Notre Dame suspended its men's swimming program Thursday for at least one year after an external review found members of the team violated NCAA rules by wagering among themselves on results of their competitions and failed to “treat one another with dignity and respect."
“In order to ensure that this behavior ends and to rebuild a culture of dignity, respect, and exemplary conduct, we have decided to suspend the men’s swimming program for at least one academic year,” athletic director Pete Bevacqua said in a statement.
Notre Dame did not reveal details of the review done by a law firm.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, members of the team had set up a makeshift, internal sportsbook where athletes could wager on the times posted by themselves or teammates at meets. Athletes were not found to have bet on opposing teams or on any other Notre Dame athletic events, the person said.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Notre Dame was not making the contents of the report public.
The person said more than 60% of the returning team, which includes 25 swimmers, took part in betting on the performances of members of the team. The review also revealed some members of the team had bet among themselves on events such as the Super Bowl and March Madness basketball tournament games.
The person said a group text chat with members of the team filled with derogatory remarks and messages was also found. No evidence of physical hazing or abuse was ucovered.
Sports Illustrated first reported the details of the gambling violations found in the review.
The women's swimming and diving teams and the men's diving team were not found to have been involved.
Bevcaqua said coach Chris Lindauer and his staff fully cooperated with the review. No coaches were dismissed.
“The review found that the staff 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,” Bevacqua said. “According to the review, when the staff became aware of certain isolated incidents of unacceptable conduct, they treated them seriously and professionally.”
Lindauer served as an assistant coach for USA Swimming at the recent Olympics and Fighting Irish swimmer Chris Guiliano won an Olympic gold medal as part of Team USA’s 400-meter freestyle relay team.
According to the person who spoke to the AP, the review did not find evidence Guiliano took part in the wagering.
“While it has been a difficult few months, I am confident that Notre Dame took the correct steps to ensure this misconduct does not continue,” Lindauer said in a statement. “I am hopeful we will emerge from this situation stronger than ever.”
Notre Dame said administrators received reports of misconduct after last school year and brought in the law firm Ropes & Gray to do a review in June.
Members of the team will be permitted to transfer, though NCAA sanctions would follow those found to have broken rules against gambling.
“The national office is aware that Notre Dame has declared several student-athletes ineligible in light of potential violations of sports betting rules," NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham Wright said in a statement. "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.”
The NCAA has modified in recent months its sanctions for gambling violations to make the penalties less punitive for small wagers and those placed on sports outside of those in which the athletes compete.
“We hope this decision sends a clear and unequivocal message reaffirming that commitment and expectation,” Bevacqua said. “And, as we do after any major action, we will continue to review our internal processes and reporting structures to ensure that we are doing all that we can to nurture a positive experience for all Notre Dame student-athletes.”
Other college sports teams have been ensnared in recent gambling cases. Alabama fired baseball coach Brad Bohannon in May 2023 after Ohio authorities discovered that suspicious wagers involving his team were placed at a Cincinnati casino.
About the same time, Iowa authorities announced they were investigating illegal sports wagers made by college athletes at Iowa and Iowa State. Criminal charges were filed against about two dozen athletes, with most taking plea deals and a few having charges dismissed when a judge affirmed a defense motion that there was no probable cause for the investigation.
Still, all were declared ineligible by the NCAA, including five starters on the ISU football team. Several athletes filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
FILE - Pete Bevacqua, then-CEO of the PGA of America, gestures during a news conference at The Players Championship golf tournament, May 6, 2015, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid the curated electronic music, models’ cold stares and magazine editors lining the runway at New York Fashion Week this season, several designers felt a particular sense of urgency.
In a little over a month, they will learn whether they have won of one of the most coveted competitions for emerging designers: The Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund.
The fund, which has catapulted past participants including Proenza Schouler and Thom Browne into the upper echelons of fashion, marks its 20th anniversary this year. It provides 10 finalists with access to industry leaders, with mentorship on everything from growing their brands to showing at New York Fashion Week. This year’s judges include Browne, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, Saks fashion director Roopal Patel and CFDA CEO Steven Kolb.
There's also a financial prize: Winners are awarded $300,000, while two runner-ups receive $100,000 each. To be eligible, designers must be U.S.-based, employ fewer than 30 people and bring in less than $10 million in revenue.
The magnitude of the fund weighs on current finalist Grace Ling, originally from Singapore. Ling, who was honored with the CFDA’s first Asian American and Pacific Islander Genesis grant totaling $100,000 in February, was able to scale up her business from a one-woman show to hiring an additional employee to help with production.
