NCAA
Joel Anderson, ESPN 5y

UCLA soccer coach in admissions scandal resigns

Men's College Basketball Soccer

UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo has resigned following his indictment last week for allegedly taking payments totaling $200,000 as part of an extensive college admissions and testing bribery scheme, the school confirmed Thursday.

Salcedo's departure marks an ignominious end for the former Bruins All-American player who went on to serve as the head coach at his alma mater for the past 15 years. He went 182-89-42 at the school, winning six conference titles and leading the Bruins to the NCAA tournament in 14 of his 15 seasons.

Salcedo was indicted as part of a sprawling Justice Department investigation that accuses William "Rick" Singer, a Newport Beach-based businessman, of using his college counseling and prep service to solicit money from parents to help their children gain admission into elite universities such as Georgetown, Stanford, Yale, USC and UCLA. Others indicted in the probe include Hollywood actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman and several college coaches and administrators.

According to court documents, Salcedo allegedly took a pair of $100,000 payments from Singer in exchange for helping admit one male and one female applicant to the school while pretending they were soccer recruits. Neither applicant played competitive soccer.

In a statement Friday, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero characterized Salcedo's alleged behavior as "disturbing and unacceptable" and said the student-athlete admissions process will be reviewed.

"We believe that our process is among the most demanding and thorough in collegiate athletics but, as the recent news illustrates, it is not foolproof," Guerrero said. "In collaboration with the University, we are currently reviewing every aspect of the student-athlete admissions process. We will use this opportunity to identify areas that can be strengthened, and we will take the appropriate steps to do so. Once those steps are identified, we will share them openly.

Salcedo, 46, had been the second-longest-tenured coach in the history of the UCLA men's soccer program. As a player, he was part of three of the Bruins' four NCAA championship teams in the early 1990s and went on to play five years in Major League Soccer.

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