The Texas A&M football program has been placed on one-year probation and Coach Jimbo Fisher has been given a six-month show-cause for violating NCAA recruiting rules between January 2018 and February 2019.
According to a release from the NCAA, Fisher and an unidentified Aggie assistant contacted a high school prospect before the completion of his junior year, a violation of recruiting rules.
Texas A&M has admitted that the assistant was former running backs coach Jay Graham, who left after the 2019 season to join the staff at Tennessee.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions released the following penalties for Fisher and the Texas A&M program Thursday:
- One years of probation.
- A fine of $5,000.
- A reduction in football official visits by 17 days during the 2019-20 academic year.
- An off-campus recruiting ban for the entire football coaching staff for November 2019, which reduced the permissible evaluation days for the 2019-20 academic year by 19.
- A seven-day off-campus recruiting ban for the football coaching staff for the 2020 spring off-campus recruiting period and a 10-day off-campus recruiting ban for the football coaching staff for the 2020 fall off-campus recruiting period.
- The university ended its recruitment of the prospect.
- A ban on recruiting any prospects from the prospect’s high school for the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-222 academic years.
- A six-month show-cause order for the head coach. The terms of the show-cause order include a previously served nine-day ban on phone calls, emails or texts with prospects in January 2020; a reduction in off-campus recruiting contact days by three for the December 2019 through January 2020 contact period; a ban on all off-campus recruiting activities for the fall 2020 contact period; additional one-on-one rules education; and a public statement from the head coach addressing the violations.
In response, Fisher released a statement via the university.
“As Texas A&M’s Head Football Coach, I am responsible for promoting and monitoring for NCAA compliance in our program. While I am disappointed in the violations, including an unintended one that resulted from a conversation with a high school athlete, it is still my responsibility to ensure we are adhering to each and every rule,” Fisher said. “I am pleased to have this matter completely behind our program and look forward to continuing our efforts to make every aspect of our program one all Aggies can continue to be proud of.”
Fisher is going into his third season at Texas A&M, where he has led the Aggies to a 17-9 overall record and a 9-7 record in the Southeastern Conference.