Marquette athletics conducted a self-investigation regarding possible secondary National Collegiate Athletic Association violations involving shoe resales by players, per an ESPN report Friday evening, but claimed there was no wrongdoing in a released statement.
“We became aware of the situation Friday afternoon via an email from the North Carolina athletic compliance department,” the statement read. “We immediately looked into the claim and determined there isn’t any indication a current member of the team is involved with selling team-issued shoes.”
The report said the same retailer that bought shoes from University of North Carolina football athletes received team-provided shoes from Marquette, Michigan and California athletes. North Carolina self-reported 13 football athletes that sold shoes to the retailer.
However, one of the shoes was available for retail, and the team never had access to the other pair of shoes, per a team spokesperson.
Deputy athletic director Mike Broeker told ESPN the team will require players to wear shoes for multiple games to decrease the value of the shoe and disincentivize reselling team shoes.
“In 2018-’19 and future seasons, Marquette shoes will be personalized (uniform number) by player and specialty shoes will be worn on multiple occasions throughout the year as added measures to assist in complying with NCAA regulations,” Marquette’s statement said.