The NCAA’s first NIL sanctions are against Miami women’s basketball

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The NCAA issued its first sanctions in a case related to name, image and likeness opportunities for college athletes Friday, dinging the Miami women's basketball program with a year of probation and other minor penalties for its involvement in urging a meeting between a wealthy alum and two players who transferred to the school last summer.

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The case involves several prominent figures in the nascent marketplace for NIL deals, none of whom received any direct sanctions from the NCAA. The sanctions stem from a meeting between Miami alum John Ruiz and transfer basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder.

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Ruiz has signed more than 100 Hurricanes athletes to NIL deals to promote his company LifeWallet, some of them reportedly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. His conversations and deals with athletes who have transferred to Miami in a number of sports have come under NCAA scrutiny in the past year. Ruiz, who was not sanctioned or disassociated from the school as a result of this case, told ESPN that the NCAA has no right to stop him from contacting any parties with whom he wants to sign a contract for his business.

"It has little to no substance and no effect on me at all," Ruiz said of the sanctions announced Friday. "It's mostly focused on the coach, and that's unfortunate. But it doesn't affect me or my business. If it did, I'd be suing the NCAA and it wouldn't be a good day for them."

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Miami coach Katie Meier previously served a school-imposed three-game suspension at the start of the Hurricanes' season as a punishment related to this case. The NCAA said Meier exchanged text messages with Ruiz saying that she would make sure the Cavinder twins knew who he was after he tried to arrange a meeting with them before their official visit to campus last summer.

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Ruiz questioned why the NCAA opted to issue its first sanctions in a sport where NIL deals as recruiting inducements have not been viewed as a widespread issue. Most complaints about improper inducements have come from football and men's basketball teams. He also questioned why the NCAA would focus on two athletes who have some of the largest legitimate market values of any of their peers because of the size of their social media following.

"You're dealing with a sport that essentially is growing and we want to grow." Ruiz said. "To try to tarnish these young girls from their intention, you're almost trying to penalize these young ladies who did nothing wrong. It's in really poor taste, but luckily for them it doesn't have anything to do with me, because if they did I'd be suing them."

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