The NCAA announced sanctions against Florida on Tuesday after it was determined that the football program violated recruiting contact rules on two occasions. Both the school and the NCAA also agreed that head coach Dan Mullen did not promote an atmosphere of compliance.
It was determined that Mullen and a Gators assistant coach had impermissible in-person contact with a prospect when they met with the prospect’s coach while the high school player was in the room. Mullen and his assistant expressed interest in recruiting the prospect during that meeting. Mullen was also found to have sent texts to the prospect in advance of the meeting. Off-campus recruiting contacts are not allowed until after a player’s junior year of high school.
The NCAA and University of Florida also found that Mullen’s staff had impermissible contact with approximately 127 prospects when seven nonscholastic football teams visited the Florida campus and toured the team’s facility on their way to a tournament in Tampa Bay.
As a result, Mullen has received a one-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA. The head coach has been prohibited from all off-campus recruiting activity during the fall 2020 evaluation period and a four-day off-campus recruiting ban during the fall 2021 contact period.
Several other penalties were also handed out, as outlined by the NCAA’s press release.
The violations cap off a rough week for Florida, which lost to Alabama 52-46 in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday night. Mullen recently expressed frustration with the College Football Playoff, though his Gators would have gotten in if they beat Alabama.
