The NCAA announced penalties Thursday, including a six-month warrant for coach Jimbo Fisher, against the Texas A&M program on Thursday for multiple violations.
According to the NCAA statement, Texas A&M “violated NCAA recruiting rules and accounting activities related to sports between January 2018 and February 2019,” and Fisher “violated the head coach’s liability rules. of the NCAA. ” The punishments stem from an incident in which Fisher and an assistant had inadmissible recruiting contact with a player at his high school. The contact violated NCAA rules because it happened before the player had completed his third year of high school.
The assistant named in the statement is Jay Graham, who currently serves as a running coach in Tennessee. Following the announcement of his involvement in the violations while at Texas A&M, Tennessee issued a statement of his own in support of Graham, noting that they were informed of the violations during the process of incorporating him into the Volunteer program.
“During Coach Jay Graham’s hiring process, we learned of the circumstances at his previous institution and thoroughly investigated him in accordance with NCAA and SEC statutes,” the statement read. “We established and maintain extremely high confidence in Coach Graham’s commitment to compliance and we are proud to have it on our staff.”
In addition to the recruitment violation highlighted in the statement, Texas A&M and Fisher were found not to ensure that the program remained within the allowable number of countable hours of activity.
The NCAA ultimately ruled that Fisher “did not promote an atmosphere of compliance due to his personal involvement in the recruitment violation” and that “he did not supervise his staff when he failed to ensure that the program remained within the permitted number of people related to athletics accounting hours of activity. “
“As the Texas A&M soccer head coach, I am responsible for promoting and monitoring NCAA compliance in our program,” Fisher said in a statement released by the school. “While I am disappointed in the violations, including an unintentional one that resulted from a conversation with a high school athlete, it is still my responsibility to make sure I follow each and every rule. I am pleased to have this matter completely behind our program and we look forward to continuing our efforts to make every aspect of our program one that all Aggies can be proud of. “
The terms of Fisher’s six-month program case stemming from the violations read as follows:
The terms of the show-cause order include a previously enforced nine-day ban on prospective phone calls, emails, or text messages in January 2020; a reduction of three days of off-campus recruiting contact for the contact period from December 2019 to January 2020; a ban on all off-campus recruiting activities for the Fall 2020 contact period; additional education on one-to-one rules; and a public statement from the head coach addressing the violations.
The remaining penalties imposed against Texas A&M include one year of probation, a $ 5,000 fine, and an off-campus recruitment ban for the coaching staff that took place in November 2019. The school was also forced to end its recruitment from player and any recruiting high school player will not be allowed to recruit until the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Fisher has been with Texas A&M for two seasons, going 17-9 overall and 9-7 in SEC play. His last two Texas A&M recruiting classes have finished in the top six of 247Sports’ composite rankings. The 2021 school class currently ranks 27th nationally.
The entire NCAA publication can be read here.
