NCAA sanctions Miami women's hoops for NIL-related infraction

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.

The case involves several prominent figures in the nascent marketplace for name, image and likeness 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.

Ruiz has signed more than 100 Hurricane 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 want 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.»

Miami head 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 Ruiz saying that she would make sure the Cavinder twins knew who he was after he tried to arrange a meeting with