BREAKING: NCAA finds that LSU committed recruiting violations under previous staff, faces one year of probation
The NCAA found on Thursday that the LSU football program committed several Level II violations under the previous coaching staff. In a press release, it announced one year of probation — albeit, with minor penalties — for the Tigers football team.
The violations stem from impermissible contact with recruits from former offensive line coach James Cregg and an unnamed recruiting staffer. In September 2020, during the NCAA’s temporary COVID-19 recruiting dead period, Cregg and/or the staffer met with recruits and their families while on campus.
Per the temporary dead period, players were not allowed to have in-person contact with coaches or undertake official or unofficial visits. However, they were permitted to organize informal visits to campus, so long as they didn’t have contact with the coaching staff.
The NCAA found that Cregg and the recruiting staffer violated these rules by meeting with players. Cregg allegedly gave one player a box of LSU gear from his house, which is also a violation.
Here are the details:
In September 2020, the mother of a football prospect arranged an informal visit to LSU’s campus for 14 prospects. Football coaching staff were aware that a large group of prospects planned to visit campus, and the day before the prospects arrived, school compliance staff met with football staff — including the former assistant coach and former assistant director of recruiting — to review NCAA recruiting rules, emphasizing that staff could not have any in-person contact with recruits. The mother of one prospect planned to relocate to Baton Rouge if her son attended LSU and requested recommendations for potential neighborhoods to visit. The former assistant coach recommended several neighborhoods including his own, provided directions to his neighborhood, and arranged to greet the prospect and his family as they drove through the neighborhood, thus violating dead period rules. During that encounter with the prospect and his family, the assistant coach also provided the prospect with a bag of used LSU gear he had gathered from his house before he left, which violated NCAA rules prohibiting recruiting inducements.
The following weekend, that prospect and his family returned to LSU’s campus on a previously planned trip. During this second visit, the former assistant director of recruiting picked up the prospect and his girlfriend from their hotel and drove them to the stadium for a tour, which violated NCAA rules for in-person contact during a dead period and also violated countable coaches rules because of the off-campus recruiting contact by a noncoaching staff member. The free transportation to campus also violated NCAA rules prohibiting recruiting inducements. Later that day or the following day, the former assistant director of recruiting returned to the prospect’s hotel and delivered several items of used LSU gear for the prospect, again violating NCAA rules prohibiting recruiting inducements.
During that second trip to Baton Rouge, the prospect and his family again drove through the former assistant coach’s neighborhood. The assistant coach was in contact with the prospect’s mother as they approached and stood outside his home to meet the family for a brief conversation — another violation of NCAA rules for in-person contact during a dead period. Both the assistant coach and assistant recruiting director acknowledged that they knew their conduct was impermissible.
“Although the [committee] has encountered more egregious conduct in past cases, the violations in this case represent intentional misconduct that should be of concern to the membership,” the Division I Committee on Infractions panel said in a statement. “The COVID-19 recruiting dead period was intended to protect the health and safety of prospects, student-athletes and institutional staff. It also leveled the playing field for recruiting at a time when government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions varied across the country.”
The NCAA acknowledges that it has seen more severe infractions, and the penalties are reflected of that. LSU will pay a small fine and face minor recruiting limitations, all of which were self-imposed. The only non-self-imposed penalty was a three-year show-cause order for Cregg.
The show-cause allows for Cregg to be employed by an NCAA institution during the period, but he cannot engage in off-campus recruiting activities without approval.
Here’s the full rundown of the penalties
Cregg — who is currently the assistant offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers — was fired in June 2021 by LSU as a result of the allegations, but at the time, he hadn’t had any accusations officially levied against him. In the Notice of Allegations the football and basketball programs received from the NCAA in March, Cregg was not mentioned.
He sued the university for wrongful termination and won. He was awarded nearly $500,000 just last month.
In the NCAA’s release, it says it also looked into a possible Level III violation against former head coach Ed Orgeron. Before the pandemic, Orgeron was reportedly at a high school during a designated evaluation period when he was approached by two prospects.
Orgeron greeted them but said he couldn’t talk further with them. The NCAA found that since the interaction didn’t go beyond pleasantries, no violation occurred.
This isn’t the only issue with the NCAA that the university is dealing with, as further violations against previous basketball coach Will Wade also resulted in his dismissal. However, with this issue resolved in a way that shouldn’t impact the program in a major way, there is now quite a big weight off LSU’s shoulders.
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