UALR will use The Compliance Group, a Lenexa, Kan., based firm that specializes in assisting athletic departments through investigations, to conduct an independent investigation into allegations made against its baseball program, Chancellor Joel E. Anderson announced Friday.
The Compliance Group is led by Chuck Smrt, a former director of enforcement at the NCAA, who in 15 years as president of the group, has helped more than 60 NCAA Division I schools through investigations, according to the company's website.
With UALR, Smrt's group will be tasked with finding accuracy in a bevy of emails sent from an unidentified source that contain allegations against former coach Scott Norwood and others.
"I have asked Mr. Smrt to conduct an impartial, thorough, and expeditious review of these issues," Anderson said in a school released statement.
"At the end of his work, Mr. Smrt will provide a written report, which I will release to the campus and the public."
In an interview Thursday with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Anderson said he wasn't sure how long the investigation would take, but that he would urge university personnel and athletes to cooperate with the investigators.
"What everyone on campus will need to do is cooperate," Anderson said. "They'll need to provide that information. If the investigator wants to interview people, well then, people need to sit for the interview."
The task for the Compliance Group could include finding the identity of the unidentified person who sent UALR officials numerous emails over a four-week stretch that led to the investigation.
An email address identified as belonging to Don Hudson sent UALR a copy of an audio file believed to be Norwood berating his players on June 6. A day later, Norwood told UALR Athletic Director Chris Peterson he would resign after six seasons and two days after that, his resignation was announced.
A copy of the same audio file was forwarded to sports web site Deadspin.com on June 12, and the web site posted it the next day. On June 14, Anderson told University of Arkansas System President Donald R. Bobbitt the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees and the UALR Board of Visitors that he was appointing UA General Counsel Fred Harrison to find a firm to begin an investigation.
Some of the allegations coming from the email address include:
• Norwood assaulted former player Kaleb Jobe during a practice.
• Players and volunteer coaches were given discounted housing rates.
• Coaches conducting practices before the NCAA mandated start date (a Level III violation according to the NCAA).
• Coaches drank alcohol with players.
Smrt formed The Compliance Group in 1999 after serving for 15 years on the NCAA's enforcement staff. Smrt worked with the University of Arkansas in 2002-2003 when its basketball and football programs were under investigation and again when its track and field program was being investigated by the NCAA. He also worked with UAPB in 2012 when it was being audited by the NCAA because of eligibility issues.
A cost for the independent investigation was not included in Friday's announcement, but Smrt charged $155 an hour for his services and $105 an hour for services of other employees who also used to work for the NCAA back in the 2002-2003 UA investigation that went on for more than 15 months and cost UA more than $200,000.
Anderson said Thursday the cost would come from private funds.
Sports on 06/21/2014