Arizona State and four individuals who previously worked for the school's football program have reached an agreement with the NCAA enforcement staff on recruiting violations that occurred within the program and the appropriate penalties for those violations. A Committee on Infractions panel has approved the agreement. Two individuals are contesting portions of their respective cases via written record hearing. After the written record hearing, the committee will release its full decision.
The agreed-upon violations included impermissible in-person recruiting contacts during the COVID-19 dead period, recruiting inducements, impermissible tryouts and tampering. The negotiated resolution also involved the parties' agreement that the underlying violations demonstrated unethical conduct by involved individuals and a head coach responsibility violation. Several involved individuals also failed to meet their legislated responsibility to cooperate throughout the investigative phase of this case. The school also agreed that it failed to monitor its football program.
"Arizona State's cooperation throughout the investigation and processing of this case was exemplary, and the cooperation began with the leadership shown by the university president," said Jason Leonard, executive director of athletics compliance at Oklahoma and chief hearing officer for the Committee on Infractions panel. "The school's acceptance of responsibility and decision to self-impose meaningful core penalties is a model for all schools to follow and is consistent with the expectations of the NCAA's infractions program."
The committee will not discuss further details in the case to protect the integrity of the ongoing process, as the committee's final decision — including potential violations and penalties for other involved individuals — is still pending.
By separating the cases, the Division I Committee on Infractions publicly acknowledges the infractions case and permits the school and the other parties to the agreement to immediately begin serving their penalties while awaiting the committee's final decision on the remaining contested portions of the case. That decision will include any findings and penalties pertaining to the two individuals who are processing their cases via written record. This is the fifth case where the committee has used multiple resolution paths.
The agreed-upon penalties in this case include four years of probation for the school, a fine, a self-imposed postseason ban for the 2023 football season, vacation of records for contests in which ineligible student-athletes competed, scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-mitigated classification for the school. Additionally, the school disassociated an involved booster for a period of five years. The individuals also agreed to or did not contest show-cause orders ranging from three to 10 years consistent with the Level I-aggravated classifications of their respective violations.
