Women's Soccer coach fired and department given extended probation after recruiting violation

The Santa Monica College Athletic Department has had their probation extended and the Women's Soccer head coach Aaron Benditson has been fired due to a recruiting violation he committed. Benditson was found by the Western State Conference to have broken California Community College Athletic Association Bylaw 2.3.1, which limits the area a coach can recruit from to the school's immediate and contiguous districts.

According to athletic director Reggie Ellis, the department was made aware of the violation in February and Benditson was fired last week.

Ellis could not comment on the nature of the firing, citing that the process is confidential and handled by the district.

Benditson could not be reached for comment.

The probation includes a postseason ban for the women's soccer team for the 2016 season as well as recruiting restrictions.

Though the CCCAA was made aware of the firing and violation on Tuesday, the association has not received official documentation of the censure as of yet.

This was Benditson's second stint as SMC women's head coach. He first served from 2005-2013 after which he moved on to the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona coaching staff.

In his second turn as Corsair coach, Benditson went 12-7-4 overall

This is the second time in ten years that the SMC athletic department has been put on probation. The last sanctions came when then head football coach Robert Taylor was found to have falsified the addresses of out of state players.

According to WSC Commissioner Jerry White, the previous infractions did not impact this ruling.

The firing creates a fourth coaching vacancy in the department, however Ellis does not believe that the probation will impact the school's ability to hire new coaches.

Editor's Note: Changes have been made to the original version of this article. A paragraph describing the exact details of the violation has been removed after we received disputing reports. There was also the statement that the Athletic Department was put on probation as a result of this violation. This current sanction was an extension of a previously existing probation that the department was under. This is a developing story and we will update the story as we receive more information. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.