Florida State’s football program is getting put in the penalty box by the NCAA over NIL violations.
The NCAA announced Thursday that the violation occurred when an assistant coach for the program “facilitated an impermissible recruiting contact between a transfer prospect and a booster.”
Yahoo Sports identified the assistant coach as offensive coordinator Alex Atkins.
In the new Wild West of college sports, boosters are allowed to sign athletes to endorsement deals, but these arrangements are not permitted to be facilitated by coaches or athletic department administrators, and boosters are not supposed to be involved in the recruitment process.
The NCAA also concluded that the assistant “violated ethical conduct rules when he provided false or misleading information about his involvement in the arranged meeting”.
The violation was acknowledged by Florida State and the assistant coach, who “transported the prospect and his parents to and from an off-campus meeting with a booster”.
The athlete was offered about $15,000 a month for his first year with the program by the Florida State NIL collective.
The athlete ultimately decided to remain with his previous school.
Florida State was hit with two years’ probation, and Atkins is suspended for the team’s next three games as well as receiving a two-year show cause and a two-week stretch where he is restricted from recruiting.
He is also not allowed to recruit off-campus in the Fall.
The booster must disassociate from the program for three years, and the collective must disassociate for one year.
The school also faces a five percent reduction in scholarships — a total of about five — and there are some additional restrictions on recruit visits to the program as well as recruiting communications.
The consensus among some close observers of college football is that Florida State is getting dinged for something everyone has been doing.
“If an FSU assistant introducing a transfer to a school collective is the new standard of cheating then I think we can go ahead an vacate the entire 2023 season,” tweeted Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel.