NCAA News Wire
NCAA extends Georgia Tech’s probation
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
A two-year investigation into impermissible telephone calls and text messages has resulted in the NCAA extending Georgia Tech’s probation for another two years.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as the football team made hundreds of calls and texts to recruits in 2011 and 2012, an investigation by the school and NCAA reveals.
In a statement, the NCAA said Georgia Tech “failed to monitor its sports programs.” In total, nine of the school’s programs were cited for making at least 478 impermissible phone calls and sending at 299 text messages to recruits.
The NCAA said most of the violations involved men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football from March 2011 to March 2012. The men’s basketball team was cited for making calls just three days after meeting with the NCAA in April 2011, the NCAA said.
According to the Atlanta Business Journal, Georgia Tech issued self-imposed penalties for each program for the 2012-13 seasons. They included recruiting restrictions, suspending three men’s basketball assistant coaches for one conference game and suspending two women’s assistant coaches for three conference games.
On Thursday, the NCAA recommended extending the school’s probation until June 13, 2017.
The NCAA instituted new rules in 2012, but the Georgia Tech violations occurred before then.
