The University of South Carolina has self-reported 14 secondary NCAA violations by various sports teams during the last six months in the athletic department.Secondary violations are defined as inadvertent and isolated and usually carry a minimal sanction, if any at all. Six of the violations are considered Level 1, which means they will go to the NCAA for review while the Level 2 violations will be dealt with by the SEC. Two of the Level 1 violations were committed by Steve Spurrier's football program, while first-year Gamecock's basketball coach Darrin Horn committed five violations the school reported.
The ones that will generate a few head scratches will be the "impermissible snacks" violation during an away-from-home competition and an impermissible entertainment violation for a bowling trip. Both violations were committed by the men's basketball team.
FanHouse placed a call to the NCAA for clarification of the snacks rule. Apparently, USC violated NCAA Bylaw 16.5.2, which governs away-from-home competitions.
Apparently, the basketball team went the traditional route but was in violation when it provided the student athletes either fruit or bagels outside of breakfast, lunch and dinner, a source in the athletic department said.
Other violations included impermissible entertainment and text messaging, the latter which has gotten many athletic departments in trouble since the NCAA banned such communication two years ago. According to USC, an assistant football coach responded to a text from an unknown number only to learn it was from a recruit.
None of the charges seem serious, which means USC won't likely face harsh sanctions when the NCAA rules.
The school also reported a violation when recruits watched a video that depicted game action and also when one of the South Carolina newspapers interviewed a recruit on a visit.
