Luck of the Irish: Notre Dame football committed recruiting violations

A few weeks after Notre Dame was in the College Football Playoff fighting for a national championship, the program is now fighting NCAA recruiting violations.

On Thursday, the NCAA revealed that the football program committed recruiting violations, having impermissible contact with prospects. The association released a statement, saying a former assistant football coach spoke with a recruit privately at his high school before July 1.

The assistant coach also exchanged text messages with another prospect on 10 occasions, which was a violation, as well. There’s also a Level III recruiting violation involving head football coach Brian Kelly who took a photo with a recruit while visiting the student’s high school during the fall evaluation period.

Here are the penalties Notre Dame is facing, per the NCAA:

• One year of probation.
• $5,000 fine.
• Six-month show-cause order for the former assistant football coach, including a one-game suspension at any employing member school.
• Reduced football official visits for the 2020-21 academic year by one.
• Reduced football unofficial visits by 14 days for the 2020-21 academic year.
• A seven-day off-campus recruiting ban for the entire football staff during the 2020-21 academic year.
• The university ended the recruitment of the prospect.
• The university will not recruit any prospects from the high school in Seattle from the 2019-20 through 2021-22 academic years.

Notre Dame finished the 2020 college football season with a 10-2 record and appeared in the College Football Playoff for the second time under Kelly. The Irish played in the ACC due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can view the NCAA’s release here.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB