Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Sports BreakingTop News

Oregon State violates NCAA rules for sending recruiting materials to UH players

PHOTO BY STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER / APRIL 2018 FILE PHOTO

Wide Receiver Tristin Kamaka (49) dives for a pass during an NCAA Hawaii Warriors Spring Football Practice at the UH Upper Campus Football Field, Honolulu, Hawaii. NCAA rules do not permit schools to send recruiting material to players who have already signed with or are enrolled at another institution.

The Oregon State football program was hit with a secondary violation by the NCAA Friday for sending recruiting material to current University of Hawaii players, Oregon media outlets reported.

UH football coach Nick Rolovich tweeted his displeasure in May when the materials, including invitations to OSU’s spring game, showed up on campus addressed to Rainbow Warrior players. Rolovich posted photos of the mailings with a player’s name redacted. Rolovich hash-tagged it “#leakydam #sloppybeavers.”

NCAA rules do not permit schools to send recruiting material to players who have already signed with or are enrolled at another institution.

UH plays Oregon State in 2019.

OSU said it self-reported the violation to the NCAA following Rolovich’s tweet, which had gained nationwide attention. A subsequent investigation by OSU found “the mailer sent to the University of Hawaii program was a clerical error,” a spokesman told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The NCAA’s action prohibits the Beavers from recruiting the unnamed player in the event he at some point chooses to leave UH.

“We initiated a self-report to the NCAA once we learned the inadvertent mistake was made,” Oregon State associate athletic director of communications Steve Fenk said in a statement to the Oregonian newspaper in Portland. “We admit and understand that what we did was an unintentional violation. The punishment fits. We didn’t try to do anything covert. It was an honest mistake that we took responsibility for.”

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