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‘Wrong number’ rings up recruiting violation for Richt

5:00 am January 19, 2011, by Tim Tucker

ATHENS –  Mark Richt returned a missed telephone call, thinking the number belonged to the mother of an East Hall High School football player Georgia is recruiting.

Instead, the number belonged to a younger football player at North Hall High School.

So what, you ask?

So the mistake constituted an NCAA secondary violation that resulted in Richt being banned from calling recruits for a week last September.

This glimpse into the minutiae — some would say silliness — of the NCAA rulebook was revealed in 40 pages of documents released Tuesday by UGA in response to an open-records request from the AJC.

The documents show that Georgia reported 14 secondary violations of NCAA rules in eight sports in the last six months of 2010.  (Secondary violations are defined as inadvertent rule-breaking that does not result in a significant competitive advantage. ) Richt’s phone call was typical of Georgia’s self-reported minor violations.

Here’s how it occurred, according to a Sept. 3 letter from UGA athletic director Greg McGarity to SEC commissioner Mike Slive:

… On Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 . . .  Coach Richt was on a call with a another prospective student-athlete (PSA) when he missed a call from a senior PSA’s mother (Mr. Sterling Bailey from East Hall High School in Georgia). The mother’s cell phone had a 678 area code. While he was checking the voicemail left by Ms. Bailey, Coach Richt missed another call from a 678 area code. After he listened to Ms. Bailey’s message, Coach Richt hit the send button for what he thought was Ms. Bailey. When a male’s voice answered the phone, Coach Richt was surprised and asked if it was Sterling, thinking he was calling Ms. Bailey and [her son] answered; however, the person answering the phone told him he had the wrong number. When Coach asked who it was, the individual said it was C.J. Curry (a junior PSA from North Hall High School in Georgia). Once Coach Richt realized who it was, he ended the call and self-reported the violation to the Compliance Office.

The NCAA determined that a violation, indeed, occurred because Richt’s call to Curry was placed prior to Sept. 1 of Curry’s senior year of high school, “which is contrary to the provisions of Bylaws 13.1.3.1 and 13.1.3.1.2.” The SEC and NCAA accepted Georgia’s proposed penalties: Richt was not allowed to call any recruits for a period of one week, and Georgia was banned from sending any general correspondence to Curry for 30 days and staff members will be banned from contacting him for the first 30 days after he otherwise could be contacted.

Both Bailey and Curry have verbally committed to Georgia, Bailey for the 2011 signing class and Curry for 2012.

Other secondary violations revealed in the documents released Tuesday include:

  • Assistant football coach Warren Belin sent a text message from his cell phone to a recruit when he intended to send an e-mail. (E-mails are permitted; texts are not.)
  • Assistant track and field coach Don Babbitt wrote on the Facebook wall of a recruit, seeking contact information. Babbitt said he thought he was using the e-mail feature rather than posting to the wall.
  • Head swimming coach Jack Bauerle and assistant swimming coach Jerry Champer made two separate phone calls to the same recruit on the same night after she called about her scholarship paperwork.
  • A volleyball staff member sent recruiting materials by priority mail, rather than regular mail.
  • A member of the equestrian team appeared in a congratulatory ad in a national equestrian magazine.

– Tim Tucker, UGA blog

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213 comments Add your comment

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:21 am

Kirby has learned well…We sign 45 his first year.

Bill King is a..............

January 19th, 2011
8:21 am

And Auburn pays Cam Newton’s dad 180k and gets no punishment from NCAA or SEC. Richt makes one mistake in accidentally calling the wrong person and gets suspended for one week in calling recruits. This is HIGHLY SCREWED UP

