A history of Wisconsin punishments for NCAA major infractions cases

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Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh discusses the new class of Hall of Fame members.

The University of Wisconsin athletic department was involved in seven NCAA major infractions cases in a 20-year stretch from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

The NCAA punished the Badgers for illegal recruiting tactics, car rides and payments as well as the actions of boosters. The violations led to administrative changes within the athletic department to ensure compliance with regulations.

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Wisconsin's stretch of more than 23 years without what the NCAA considers to be a major infraction ended Thursday with the release of a negotiated resolution of findings that the Badgers football staff violated rules around phone calls to recruits. It was the eighth time Wisconsin appeared in an NCAA database of major violations that includes entries dating to the 1950s.

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Here are the cases against Wisconsin listed in the NCAA database, with additional information from news reports.

Jan. 5, 1982: Improper transportation and recruiting contacts

The recruiting of one football prospect, primarily during the 1979-80 school year, led to a number of violations involving transportation and entertainment, the NCAA Committee on Infractions said.

"Although the significant recruiting violations in the case were isolated to the recruitment of only one prospect, the committee also was concerned that members of the university's coaching staff failed to exercise sufficient control over the institution's booster to avoid the violations," committee chair Charles Alan Wright said.

Among the infractions listed by the NCAA was that a booster arranged for the recruit, reported by the Wisconsin State Journal to be Carlton Walker, and his family to get rooms, meals and use of a professional fishing guide at a fishing lodge. The State Journal reported that the booster was former Athletic Board member Fran Hoffmann.

Other violations: coaches and boosters gave a recruit automobile rides; a recruit and his family received a meal and transportation to and from a Wisconsin Alumni Association banquet in their hometown; and an assistant football coach arranged for the delivery of flowers to the mothers of two recruits.

Penalties: One year of probation and bowl game ineligibility for the recruit. Walker didn't play in the December 1981 Garden State Bowl.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, Jan. 5, 1982July 29, 1982: Improper recruiting lodging and transportation

Badgers men's basketball coach Bill Cofield allowed a recruit, reported by the State Journal to be Jerry "Ice" Reynolds, to stay in a university dorm room with two athletes at no cost and a booster provided automobile transportation there from the Madison airport.

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The Committee on Infractions didn't substantiate newspaper reports linking the prospect to a questionable bank loan. The university's action in the case included telling the recruit he wouldn't be given a scholarship at Wisconsin; Reynolds went to LSU before a pro career.

"The Committee on Infractions did not believe that a severe penalty in the case would be warranted due to the apparent unintentional nature of the violations and the university's candor and cooperation throughout the period this case was processed," Wright said.

Penalties: Public reprimand.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, July 29, 1982Nov. 22, 1983: Improper recruiting employment and transportation, unethical conduct

The football recruiting coordinator told two recruits to contact a booster, who provided airline transportation to Madison to enroll in January 1983. The State Journal reported that the players were Tyler Carbone and Ken Stills and the booster was Tom Leiser.

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Also, the Committee on Infractions found that a booster arranged for a recruit's sister to land a job and men's tennis coach Pat Klingelhoets was involved in a workout with a recruit.

Penalties: One year of probation, a one-year football live television ban and the loss of one outside athletics representative from assisting the football program in summer employment and recruiting during the probation period.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, Nov. 22, 1983July 17, 1986: Extra benefits, eligibility

A booster personally guaranteed a bank loan for a Badgers men's basketball player and his mother in the amount of $4,214.80 to pay for a car, then paid $3,185.05 toward the balance over two years. The State Journal identified the player as Cory Blackwell and the booster as Donald Eisenberg.

A booster later loaned the player cash and furniture valued at $2,231; the debt was unpaid as of the time of the NCAA report. The State Journal said that booster was Alice Onsrud.

Blackwell played while ineligible for the 1981-82, 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, and the NCAA Committee on Infractions ruled that coach Steve Yoder lied to the university chancellor in August 1983 when he signed a statement that he had no knowledge of NCAA violations in his program. Yoder was aware in the fall of 1982 that the player illegally received an extra benefit, the committee found.

Penalties: Two years of probation. Wisconsin also self-administered the implementation of a compliance program and monitoring for boosters; disassociation with Eisenberg and Onsrud; a freeze in Yoder's salary and one year of probation for the coach; and the forfeiture of wins in games played by Blackwell from Jan. 25, 1982, through March 1984.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, July 17, 1986Jan. 13, 1994: Extra benefits, improper recruiting

Wrestling coach Andy Rein and the university didn't have institutional control over the program from 1988 to 1992, the NCAA Committee on Infractions found, because of violations involving money from a booster club providing extra benefits to athletes.

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The committee ruled that more than $14,000 in funds from the Weigh-In Club paid for travel expenses for 19 athletes competing through the Wisconsin Wrestling Club, which Rein also oversaw.

