NC State Receives Notice of Allegations from NCAA

NC State receives Notice of Allegations from NCAA regarding recruitment of Dennis Smith Jr.

North Carolina State University announced Wednesday that it received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA regarding alleged rules violations that occurred under former head coach Mark Gottfried.

The highest level of the allegations (Level I) involves the recruitment of current NBA player Dennis Smith Jr., the No. 9 pick in the 2017 draft who spent one season with the Wolfpack in 2016-17.

The NCAA's notice of allegations alleges that Smith and "individuals associated with him" received "approximately $46,700 in impermissible inducements and benefits" between September 2014 and March 2017. Longtime Gottfried assistant Orlando Early is accused of being the point person for getting money Smith's way.

For his part, Gottfried is accused of a Level I violation due to "head coach responsibility." Specifically as it pertains to the Smith accusations, Gottfried "did not demonstrate that he monitored his direct report, Orlando Early ... for compliance as it pertained to Early involving TJ Gassnola, a representative of the institution's athletics interest and then outside consultant for Adidas, and Shawn Farmer, an individual associated with then men's basketball prospective student-athlete Dennis Smith Jr., in Early's recruitment of Smith, which involved the arrangement and/or provision of a $40,000 recruiting inducement."

It'll be interesting to see what happens here. NC State was caught red handed paying recruits to play for the school, which typically ends with the NCAA coming down hard. But then again, NC State will argue that none of the staff or players who were involved are no longer at the University, so there's also a decent chance that the NCAA will give them a slap on the wrist. Then there is the conspiracy angle where State will get hammered because the NCAA is going to want to look strong after the UNC debacle, and what better way to do that than have the NCAA, which has a surprisingly high number of UNC Alumni within it, drop an absolute hammer on NC State.

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