UA releases secondary violations
TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama has acknowledged 27 NCAA secondary rules violations in its athletic department over the past year, 13 of which were due to impermissible text messages or phone calls to recruits. The NCAA places calendar limitations on when coaches are permitted to initiate contact with prospective student-athletes.
Secondary violations typically do not draw penalties from the NCAA unless an institution shows a pattern problem with the same violation. Rather, they are normally handled through correspondence with the NCAA showing corrective action by the institution. In most cases, corrective action includes rules education and a letter of admonishment. Often, coaches are also temporarily forbidden from contacting the recruit in question.
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UA made public the secondary violations on its web site Tuesday. Schools typically self-report secondary violations. Recent releases of secondary violations at other schools included 44 by Ole Miss and 24 by the University of Memphis.
The men's basketball program was cited for six of the violations, most of any UA sport. Other sports with violations included women's basketball (four), football (four), track and field (three), softball (two), gymnastics (two), baseball (one), women's tennis (one), men's tennis (one), women's volleyball (one) and soccer (one). The UA compliance office was deemed responsible for one as well.
As a result of policy changes, four of the violations are now permissible, but were violations at the time they occurred.
The most extensive punitive action taken by the university was an 84-day recruiting ban for a member of the baseball coaching staff who had sent impermissible text messages to multiple recruits.
Football violations included a student-athlete who received his scholarship check prematurely, a coach who prematurely accepted Facebook friending requests from two recruits, an impermissible text message sent to a PSA's father and impermissible documents provided to PSAs.