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A former University of Florida assistant football coach visited a prospect off-campus before NCAA rules allow for recruiting contact, according to a decision issued by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. The contact with the prospect resulted in the school receiving a recruiting advantage. In its decision, the panel noted that contacts of this nature exceed the boundaries of permissible recruiting and are a serious issue for the membership.

The school immediately suspended the former coach and ended recruitment of the prospect. The panel determined the corrective actions and penalties self-imposed by the school were appropriate and assigned no additional penalties or measures.

Before the former coach talked with the prospect, he was notified by a recruiting service reporter that the prospect would be waiting outside of his high school when they arrived. Once the former coach was at the high school, he spoke with the prospect, let him know the school wanted the prospect to be a part of their football program and got the prospect’s social media contact information.

The panel determined the former coach’s contact with the prospect was a Level II violation because it was not inadvertent and provided more than a minimal recruiting advantage. Specifically, the former coach was able to get the prospect’s contact information at a time when coaches who were following the rules were unable to have the same level of contact.

Penalties and corrective actions self-imposed by the school and adopted by the panel include:

A suspension of the former coach from all off-campus recruiting for 30 days beginning on April 10, 2014.

The end of recruitment of the prospect involved in the contact.

Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Greg Christopher, athletics director at Xavier University; Bobby Cremins, former head men's basketball coach Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., attorney; Eleanor W. Myers, chief hearing officer and law professor and faculty athletics representative at Temple University; Jim O’Fallon, law professor and faculty athletics representative at the University of Oregon; and Sankar Suryanarayan, university counsel, Princeton University.