Dan MurphyESPN Staff Writer6:53 PM GMT4 Minute Read
The NCAA issued its first sanctions Friday in a case related to name, image and likeness opportunities for college athletes, and handed the Miami women’s basketball program a year of probation and other minor penalties for its involvement in the request for a meet between a wealthy alum and two players who transferred to the school last summer.
The case involves several prominent figures in the burgeoning name, image and likeness business market, none of whom have received direct sanctions from the NCAA. The sanctions stem from a meeting between Miami alum John Ruiz and transfer basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder.
Ruiz has signed more than 100 Hurricane athletes to NIL deals to promote his LifeWallet company, some of which are reportedly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. His discussions and dealings with athletes who have relocated to Miami in a number of sports came under scrutiny by the NCAA last year. Ruiz, who was not sanctioned or expelled from the school as a result of that case, told ESPN that the NCAA has no right to prevent him from contacting parties with whom he wishes to sign a contract for his company.
“It has little to no substance and no impact on me at all,” Ruiz said of the sanctions announced on Friday. “It’s mostly focused on the coach and that’s unfortunate. But it doesn’t affect me or my business. If it were, I would be suing the NCAA and it wouldn’t be a good day for them.”
Miami head coach Katie Meier previously served a school-imposed three-game suspension early in the Hurricanes’ season as a punishment related to the case. The NCAA said Meier exchanged text messages with Ruiz saying she would make sure the Cavander twins knew who he was after he tried to set up a meeting with prior to their official visit to campus last summer to arrange them.
“For over 30 years, I have conducted my programs with integrity and am a collaborative partner with the NCAA,” Meier said in a statement released Friday. “College athletics is in transition, and every inadvertent mistake I’ve made happened before a full understanding of the guard rails implemented and the NCAA’s clarification in May. We all look forward to a time when there is a national solution to help our students – athletes, coaches and institutions.”
The fact that Ruiz was not sanctioned as part of the negotiated settlement between the NCAA and the University of Miami “worried” the panel assembled to approve the sanctions.
“Boosters are involved with prospects and student athletes in a way that the NCAA membership has never seen or experienced,” the panel members said in a statement released by the NCAA on Friday. “…In this way, addressing improper booster behavior is critical and the distancing penalty represents an effective punishment available to the Violations Committee.”
The Cavinders, who have more than 3 million social media followers, are among the most prominent collegiate athletes to capitalize on their online fame and snag endorsement deals since the NCAA changed its rules in July 2021. According to Ruiz, he hosted the twins and their parents for a dinner at his home after the former Fresno State basketball players decided to visit Miami.
Since 2021, a growing number of collegiate athletic administrators and coaches have voiced grievances that the NCAA has failed to enforce a limited rulebook on the use of a collegiate athlete’s name, likeness and likeness. It is a violation of the rules to use NULL opportunities as a recruitment incentive to persuade an athlete to attend a particular school.
Due to state laws protecting NIL activities and a lack of cooperation from schools, NCAA enforcement officials say they are struggling to gather evidence to support widespread claims that some coaches and boosters use NIL deals as an incentive, to lure players to a school. In this case, the NCAA received text messages between Meier and Ruiz showing a violation had occurred.
The NCAA changed its rules in January to place the burden of proof in all NIL-related investigations on the party accused of a NIL violation. This case was opened before this rule came into effect; Otherwise, under their own rules, NCAA investigators might have had more credibility to punish Ruiz or try to force him to prove his endorsement deal with the Cavinders wasn’t meant to be an incentive.
Ruiz said he has no intention of changing the way he has used collegiate athletes as supporters for his business, noting that he does not believe an attempt by the NCAA to prevent him from running his business would be justified , would withstand a lawsuit.
Ruiz questioned why the NCAA chose to issue its first sanctions in a sport where NIL deals to incentivize recruitment are not seen as a widespread problem. Most complaints about improper incentives came from soccer and men’s basketball teams. He also questioned why the NCAA would focus on two athletes who, due to the size of their social media followings, have some of the largest legitimate market values of any of their peers.
“You’re dealing with a sport that’s essentially growing and we want to grow.” said Ruiz. “When you try to dissuade these young girls from their intention, you are almost trying to punish these young ladies who have done nothing wrong. It’s really distasteful but luckily for them it has nothing to do with me because if they did I would sue them.”