The University of Alabama has self-reported 13 secondary NCAA violations, AL.com reported Friday.
The violations are considered minor and very unlikely to lead to any sort of NCAA punishment. These types of infractions are reported pretty often by NCAA compliance employees at every university.
Among the 13 secondary violations, though, were five related to football. Again, these are from the AL.com report:
- A player promoted or endorsed a product on social media.
- A player received more scholarship money than he should’ve due to a computer entry error.
- A coach accidentally responded to a text message from a recruit.
- A player, likely DeSherrius Flowers, received financial aid and practiced with the team before Alabama realized he did not qualify academically.
- A player’s friend sold his complimentary tickets.
Violations of these types usually result in such punishments as “letters of admonishment,” temporary restrictions on talking to recruits or the required repayment of funds.
While none of these violations make the NCAA look especially silly, which happens regularly, it’s a reminder of just how overpoliced college athletics can seem at times. If a coach accidentally replies to a recruit’s text message, he’s banned from recruiting for weeks and then included on an official report to the NCAA.
It’s also hard to believe the conspiracy theorists out there who claim that there are still massive violations and under-the-table money when every last minor detail is monitored and recorded.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
