch partially contested. After an expedited hearing, the committee provided partial penalty relief. As part of the process, Busch agreed that he “failed to promote an atmosphere of rules compliance.”
The original two-year show-cause order for Busch was reduced to one year. Among the factors taken into account, according to the committee’s report, were “actions taken by the head coach since leaving TCU.” That includes attending an NCAA Regional Rules Seimnar at his own expense.
The show-cause order is a “general show-cause order,” as compared to a “conditioned show-cause order,” which means that, generally, there are no restrictions, and that Busch can return to college coaching. If an institution were to hire Busch during the show-cause order, however, the panel has the prerogative to “reconsider a suspension as a condition of the show cause order.” That show cause order will expire on December 19th, 2020.
The announcement of the sanctions came at the same time as the NCAA announced penalties for violations in other programs that included 33 student-athletes in 3 sports (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball) receiving pay for work that they did not perform as campus summer employees. The school was fined $47,148 for those penalties: the value of the overpayment to the students plus 10% of their pay for participation in the first round of the 2018 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
We did one of the “early” visits to UVA when the Busch boys were there. One of the lasting impressions while meeting with the team, was that 4-5 of the swimmers were walking around with variations of an immobility boot and / or crutches. We got some solo time with the team during lunch and in each case the kids told me they had hurt their feet / ankle / leg, etc because of excessive stadium steps and running. That situation alone pretty much took UVA off our list. I mention this because it syncs up with some of the “over the NCAA limits workouts” referenced in paragraph 2 of the article.
One look at his face and this guy has cheated on everything he’s ever done in his life, with no intention to ever stop
Those are some pretty striking deductive skills you got there buddy. Keep your phone line open for headhunters after this one
Clown Show
Good for TCU for self reporting… wondering how common this type of violation occurs. In any case, TCU seems to be quite loose about following the rules but hopefully these incidents indicate they are making changes to address these issues.
Gonna call him and pay him a beer to celebrate
The team seems to be doing much better without him, prolly better than he would have had it
Pretty unfair statement here….is the team really performing that well? Look at their mid-season results. Sam only coached them a semester.
Nepotism.
His dad works for USA Swimming. Not the NCAA or TCU….
Frank was at U of Arizona for years where he hired both of his sons. After running UVA into the ground, both sons got head coaching gigs elsewhere. Sam was never qualified for the tcu job.
AS a UVA swim alum and fan, I would comment that it is not fair to say they ran UVA into the ground. What happened was the sudden departure of Bernardino (for as yet nonpublic reasons) followed by the suspension/loss of a few male swimmers in the controversy over alleged excessive hazing. Those events hurt the team/recruiting for a couple year, but once the Busch brothers became established at UVA, they did recruit quite a few swimmers who subsequently showed themselves to be very talented before the Busch brothers departed for Arizona. They did not stay at UVA long enough for their program to become established and they were certainly hindered by the animosity that a number of swim alumni… Read more »
Joe take a look at his resume outside of his daddy. It ain’t impressive.
A hazing incident resulting in the transfer of top talent ran UVA into the ground, and Sam had a couple sprinters who were doing something right. He wasn’t ready nor qualified to be a head coach (due to maturity, more than all else), but saying he never cultivated any talent in his years of college coaching is a bit harsh