STEINER

January 19th, 2011
8:23 am

MAN, THIS IS A BIGGIE….TIME FOR A CHANGE WITH THE NCAA….FOR A WRONG NUMBER, THE HEAD COACH CAN’T CALL FOR A WEEK….BUT OHIO STATE GETS TO PLAY 5 IN A BOWL GAME WHEN THEY HAVE BLATANTLY BROKEN THE RULES….IF THE PLAYERS DON’T COME BACK NEXT YEAR, THEY GET NO PUNISHMENT….CECIL ACTS AS AN AGENT TO SHAKE DOWN MISS. STATE, BUT ALAS, SCAM KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT SO HE IS FREE TO WALK AFTER 1 DAY OF INELIGIBILITY….AND IF ANYONE BELIEVES THAT CECIL GAVE UP ON HIS SHAKE DOWN TACTICS AFTER MISS. STATE, YOU’RE NOT LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD…WASN’T IT SCAM THAT TOLD THE COACHES AT MISS. STATE, “I’M SORRY, I CAN’T COME TO MISS. STATE, THE MONEY IS JUST TOO GOOD…” NOW FIGURE OUT WHAT INSTITUTION THAT WAS, PROBABLY WHO, SAVANNAH STATE….NCAA REALLY OPENED UP SOME CANS OF WORMS THAT NOW THEY WILL BE READY TO CLOSE AFTER LETTING THEIR GUARD DOWN SO THAT THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME COULD BE PLAYED WITH THE HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER THERE….AND THE GUYS AT OHIO STATE, AFTER READING ABOUT AJ GREEN, REALLY WEREN’T EDUCATED BY THE UNIVERSITY THAT IT WAS A RULE THAT THEY COULDN’T SELL THEIR OHIO STATE STUFF…..THESE EXCUSES ARE REALLY UNBELIEVABLE, BUT THE NCAA SWALLOWED THEM, HOOK, LINE AND SINKER…..WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:23 am

You are so right Hoover. The U S Government is raping my check weekly and making my employer match it, and will tell me to pound sand when I’m ready to draw. I’m preparing now to not expect this robbery to pay off.

BAMA FAN #2

January 19th, 2011
8:23 am

Richt is a good man and hope the best for him and his program but he needs to get the
program back to where it was just 3 years a go!!! RTR

Auburn pays more.......

January 19th, 2011
8:24 am

I have read in more than one publication about Newton’s reply that he chose Auburn because it paid more. How could the NCAA overlook this response and honestly believe Newton knew nothing about his dad shopping him around, electing to walk away from $180,000 at Mississippi State, and signing to play at Auburn instead? Because it paid more…..in Cam’s own words.

The NCAA is more concerned about mailings that go out by Priority Mail, rather than First Class? What a crock of kaka. There is little wonder the NCAA has little sympathy or respect.

Yellow Britches

January 19th, 2011
8:26 am

Gosh, I’m an Tech guy so bad news about UGA usually is good news for me but this is just plain stupid. Is this what happens when Richt uses that sync system in the Ford 150 pick up?

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:27 am

This punishment is laughable. AU and Cam vs Mark Richt. Cam suspended 24 hours. Mark a week. Maybe the biggest story ever in college football cheating vs hitting a wrong number. Sounds about right…..Geez.

UGAFan

January 19th, 2011
8:27 am

So what was Curry doing calling Richt first?

Big Deal

January 19th, 2011
8:29 am

I think it is interesting to see this stuff just to illustrate how stupid some of these NCAA rules are and how much time is wasted monitoring and reporting these types of infractions.

I’m a Tech man and wouldn’t for a second think that anything less happens at Tech or any school for that matter. I feel for Mark Richt and every person in these various scenarios that has to waste their time dealing with this secondary stuff.

Given the pressure a coach is under to win games and deal with this degree of trivial stuff it s a wonder anybody wants the job – regardless of how much they get paid. It really is a sad state of affairs.

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:31 am

Bama Fan #2….you know after our AD gets told no 2-3 times, we’re bringing Kirby home. I’m not saying that is good or bad for us, and a lot of Dawg fans won’t like it, but our President at UGA will not allow our AD to lay out a big contract and reel in a big name. It will not happen. Kirby will likely get his big shot. They’ll pay him about 1.7 mil per. My thinking his, at least he’s seen how it’s supposed to be done. Go Dawgs.

AltamahaDawg

January 19th, 2011
8:32 am

If he had used that sync option in his Ford truck, that never would have happened.

GT GRAD

January 19th, 2011
8:34 am

The part Mark Richt failed to mention is that the duration of the “wrong number” telephone conversation was 24 minutes!! Ha Ha

Teams that self-report ALL known violations are not the problem AND the NCAA recruiting rules are a superb example of Government type regulation going WAY too far!!

Bulldog Hairy

January 19th, 2011
8:35 am

Wrong number goes with wrong coaches at UGA. Mark Richt = Mark Fox and its time to Fire’m all. Losing to an assistant coach at home was the last straw for me with Fox. Lets FACE IT… UGA is a GYM school.

Whatever

January 19th, 2011
8:35 am

You can tell football season is over….

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:35 am

Gt Grad…..I don’t think the NCAA is connected to the Feds ? It it were, I doubt Cam would have played in the title game.

