Notre Dame suspends men’s swimming program for one academic year due to gambling violations

(CNN) — The University of Notre Dame is suspending its men’s swimming program for at least one academic year following an investigation that uncovered violations of the NCAA’s gambling rules, the school announced Thursday.

Notre Dame said it launched an external probe after receiving reports of possible misconduct within the program.

“The external review confirmed and expanded on our initial concerns about a deeply embedded team culture dismissive of Notre Dame’s standards for student-athletes, including our expectation that they treat one another with dignity and respect,” a statement from director of athletics Pete Bevacqua said.

It said the review also uncovered “numerous violations of NCAA rules prohibiting gambling on intercollegiate swimming and other athletic competitions, despite clear and recurrent training provided to all our student-athletes.”

As a result, the school decided to suspend the men’s swimming program for at least one academic year, “in order to ensure that this behavior ends and to rebuild a culture of dignity, respect, and exemplary conduct.”

The school expressed regret that team members who did not participate and students planning to join the team this fall will suffer the same punishment as those involved.

In a statement to CNN, the NCAA said: “The national office is aware that Notre Dame has declared several student-athletes ineligible in light of potential violations of sports betting rules. We continue to work with the school as it determines what occurred. The NCAA does not comment on specific eligibility cases due to student privacy laws, and we have no further comment at this time.”

Bevacqua said that the coaching staff, which includes head coach Chris Lindauer, “was not aware of gambling or the scope and extent of other troubling behaviors because team members effectively concealed such behaviors from the coaches and staff through concerted efforts.”

According to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde, who was the first to report the launch of the review, unnamed sources said the men’s team “effectively created its own sports book for the purpose of wagering on their swimming performances.” Per Forde, citing the unnamed sources, a majority of the returning 2024-25 team is believed to have placed bets.

The school did not name swimmers involved in the violations.

NCAA legislation from June 2023 states that “student-athletes who engage in activities to influence the outcomes of their own games or knowingly provide information to individuals involved in sports betting activities will potentially face permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports. This would also apply to student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools.”

Any sanctions handed down by the NCAA would follow student-athletes to their new schools, according to Sports Illustrated.

Notre Dame’s men’s swimming and diving team finished in second place at the 2024 ACC championships, the highest finish in program history. The program eventually finished 10th at the NCAA men’s championships in late March.

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