Keith Urgo felt like he had been lifted on Tuesday while he was Fordham’s Head Men’s Basketball Coach, when the NCAA finally revealed the full range of long-standing investigations to adopt violations.
However, the former Fordham coach couldn’t help but feel unfurried considering the “offensive” nature of the NCAA examining the issue, particularly the current college athletics climate, and the relatively small-scale Rams basketball program breaks the rules.
“It’s a sigh of relief for my family and me. It’s been something that has been on top of us for almost three years,” Urgo posted in a phone interview. “It’s a darker cloud than my family, our program, and I think it’s very important for me and my career to be able to finally close it and move on.
In a release Tuesday, the NCAA said it found that the “Head Coach Responsibility Rules” related to the “Ethical Conduct Rules” and “Head Coach Responsibility Rules” in connection with the Times Square photo shoot, spending a total of $10,736 on entertainment costs during eight player visits over two years.
NCAA rules allow the program to spend $75 a day on entertainment costs during official visits.
Among these costs were jet ski rentals, tickets for the New York Knicks Game, tickets for the US Open Tennis Championship, and suite tickets for the New York Giants Game.
The excess ranged between just $35 to $5,595.
Nevertheless, the violation did not extend beyond that, and it felt that Urgo had taken over a more hostile tone, following the investigation that began in 2021 as a result of self-reporting the issue.
“They treated me like I was a criminal, literally, like I broke some laws,” Urgo said. “They were trying to do everything they could to lock us in the Level 1 violations, but none of them made sense. We were all confused, including all the lawyers in the situation.
The long-term investigation has cost Urgo and the program, he said telephone conversations, particularly NCAA surveys have risen this past season.
“I think last year was probably the most taxable, specifically,” he said. “This past season has definitely been extremely difficult, and we were dealing with it because it looked like it was two or three times a week for a few months. [the investigation].
The Rams finished 3-15 last season with 12-21 and A-10, and the program chose to move on from Urgo after the season ended.
Urgo is still widely respected as a coach and is loved by his players, as seen in his reaction after his fire at Fordham.
And he hopes that detailed details about the investigation will be helpful.
“That’s why I was so excited when the report came out,” he said. “Because for a long time people weren’t quite sure what was going on. Now they can see some of the ridiculous things.”