The violations reported also included allowing impermissible tryouts, excessive evaluation of recruits, impermissible meals for athletes and an assistant coach allowing an athlete to use his car. The NCAA also found that Rein provided additional pay to assistant coaches.

Penalties: Two years of probation; a one-year ban on wrestling team postseason and TV appearances; one-year bans on official recruiting visits for wrestling athletes and off-campus recruiting by Badgers wrestling coaches; a decrease in wrestling scholarships; and firing or suspension for involved staff members. Wisconsin terminated Rein's contract May 21, 1993, and reassigned program supervisor Duane Kleven. The committee also adopted penalties proposed by Wisconsin that included a decrease in the number of competitions for the 1993-94 season, the end of the Wisconsin Wrestling Club and a probation period for the Weigh-In Club.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, Jan. 13, 1994March 24, 1999: Improper administration and control of income and supplemental pay

The NCAA Committee on Infractions elevated what initially was reported as a secondary violation to a major case. The committee found that athletics staff members received supplemental income and benefits from boosters without required approval from the university chancellor. "In most cases," the committee wrote, "this supplemental income covered normal and reasonable business expenses in excess of state reimbursement limits and would have been approved if requested."

Examples included football coach Barry Alvarez being compensated with around $5,000 in company products for an endorsement deal; athletic director Pat Richter receiving a trip to the Super Bowl and a Green Bay Packers championship ring (total value around $4,150) after being elected to the team's board of directors; men's golf coach Dennis Tiziani failing to report income from a golf cart business; and the sports information office improperly receiving $1,600 from the Blue Line Club men's hockey boosters to edit the hockey program published by the group.

Other violations included use by Alvarez and Richter of the university's name in endorsements without approval and a men's soccer assistant requesting that the soccer booster group donate $35,000 toward developing a soccer park.

Penalties: Two years of probation.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, March 24, 1999Oct. 1, 2001: Extra benefits, recruiting inducements and failure to monitor

A 2000 State Journal investigative report based on documents and interviews found that Steve Schmitt, then a UW booster and owner of The Shoe Box store in Black Earth, offered unadvertised discounts and lenient credit arrangements to Badgers athletes, recruits and their friends and relatives from 1993 to 2000. Players also were able to exchange university-issued Reebok shoes for store merchandise.

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An NCAA major infractions case in 2001 determined that the arrangement violated the organization's rules about extra benefits, recruiting inducements and a failure to monitor the athletics program. The NCAA reported that 49 former Badgers athletes owed a total of $22,263 in credit issued by The Shoe Box.

Wisconsin argued that Schmitt wasn't a booster in the traditional sense of the term so the extra benefits didn't attract the attention of rules compliance efforts. But the NCAA Committee on Infractions did see Schmitt as a booster because of his contributions to the athletic department and his participation in a program recognizing businesses for their support of the Badgers. "Under these circumstances, the committee found it troubling that such an individual 'flew under the university's compliance radar,'" it wrote.

The case also included a finding of impermissible assistance in arranging housing benefits for recruits in a private residence hall. Signed recruits received housing in exchange for work to be done at the residence hall, but the NCAA ruled that the amount of work done -- none by one recruit, a "nominal amount" by the other -- didn't cover the costs.

Penalties: Five years of probation; a reduction of scholarships in football (by two in 2001-02, one in 2002-03 and 2003-04) and men's basketball (by one in 2002-03 and 2003-04); and a $150,000 fine paid to the NCAA. Wisconsin also self-imposed the suspension of 26 football players for one to three games on the opening day of the 2000 season. A women's soccer player also got a two-game suspension and 21 other football players were ordered to perform 24 hours of community service. It also disassociated from Schmitt and businesses he owned, initially for a seven-year period that was extended in 2008 and 2015 before being allowed to expire in 2022.

Wisconsin NCAA violation report, Oct. 2, 2001June 12, 2025: Impermissible phone calls

Coach Luke Fickell, assistants Matt Mitchell and Greg Scruggs, director of player personnel Max Stienecker and other football staff members combined to make 139 impermissible phone calls to 48 recruits during the first half of 2023, the NCAA Committee on Infractions panel investigating the case reported.

Fickell and others in authority "condoned, participated in or negligently disregarded the violations or related wrongful conduct," the panel wrote. NCAA enforcement staff blamed the violations in part on newly hired coaches being unfamiliar with Wisconsin's compliance processes and related technology and the mistaken belief that NCAA rules on phone calls had changed. The changes didn't go in effect until Aug. 1, 2023.

Penalties: One year of probation; a $25,000 fine; a two-month recruiting communication suspension for Scruggs if he is employed by a college team during a one-year show-cause order; a seven-day ban on recruiting communication with high school prospects starting June 15, 2025, for Stienecker, who took a job at Southern Cal earlier in 2025, Fickell and Mitchell. Wisconsin also self-imposed a three-week recruiting communication prohibition and a 12-day reduction in evaluation days during the 2023-24 school year.

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