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Notre Dame football hit with NCAA recruiting violations

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 29: Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick and Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish speak following the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Notre Dame Stadium on September 29, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 29: Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick and Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish speak following the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Notre Dame Stadium on September 29, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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On Thursday, January 21st, the NCAA hit the Notre Dame football program with recruiting violations. No, the program wasn’t giving out McDonald’s bags filled with cash, as is alleged was happening under Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee.

Rather, these are very minor violations.

However, the NCAA did hand down an eight-part punishment relating to the violations:

  1. One year probation
  2. $5,000 fine
  3. A six-month show-cause order to the unnamed, now-former assistant coach charged with the violations, and a one-game suspension for said coach at his current school
  4. Reduction of official visits by one in 2020-21
  5. Reduction of unofficial visit period by fourteen days in 2020-21
  6. A seven-day recruiting ban for all staff in 2020-21
  7. University ended recruitment of unnamed prospect
  8. University may not recruit players from the same high school until the end of the 2021-22 academic year

It sounds like a lot, but it’s not, and that’s because the violations were incredibly minor. Essentially, a former Notre Dame assistant met with a recruit from Seattle, at his high school, before July 1st. The meeting, being a recruiting meeting, was a violation due to the time frame it occurred after the school year ended but before that July 1st date.

The same assistant also exchanged text messages deemed to be impermissible on ten occasions. Furthermore, Brian Kelly posed for a photo with an unnamed recruit, which is considered a violation as well. All of this is considered a Level III violation.

It is also being rumored that the recruit in question was the same one who Florida received a similar penalty for recruiting.

For his part, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick had this to say:

As far as the punishment goes, Notre Dame won’t be hurt in any substantial way. These were very minor violations, and as such the Irish basically lose a chance to recruit one player to the extent they’d like to this season because they overrecruited a couple of seasons ago.

How does this affect Notre Dame football going forward?

However, given the punishment is for the 2020-21 year, and no one can have any visits on campus at all due to COVID-19, these punishments won’t hurt Notre Dame much. Furthermore, a week of not being able to recruit off-campus stinks, but it will more than likely just adjust when coaches take a week off.

Still, when you think about being punished for taking a photo with a recruit, it reminds you how much NCAA overreach there is in college athletics. No, it’s not as bad as what they did to UMass women’s tennis, who earned $252 in impermissible benefits related to reimbursement for a phone jack at an off-campus apartment.

UMass self-reported, but that still didn’t matter. The NCAA fined them $5,000, put them on two years probation, and scrubbed two seasons’ worth of wins, including an A-10 Championship-over a $252 error.

Next. 2020 review: Notre Dame football stymies the North Carolina run game. dark

NCAA overreach is ridiculous, and they look to punish the vulnerable who can’t fight back. No, taking a photo with a recruit or texting him during the wrong astrological sign shouldn’t be penalties, but they are. These are minor penalties and minor punishments, but if Notre Dame football isn’t careful while on probation for a year, they could become major penalties.

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