Huskies committed secondary football recruiting violation by paying nightclub bill for visiting recruits

The Washington football program committed a secondary recruiting violation last January when current players paid a bill of roughly $300 for recruits at a local nightclub, a UW official said.

The violation, self-reported to the Pac-10, was that players serving as hosts for the recruits exceeded what they are allowed to spend during such visits, according to UW spokesman Richard Kilwien. Hosts are allowed to spend $30 a day on entertainment involving a recruit.

A KING-5 report Monday night stated that the $300 bill was for alcohol for underage recruits. The King 5 report says coach Steve Sarkisian said the recruits didn't have enough money so the players paid the bill.

Kilwien said alcohol is not mentioned in the self-report filed by the school on the incident and said the players were not necessarily in an establishment where they were not legally allowed. Kilwien said the location is referred to as a "local nightclub" in the report to the Pac-10.

Kilwien said the prospects paid the money back to the current players, and also made a donation to charity. The current players were made to perform community service. Going to nightclubs during visits is not a violation of NCAA rules but is against UW policies for such visits, he said.

The violation occurred during the first full weekend for UW recruiting last Jan. 15-17. The spokesman said the violation was immediately reported to UW's compliance office by coaches and a self-report then sent to the Pac-10. The conference does not comment on specific violations, but in general it accepts the punishments handed out by the schools internally, and that appears to be what happened here as the matter is considered closed.

It came to light in January that UW had committed two other secondary violations, which it acknowledged and self-reported.

One involved simulating a game-day experience for recruits, with a smoke machine blowing and a siren blaring as players ran through the tunnel and onto the field at Husky Stadium during their visits.

Another involved a reporter from The Los Angeles Times being present while Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt met with a recruit and that they had contact off-campus with a recruit who was a junior.

Sarkisian called those violations misunderstandings.

Kilwien said the football program has not committed any recruiting violations since.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.