Texas Tech reported recruiting violations to the NCAA last summer pertaining to three sports: softball, men’s golf and football.
The violations concern text messaging prospective student-athletes before those athletes sign their National Letters of Intent or during the recruiting process.
“Our compliance staff found the violations and we reported our violations to the NCAA,” Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers said. “So we have self-imposed penalties on those different sports.”
Myers said penalties include things such as restricted contacts and phone calls.
But while Tech has self-imposed penalties, the NCAA could impose more depending on what happens to the case.
“The NCAA is looking into it,” Myers said. “They may accept what we’ve imposed.”
Myers said it is difficult to gauge how long the NCAA’s investigation will take. As of Saturday, he said the NCAA has not yet contacted Tech about the case, but the NCAA is aware of the violations.
The 2009-2010 NCAA Division I Manual states in its bylaws, “Electronically transmitted correspondence that may be sent to a prospective student-athlete (or the prospective student-athlete’s parents or legal guardians) is limited to electronic mail and facsimiles. All other forms of electronically transmitted correspondence (e.g., Instant messenger, text messaging) are prohibited.”
The 2009-2010 NCAA Division I Manual also states, “After the calendar day on which a prospective student-athlete signs a National Letter of Intent, there shall be no limit on the forms of electronically transmitted correspondence sent to the prospective student-athlete or his or her parents or legal guardians by the institution with which the prospective student-athlete has signed.”
The NCAA banned text messaging recruits in 2007.
“That’s the way it’s supposed to work,” Myers said. “You discover that you have some coaches or anyone else that violate any rules, if you discover it, then you need to report it. We did report it.”
1 comments