The recruiting violations have officially come home to roost for one FBS assistant coach.
The NCAA announced Friday that Bo Davis was found by the Committee on Infractions to have “acted unethically when he provided false or misleading information about impermissible recruiting contacts.” In late April of last year, reports surfaced that Davis was expected to resign or be fired as Alabama’s defensive line coach after the school opened an inquiry into possible NCAA violations on the recruiting trail. The nature of the violations were not revealed, but the NCAA had launched investigations into the matter and Alabama opened its own corresponding inquiry.
A day later, the Tide announced that Davis had, ahem, “submitted his letter of resignation.”
In its decision, which you can read in its entirety HERE, the NCAA detailed Davis’ recruiting violations:
- Between December 1, 2014, and January 31, 2015, the athletics representative, who was the mother of a then Alabama football student-athlete, contacted the head football coach at the high school to arrange a meeting. Once the athletics representative arrived at the high school, she asked to meet with four football prospective student-athletes (prospects 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively). The athletics representative initially met with the four prospects for approximately 10 to 15 minutes and [Davis] later joined the meeting for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. The impermissible contact lasted a total of 25 to 35 minutes, occurred at least six months prior to the permissible timeframe for an off-campus contact with prospect 3 and at least 18 months prior to the permissible time frame for off-campus contacts with prospects 1, 2 and 4.
- During his September 23, 2015, and April 25, 2016, interviews with the enforcement staff and institution, [Davis] provided false or misleading information when he denied knowledge of the athletics representative’s involvement with and her presence during [Davis’] visit to the high school detailed in Violation No. 1. In both interviews, [Davis] denied seeing the athletics representative at the high school and denied that she had any involvement in his visit outlined in Violation No. 1-a. [Davis’] statements are in direct contradiction to information reported to the institution and enforcement staff by two involved football prospects and the high school’s head football coach, as well as some of [Davis’] own statements during his May 2, 2016, interview.
Because of the violations as well as being untruthful with investigators, Davis has been slapped with a two-year show-cause penalty. Davis contested the length of the penalty, but “the panel determined the penalty was appropriate because the former assistant coach had a responsibility as a part of the NCAA membership to provide truthful information during the investigation and he failed to do so during the interviews.”
Davis will be barred from all off-campus recruiting activities during the two years the show-cause is in place. He was hired in late February by UT-San Antonio as the football program’s defensive line coach. It’s unclear what if any impact the NCAA’s decision will have on his employment.
Additionally, the NCAA found that Alabama “committed Level III recruiting violations when a second former assistant football coach had impermissible off-campus contact with a recruit during an evaluation period and members of the football staff impermissibly allowed a prospect’s youth football coach to attend a recruiting visit at the prospect’s home.” The names of those involved weren’t revealed.
Alabama self-imposed penalties related to those activities, placing recruiting restrictions on those involved; disassociating itself from “a representative of the institution’s athletics interests” (a booster; and fining itself $5,000. The NCAA has accepted those self-imposed penalties, and will not add to them.