The NCAA announced today that the Texas A&M football program violated NCAA recruiting and countable athletically related activity rules and the program is being put on a one-year probation. The violations took place under Jimbo Fisher from January 2018 through February 2019, the Committee on Infractions concluded.
Among the things shared in the NCAA's findings are Jimbo Fisher and an assistant coach had impermissable recruiting contact with a prospect, and that activities during spring and summer periods went over the allowed amount of time by about seven hours.
The findings from the NCAA state that Fisher "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance because of his personal involvement in the recruiting violation. The agreement also said the head coach failed to monitor his staff when he did not ensure the program was staying within the allowable number of countable athletically related activity hours."
Fisher has been hit with a six-month show-cause order that include a previously served nine-day ban on phone calls, emails, and texts with prospects in January of 2020 as well as a three-day reduction in off-campus recruiting contact, a ban on all off-campus recruiting activities for the fall of 2020 contact period, additional rules education, and a public statement from Fisher addressing the violations.
A six-month show-cause was also issued for a former Aggie assistant coach
Texas A&M says the assistant coach involved in the recruiting violations at A&M with Jimbo Fisher is former assistant Jay Graham, who's now at Tennessee. Graham will also have a 6-month show-cause thru the end of 2020.
— Alex Miller (@AlexMill20) July 2, 2020
" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">now being identified as Jay Graham - who has since left for a position at Tennessee. Other penalties are included in a screen shot below. Keep in mind that COVID-19 has already had a significant impact on recruiting with an extended dead period, and the panel who handed down the penalties took that into account and encouraged the school to report any challenges with the aforementioned penalties to the NCAA. Here is the full statement from the NCAA.