The NCAA sent a message on Friday by issuing its first ever ruling in an NIL infractions case surrounding Miami women's basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder. The case involves violations of NCAA rules when the school was recruiting the twins -- who transferred from Fresno State in 2022.
At the start of the 2022-23 season, Miami head coach Katie Meier served a three-game suspension for committing what the NCAA resolution described as Level II violations by setting up a meeting between the Cavinder sisters and Miami booster John Ruiz.
Ruiz is an attorney and businessman who serves as CEO of LifeWallet. His three children attended Miami and he is known to be a strong supporter of the university. Ruiz has spent more than $10 million on NIL deals with more than 100 athletes.
"The university, head coach and enforcement staff agreed that the head coach asked an assistant coach to contact the prospects and let them know that the booster was a legitimate businessperson, and the prospects agreed to meet with him." according to description of the incident in the NCAA's resolution.
"Ultimately, the prospects and their parents had dinner at the booster's home. During the visit, the parties did not discuss NIL opportunities, but the booster promoted the school by speaking about his children's experiences as student-athletes at Miami, and his admiration for the school and the surrounding community."
That dinner, which took place at Ruiz's home, broke the rules because boosters are not authorized to have in-person, off-campus contact with prospects. Boosters are also not allowed to pay for prospects' meals.
A tweet from Ruiz that night drew was what allegedly caught the NCAA's attention.
NEWS: In its first NIL infractions ruling, NCAA sanctions Miami WBB for violations in the recruitment of Haley & Hanna Cavinder.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 24, 2023
As recruits, Cavinders dined at booster John Ruiz’s home. Ruiz’s tweet that night drew NCAA attention
From @ByPatForde & me - https://t.co/84AVs5ZJzO pic.twitter.com/hzK6G1BW9A
"Had it personally had impact on me or my company, I would have sued the NCAA and they would have a big battle," Ruiz told SI. "This is a cop out for the NCAA to say they did something."
The university, enforcement staff and Meier all agreed on the violations and the penalties, so the case was processed through the negotiated resolution process instead of a formal hearing or summary disposition.
"Boosters are involved with prospects and student-athletes in ways the NCAA membership has never seen or encountered. … In that way, addressing impermissible booster conduct is critical, and the disassociation penalty presents an effective penalty available to the Committee on Infractions," the Division I Committee on Infractions panel said in the resolution.
The twins are social media stars with their TikTok account having 4.3 million followers. They were were not sanctioned, as the NCAA's stance is to not penalize athletes themselves for NIL-adjacent infractions.
Here is the full list of penalties for Miami as approved by the Committee on Infractions:
- One year of probation.
- A $5,000 fine plus 1% of the women's basketball budget.
- A 7% reduction in the number of official visits in women's basketball during the 2022-23 academic year.
- A reduction of nine recruiting-person days in women's basketball during the 2022-23 academic year.
- A three-week prohibition against recruiting communications by women's basketball staff beginning with the open date of the Transfer Portal (from March 13 through April 2, 2023).
- A 10% suspension (three games total) for the head coach, served during the first three contests for the 2022-23 season.
