Arizona State University likes to tout itself as No. 1 in innovation.
It’s now also No. 1 on another much more dubious list after the NCAA handed out penalties last week to the football program after an investigation into recruiting violations under former coach Herm Edwards: No. 1 for NCAA infractions.
The Sun Devils athletic department has now been penalized 10 times by the NCAA for major infractions, according to the NCAA Legislative Services database, tying SMU for the top spot on the list. No other school has been penalized more in the history of the NCAA.
Texas A&M is third, with nine penalties, with a slew of schools right behind the Aggies with eight (Auburn, Baylor, Florida State, Alabama, Memphis, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wichita State).
The University of Arizona is down the list with six infractions.
No. 1 in what?NCAA finally drops hammer on Arizona State football for recruiting violations
Jan. 8, 1954 – Improper financial aid; improper recruiting transportation, tryouts; outside funds.
Oct. 27, 1959 – Improper recruiting employment, inducements, lodging and transportation.
Dec. 31, 1980 – Improper financial aid; extra benefits; complimentary tickets; improper recruiting contacts, entertainment, inducements and transportation; tryouts; excessive number of official visits; academic fraud; unethical conduct; outside fund; institutional control; certification of compliance.
April 18, 1985 – Improper financial aid; lodging and transportation.
March 18, 1986 – Extra benefits; out-of-season practice; improper recruiting contacts, inducements, lodging and transportation; tryouts; excessive number of official visits; unethical conduct.
Nov. 10, 1988 – Improper financial aid; extra benefits consisting of money, transportation and lodging; false qualifying time provided for championship.
June 25, 1997 – Impermissible transportation and meal provided to student-athletes; improper lodging, transportation and meal provided to prospective student-athletes and a relative; unethical conduct.
Nov. 10, 2005 – Impermissible benefits; impermissible financial aid; unethical conduct and a lack of institutional control. Impermissible benefits and financial aid provided to a football student-athlete by a former member of the institution’s athletics compliance staff.
Dec. 15, 2010 – Violations of NCAA legislation in the baseball program involving recruiting infractions, including use of an impermissible recruiter and excessive telephone calls. Also violations involving coaching staff limitations and paying student-athletes for work not performed.
More:Arizona State football investigation by the NCAA could finally be nearing an end
On Friday, April 19, 2024, the NCAA and ASU announced penalties for the ASU football program after an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations by the Arizona State football staff during the COVID pandemic.
The agreed-upon penalties include four years of probation for the school, a fine, a self-imposed postseason ban for the 2023 football season (which already had been announced last year), vacating records for contests in which ineligible student-athletes competed, scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-mitigated classification for the school.
The school disassociated an involved booster for a period of five years. The individuals also agreed to or did not contest show-cause orders ranging from three to 10 years consistent with the Level I-aggravated classifications of their respective violations.
“ASU is disappointed and embarrassed by the actions of certain former football staff members who took advantage of a global pandemic to hide their behavior,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement Friday. “Integrity is a core value of everything we do at Arizona State University and that includes Sun Devil Athletics. ASU took quick and decisive action upon learning of potential violations and cooperated fully with the NCAA from start to finish in a way that the enforcement staff described as a ‘model for all institutions to follow.'”
Other schools just might not want to follow ASU’s track record in NCAA infractions over the years.
Michelle Gardner contributed to this story.
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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