CSUN Probably Clean in Gathers Case, NCAA Says

According to the interpretation of an NCAA official Friday, Cal State Northridge probably would not be accountable if allegations that former Matador basketball player Derrick Gathers received money from a Loyola Marymount booster prove to be true.

Nancy Mitchell, the NCAA’s director of legislative services, would not speak to this specific case, however.

“If a student-athlete gets money from someone because they are a student-athlete, that is a violation,” she said. “But it would seem (that) unless the source of the money was connected with the school it would not be that institution’s problem, it would be an individual’s eligibility problem.”

Since Gathers exhausted his eligibility last spring, he would be as unaffected as CSUN, based on Mitchell’s interpretation. Mitchell pointed out, however, that the NCAA’s enforcement division makes the actual decisions after looking into the situation.