OCC violations detailed

A letter from the governing body for state community college athletics to Orange Coast College detailing violations and sanctions including a ban of postseason competition for all sports during the 2016-17 academic year, revealed infractions not previously divulged by the school.

OCC released the letter Friday after media outlets requested the document, citing public records laws. The school also distributed a formal response to the violations and sanctions imposed by the California Community College Athletic Assn.

The letter, citing OCC’s own investigation into the matter, stated that two assistant football coaches provided impermissible benefits to recruits in the spring of 2015 that included a $60 housing deposit, food, and furniture that had been donated to the college. The coaches also acted as an intermediary between student-athletes’ parents and apartment management.

The coaches were ruled to have made initial contact with out-of-state recruits, strictly prohibited by the CCCAA constitution and bylaws.

OCC fired one of the assistant coaches, but did not cite the second coach, said Carlyle Carter, CEO/President of the CCCAA, who drafted the sanctions letter.

Violations in the letter not previously uncovered also include an eligibility issue with a men’s golfer in 2011 that resulted in the golf program being put on probation.

There was also a cross country trip in 2015 that occurred before the date permissible.

Violations already detailed, include:

•Baseball coach John Altobelli being suspended for the remainder of the 2009 season after his third game ejection.

•All fall sports except football opening practice prior to the permissible date in the fall of 2013, resulting in each program being forced to drop one contest from its schedule.

•And the discovery in 2014 that an ineligible player competed in eight football games during the 2011 season. This resulted in a postseason ban and probation for the football program in 2014, punishment the school failed to disclose.

The CCCAA letter stated the serious and repeated violations reflected a lack of institutional oversight of OCC athletics. It also said the collective infractions represented a Level 1 violation, the most severe outlined in a guideline table in the CCCAA constitution and bylaws. This table, used to specify the severity of violations and list adjoining sanctioning guidelines, was instituted last fall.

In its response, OCC maintained its position that the sanctions unfairly affect programs that did not violate CCCAA rules.

OCC’s response also stated that it responded in a timely fashion to its violations, most of which it self-reported.

OCC has said it plans to follow CCCAA procedures to appeal the sanctions.