An 0-3 start in ACC play has not been Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory’s only recent concern. The athletic department suspended assistant coaches Chad Dollar, Josh Postorino and Billy Schmidt for one game each for what was termed a departmental matter.
Through a spokesman, coach Brian Gregory declined comment. Asked if it were an NCAA rules violation, athletic department spokesman Wayne Hogan said, “It’s an internal, administrative matter at this point. I’m not going to go any further than that.”
Postorino sat out the Jan. 5 Miami game. Dollar missed the Jan. 9 N.C. State game. Schmidt was not on the bench for Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech. The matter is considered closed and all are expected to be with the team for its game against Duke Thursday in Durham, N.C.
All three assistants were hired by Gregory after his hire in March 2011. Through his first season, Gregory had no NCAA rules violations.
It has been a relatively turbulent last few weeks for Gregory’s staff. On Dec. 6, on a recruiting trip to Jacksonville, Fla., Postorino was arrested for DUI. He was suspended for Tech’s final five nonconference games. The Yellow Jackets have dropped their first three ACC games, including a 70-65 overtime loss to the Hokies Saturday at McCamish Pavilion.
Typically, an athletic department will investigate possible rules violations and self-report to the NCAA their findings with self-assessed penalties in hopes that the NCAA will accept them and not punish further. A one-game suspension from the NCAA is not common, but in the past has been meted out for minor recruiting violations.
For instance, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, Gregory’s former boss, sat out one game in December 2010. The NCAA punished Izzo after ruling that the school hired someone associated with a potential recruit to work at a basketball camp at Michigan State, even though Izzo said the violation was inadvertent and did not help him gain a recruiting advantage.
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