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Gators moving on after NCAA decides not to impose penalty post-infraction
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Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and the Gators properly handled a former assistant’s recruiting violation in 2014 and will not be penalized, the NCAA Committee of Infractions announced Friday.
The NCAA determined Florida wide receivers coach Joker Phillips committed a Level II violation, defined as a ‘significant breach of conduct’ during a recruiting visit. The Gators stopped recruiting the star prospect, Phillips was relieved of his recruiting duties and later resigned.
Several reports have linked Phillips to a recruiting service reporter who tipped him off last January that the player was available for contact. Phillips, nor the writer, were named in the NCAA’s report.
Foley’s official statement on the NCAA’s findings:
“The University of Florida Athletic Association takes pride in the culture of compliance it has built over the years. Integrity is one of the core values of our organization – we act in a fair, ethical and honest manner and we strive to do things the right way every day,” he said in a school release.
“That is why we took quick and decisive action after we learned of a recruiting contact rule violation involving one of our assistant football coaches in January 2014. We stopped recruiting the involved student-athlete, we removed the assistant coach from all recruiting activities, and later secured his resignation.
“We thank the NCAA Committee on Infractions for their thoughtful deliberation. We look forward to putting this issue behind us and we will continue to operate with the highest level of integrity and compliance.”
This is Florida’s 1st major NCAA violation since 1990. Gators had been longest without one in SEC. Longest now is Vanderbilt (1992).
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) February 20, 2015
Half of SEC’s 14 members have had an NCAA major violation in past 6 years. No SEC postseason ban since Miss St FB in 2004.
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) February 20, 2015
