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NCAA levies punishment on Youngstown State for violations under ex-head coach Bo Pelini
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Youngstown State University is facing some penalties after the NCAA ruled that the school failed to appropriately monitor the football program. The violations occurred while Bo Pelini was the team’s head coach.
The NCAA described the violations as “an assistant coach having impermissible contacts with a prospect” before the program “permitted three football staff members to recruit off-campus without completing the coaches certification test.”
Per the NCAA, Youngstown State will pay a $5,000 penalty and will have a two-year probation period. There will also be a two-week ban on official and unofficial recruiting visits and well as recruiting communication before the academic year ends.
The assistant coach who committed the violations was suspended from coaching duties and was not permitted to participate in any recruiting, according to the NCAA. The assistant was unnamed.
The assistant coach had over three dozen impermissible contacts with the student-athlete, who was enrolled at a Division II school. No permission had been granted from prospect’s school at the time to contact Youngstown State. That prospect also made official and unofficial visits to campus, which were also violations.
Pelini believed the player had entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal and informed the assistant that was the case. The prospect also believed he had entered the portal, but the Division II level of the NCAA had not adopted the process at the time.
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