WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — A Purdue basketball recruit says he did not meet with Boilermakers assistant coach Frank Kendrick during a time last summer when such contact was forbidden by the NCAA.
The allegation was one of the charges made in an anonymous letter to the NCAA and apparently rejected as not worth a full investigation. It was repeated this week by Frank Conroy, counsel for fired Purdue women’s coach Lin Dunn.
Jamaal Davis, a senior at Merrillville High School and one of the state’s top recruits, was in West Lafayette for a game on June 12. He had previously verbally committed to Purdue but made the public announcement that night.
Conroy said he heard Davis and Kendrick chatting about basketball at an off-campus West Lafayette hotel. The meeting would have taken place during a recruiting quiet period, a violation of NCAA rules.
However, both Kendrick and Davis denied in interviews with the Lafayette Journal & Courier and The Indianapolis Star that the meeting took place.
The allegation was mentioned in the anonymous letter sent to the NCAA. Conroy said the letter did not come from Dunn or former women’s assistant MaChelle Joseph, who also was fired last spring.
Purdue has said all allegations were investigated by an outside council and couldn’t be corroborated. Athletics director Morgan Burke said the university has not received notification from the NCAA, which would be the first step in a formal investigation.
On Tuesday, NCAA director of enforcement David Berst said Purdue’s account is accurate.
“I receive anonymous and other allegations every day. We probably receive anywhere from 10-20 pieces of information regarding someone’s concern of violations,” Berst said.
“I’ve seen some articles where Purdue indicated it had not received that letter (of inquiry from the NCAA), which is how we start an investigation, and I can confirm that’s correct,” Berst said. “All that means is there is no NCAA investigation.”
While the upcoming Big Ten basketball season will not start until January, Minnesota begins its nonconference schedule in mid-November.