Notre Dame Suspends Men’s Swim Team After Gambling Probe

Though all eyes are on South Bend in anticipation of the upcoming college football season, Notre Dame has dropped a bombshell about one of its other teams.

The famed university announced Thursday that it has suspended its men’s swimming program for at least the entire 2024-25 academic year after several investigations revealed athletes were gambling on their own events, a violation of NCAA rules.

A report from Sports Illustrated said that the team essentially created its own sportsbook that allowed the swimmers to place wages on their performances, with most of the athletes participating in the unofficial book. Swimmers placed over/under bets on an athlete’s time in certain swim meets.

No major gaming company takes wagers or hosts bets for college swim meets.

In a statement provided to Sportico, Fighting Irish head swimming coach Chris Lindauer said he is “confident that Notre Dame took the correct steps to ensure this misconduct does not continue” and remains “committed to the women’s swimming and diving program and the men’s diving program at Notre Dame.”

The school was initially tipped off to the illicit wagering at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, and it hired law firm Ropes & Gray to launch an independent investigation. The school also said the coaching staff, led by Lindauer, was unaware of the betting scheme and fully cooperated with Ropes & Gray.

Referring to a “deeply embedded team culture dismissive of Notre Dame’s standards for student-athletes,” Notre Dame’s athletic director Pete Bevacqua said in a statement that the review confirmed those suspicions. The review “also documented numerous violations of NCAA rules prohibiting gambling on intercollegiate swimming and other athletic competitions despite clear and recurrent training provided to all our student-athletes,” he said in a statement.

Swimmers in the program, including incoming freshmen, will be allowed to transfer if they wish, with the announcement being made before classes begin in late August. “We profoundly regret that the small number of team members who did not participate in the conduct,” Bevacqua said, “and those who were planning on joining the team this fall, will also suffer the consequences of this decision.”

Depending on the amounts wagered, the athletes could face NCAA sanctions ranging from mandated sports betting education to permanent ineligibility, especially if bets were placed on the sport itself. Some athletes wagered on other sports such as basketball, SI reported, but those bets won’t lead to nearly as heavy discipline as those placed in their own sport. The discipline could follow anyone who transfers.

Notre Dame has built a powerhouse swim program in recent years, capped by freestyler Chris Guiliano making the U.S. Olympic team that went to Paris last month. Guiliano, who won gold on the men’s 400 freestyle relay team, was not believed to have taken part in the gambling, according to SI.