The NCAA has announced a one-game suspension for Sooners running backs coach DeMarco Murray.
An investigation found that recruiting violations were committed by Murray when he contacted prospects and their families prior to the permissible contact period.
Oklahoma and the NCAA enforcement staff agreed that violations took place when Murray impermissibly contacted a total of 17 prospects during a 16-month span. In that time, he made a total of 65 illegal phone calls and sent 36 impermissible text messages.
Murray shared with enforcement staff that he was not aware that a COVID-19 waiver of recruiting contact rules had expired, however, the NCAA investigation determined that the school and head coach Brent Venables had properly educated assistants on the recruiting rules and the timing changes.
Because of that, NCAA enforcement found that a suspension for Venables, who is presumed responsible for the actions of his staff, was not appropriate.
From the NCAA release:
Head coaches are presumed responsible for the actions of their staff, and as a result, Venables violated head coach responsibility rules. In this case, however, some of the violations occurred prior to rules changes effective in January 2023 that shifted head coach responsibility rules from a rebuttable presumption to automatic. Because Venables was not personally involved in the violations and demonstrated that he promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his staff, Venables rebutted his presumed responsibility for some of the earlier violations. For the same reasons, the parties also agreed that a suspension penalty for Venables was not appropriate.
The school has already self-imposed a number of penalties, including a 20% reduction in football recruiting days, no correspedence with involved prospects from during August of last year, and a reduction of Murray's recruiting days from 16 to 8 and no off campus recruiting during the 2023 evaluation period.
In addition those, the football program is also prohibited from unofficial visits during the first game of the 2024 season.
Read the full NCAA release here, and stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.