NCAA hands down penalties against CCU men’s golf program

More than two years after Coastal Carolina University and men’s golf coach Allen Terrell parted ways as the school self-reported recruiting violations within the program to the NCAA, the Chanticleers have finally learned their penalties.

The NCAA announced Tuesday afternoon that CCU’s penalties, including some already self-imposed by the university and completed, include one year of probation, recruiting restrictions, vacation of certain golf records, a $5,000 fine, a one-year show-cause order for Terrell and administrative reporting requirements.

The men’s golf program avoided any major future consequences, including a postseason ban or loss of recruiting opportunities or scholarships.

“I think the penalty was fair considering everything being self-reported by the university,” said CCU men’s golf coach Kevin McPherson, who is beginning his third season. “It was certainly good to not have postseason play taken away or anything, especially since none of the guys on the team or myself have anything to do with the previous [violations].”

During the show-cause period, Terrell will be prohibited from recruiting if he is employed as a head coach by another NCAA member school. He is currently the director of coaching at the Dustin Johnson Golf School at the TPC Myrtle Beach, and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In its Public Infractions Decision released Tuesday, the NCAA generally reiterated the offenses that CCU self-reported.

The primary violations included Terrell giving five private lessons to a recruit and paying for 10 more private lessons for the recruit with another instructor, according to the decision issued by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel that reviewed CCU’s case. The total value of the lessons was nearly $1,300.

According to the NCAA report, the panel reviewing the case held an expedited penalty hearing on Aug. 12 because Terrell did not agree with a two-year show-cause order, and he was successful in getting it reduced to one year.

In October 2013, Terrell admitted to The Sun News that he “provided means for golf instruction” to a high school golfer and said it was the only time he provided extra benefits to a student-athlete in 15 years of college coaching.

“I’m just thankful that it’s finally over,” CCU President David DeCenzo said. “Two years on this matter was way too long and I’m just happy that it’s now behind us. It is isolated to the sport of golf. We realize that the coach was our coach and an employee of ours and while we really had nothing to do with what actually took place, he was our employee and therefore the university accepts the punishment that the NCAA has given us.”

Terrell resigned from Coastal Carolina on Aug. 29, 2013 after 13 years leading the men’s golf program, which developed a national reputation while helping launch the career of current PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson.

Terrell maintained upon his resignation that his departure from the university was his choice and a family and financial decision as he left to head up Johnson’s school. The NCAA’s report Tuesday stated Terrell was given notice the university would pursue the termination of his employment during an Aug. 30, 2013 hearing.

A copy of the university’s self-report to the NCAA, obtained through a Freedom of Information request in October 2013, outlined the violations committed with the most significant being that Terrell gave a recruit five private golf lessons during his senior year of high school in 2010 while not being compensated and then paid $1,000 for that same golfer to receive 10 private lessons from another local golf instructor that year.

The Sun News identified the recruit as former Socastee High senior Easton Renwick, who played two seasons at CCU before leaving the program.

Other allegations included that Terrell watched a prospective student-athlete hit golf balls on the driving range during an official visit, which is prohibited by NCAA rules, and that another recruit practiced on the range at the same time as the team during an official visit in 2012.

Coastal Carolina imposed its own disciplinary actions on the men’s golf team for the 2013-14 season, including a reduction of six practice days, reduction of six playing days and a six-week reduction in recruiting time for the program.

School officials feared they would receive stiffer penalties if they were considered a “repeat violator” by the NCAA. The CCU athletics department was placed on a two-year NCAA probation in 2008 after reporting what was deemed a “major” violation committed within the women’s golf program involving then coach Brian Ashley providing two student athletes with a total of nearly $600 for tuition and boarding expenses.

The athletics department needed to avoid another major infraction over five years to avoid being considered a “repeat violator,” and Terrell’s alleged violations also occurred during that two-year probation, which didn’t expire until Dec. 16, 2010.

The NCAA acknowledged this was CCU’s third “major, significant or severe breach of conduct case,” citing a men’s basketball case in 1994 and the 2008 women’s golf case.

But the panel reviewing CCU’s case deemed Terrell’s violations to be Level II in a four-level violation structure established in 2013. A Level II Significant Breach of Conduct constitutes “violations that provide or are intended to provide more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantage,” and falls short of a Level I Severe Breach of Conduct designation that would have warranted more severe punishment.

“It seems the university did a good job of resolving the issues and where the issues came from,” McPherson said.

McPherson, a Conway native who was hired on Sept. 24, 2013, said that Tuesday was the first day college coaches were permitted to speak with recruits for the incoming 2017 class. So for the first time he was able to tell recruits with certainty that they won’t be impacted by any NCAA sanctions if the program makes it through the one-year probation period without further incident.

“[The NCAA decision] is something I don’t mind sharing,” McPherson said. “This is something we won’t have to answer any more questions about. We don’t have to deal with the speculation any longer.”

Terrell led CCU to nine Big South Conference titles and five NCAA Championships appearances with a fifth-place national finish in 2007. The Chants have finished third and fourth in the BSC Championship in the past two seasons, and now-graduated players Andrew Dorn and Ben Wheeler advanced to NCAA Regionals as individuals in each season.

CCU’s 2015-16 men’s golf season tees off Sept. 20 in the Rees Jones Intercollegiate at Haig Point Club on Daufuskie Island.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 1:55 PM with the headline "NCAA hands down penalties against CCU men’s golf program."