“For the last three years, I have basically been a one-man show,” she said. Winning this fund would allow her to level up immediately.
At Ling’s show, “Neanderthal,” a diverse group of models glided past a jutting rock formation in 3D-printed aluminum looks, carrying her playful purses — including her signature butt bag, shaped like a sculpted derriere. Backstage, Ling described the collection as a modern, sensual interpretation of what she calls primitive chic.
Kolb said the fund separates new designers from the mass of new brands vying for attention.
“The fashion fund is also beyond the tangible mentorship or grant, it’s a visibility play,” the CEO said.
It took Sebastien and Marianne Amisial four tries before they were accepted to the 2024 fund for their brand Sebastien Ami. They began operating the brand during the height of the pandemic and debuted their latest collection, incorporating menswear and unisex looks of olive-flocked denim and pops of bright color into their first New York Fashion Week runway show.
“We did this on a shoestring,” Marianne Amisial said. “It’s just the ability to do something with nothing. And that’s what we’ve done for the last four years.”
Louisiana designer Christopher John Rogers, who grew his brand out of a Bushwick apartment and has since dressed Michelle Obama and Tracee Ellis Ross, won the fund in 2019. Rogers told The Associated Press that the victory gave him the resources to hire a team, produce his second collection and move into a design studio in Soho.
“For me it really meant actually having a shot at running a business and starting a business,” he said.
Shawn Grain Carter, a fashion business management professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, said designers have to be strategic about their growth strategy, control expenses and do what’s best for their brands.
“Sometimes people think to go to scale means you have to be like Michael Kors,” she said of the big-name brand. “And that’s not the case. I tell emerging designers, you have to be profitable with gross margin profits, whether you are a $5 million company or a $500,000 company or a $5 billion company.”
Jackson Wiederhoeft, known for his theatrical runway shows and corsets, is participating in the fund for a second time after he a transformative experience in 2022.
“The first fashion fund was the reason we started doing runway shows,” he said. “That was very much at the suggestion of Vogue and CFDA.”
He has gone on to produce five more fashion shows — his latest three-part act opened with a choreographed dance performance and closed with 26 size-inclusive veiled models wearing his trademark white wasp satin corsets.
While prepping for his fashion week show, Wiederhoeft was also submitting his final look for the fashion fund's design challenge, which CFDA and Vogue brought back this year after a pandemic-induced pause. As part of the exercise, overseen by Tommy Hilfiger, designers created a look based on the theme “Stars and Stripes.”
The CFDA and Vogue continue to support its finalists past the fund. Rogers and past finalist House of Aama will be taking their designs to the CFDA/Vogue Americans in Paris Initiative during Paris Fashion Week. Rebecca Henry of House of Aama said the showcase comes at a pivotal time as the brand looks to expand.
“We are just looking at how to expand into other markets and especially the international markets,” she said.
Straight after her runway show, Ling was preparing for market appointments, where buyers can come view her collection at her midtown Manhattan showroom. Regardless of whether she wins, she's already thinking about what's next.
“I’m thinking five years down the road,” she said. “I’m thinking 10 years. I’m thinking about tomorrow.”
Singapore designer Grace Ling displays 3D printed designs from her New York Fashion Week collection on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling is one of ten designers competing in the 2024 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion using 3D printed aluminum from Singapore designer Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling is one of ten designers competing for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion using 3D printed aluminum from Singapore designer Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling is one of ten designers competing for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion from Singapore designer and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling showcased her second collection titled "Neanderthal" during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 6. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
A mannequin from Singapore designer and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling showcased her second collection titled "Neanderthal" during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 6. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion from Singapore designer and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling showcased her second collection titled "Neanderthal" during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 6. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Singapore designer Grace Ling poses in her showroom where she displays her 3D printed designs on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, showcased her latest collection at New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Singapore designer Grace Ling poses in her showroom where she displays her 3D printed designs on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, showcased her latest collection at New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion using 3D printed aluminum from Singapore designer Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling is one of ten designers competing for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Singapore designer Grace Ling poses in her showroom where she displays her 3D printed designs on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, showcased her latest collection at New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Singapore designer Grace Ling poses in her showroom where she displays her 3D printed designs on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, showcased her latest collection at New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Fashion from Singapore designer and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Grace Ling is pictured on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling showcased her second collection titled "Neanderthal" during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 6. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
Singapore designer Grace Ling displays 3D printed designs from her New York Fashion Week collection on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. Ling is one of ten designers competing in the 2024 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)