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:37 am

My Bad GT Grad….you said government TYPE……

RambleOn84

January 19th, 2011
8:39 am

Stupid…if the kid called him, why should Richt be restricted from talking to him?

Boy George Dawg

January 19th, 2011
8:40 am

I’LL Tumble For ya! Roll out the mats and go GYM DAWGS!

Woodstock Dawg

January 19th, 2011
8:40 am

That’s it. The equestrian team will never see another dime from me until they clean up their act!

Do some real reporting!

January 19th, 2011
8:41 am

If the AJC hacks don’t get off the back of Richt and UGA I am going to be forced to reveal some BIG news that happened to a player from another state school this past weekend. Trust me, if it had happened to a player from UGA it would have already made AJC headlines. I have read these stories for 2 years wondering what Richt had done to you guys to make you continue your childish vendetta. I now have PROOF that you go out of your way to embarrass Richt and UGA (AJC open records request) and will not lift a finger to actually do any real reporting against other local schools.

Lipstick on the Stegosaurus

January 19th, 2011
8:42 am

Fire FOX because he is a clown too.

Damon Evans

January 19th, 2011
8:44 am

Must have been that Ford Sync

marchto85

January 19th, 2011
8:44 am

Tim, I sure wish you’d spend more time covering the cheating ways of the teams across the border to the West. This is what I’m talking about…..

http://newsok.com/alabamas-nick-saban-visits-barry-sanders-says-he-believes-mark-ingram-will-go-pro/article/3529693

JB

January 19th, 2011
8:45 am

I think the Attacks on Richt are for Ad revenue because of the traffic it drives on these blogs. Most Tech and Falcons blogs Average about 40-50 hits. A juicy Richt piece gets 500-800. Bottom line, Anti Mark Richt stories sell.

SouthGA Dawg

January 19th, 2011
8:47 am

lets hear it

nerds! nerds! nerds!

January 19th, 2011
8:48 am

Richt should have offered him $180,000. That appears to be legal according to the NCAA.

RambleOn84

January 19th, 2011
8:49 am

Relax, guys…Tucker is reporting a story that happened.

It really isn’t a big deal…if anything, it’s just an example of NCAA’s stupid rules.

No one thinks less of Richt for this stupid story, so don’t get your panties in a bunch.

dawgster

January 19th, 2011
8:50 am

So thats a violation…but nothing that Mr. Cecil Newton attempted to do with his son Cam is not even a secondary violation according to the NCAA…at some point the NCAA needs to be overhauled or these conferences should come together and form a fair and just institution that could actually oversee College athletics with some common sense…what a waste or an article on something that is absolutely absurd

Punchy

January 19th, 2011
8:51 am

Alert the media !!!

Atl.Dawg1

January 19th, 2011
8:52 am

You mean to tell me you actually reported this. You totally have no clue, this happens at every school. You are the main reason why there is so much hate towards the UGA program.PHONE CALLS………………..WERE TALKING ABOUT PHONE CALLS…

icallbs

January 19th, 2011
8:52 am

This is an example of what giving power to bureaucrats leads to. These are small people with no lives, no common sense and who completely miss the point of what they are supposed to be doing. Much more egregious harm to “student-athletes” occurs by over-signing and misleading recruiting tactics, coaches leaving but the recruits not able to if the coach that recruited them is the one that leaves. I could go on and on but this is life and life ain’t fair. The NCAA is comprised of clueless morons.

dawgster

January 19th, 2011
8:53 am

Its time the AJC use some common sense in their reporting…good grief are you that desperate for news…what a joke of an article…I’d like to see some fairness by the AJC in reporting other schools secondary violations…then i will say you are being fair in your reporting…unitl then i have very little respect for AJC..

Medical Hardships

January 19th, 2011
8:55 am

should be thoroughly reviewed by the NCAA. It is unfair to a veteran player when he is bumped from the team to make room for a prized prospect, seeks a transfer to another school and have the team doc for that school declare a play is fit to play at say, Georgia State, while the team doc at say, Alabama, declare he is not fit to play to open the scholarship for the prized prospect.

These instances should be carefully investigated, and where warranted, become NCAA violations. After all, the supposedly injured player and unfit to play for U of A again, is the one being severely harmed by the desires of the head coach.

Why sign 25 recruits when there are only 10 openings for the upcoming season, and then have to trim the roster to 85 by August of each year?

I suppose the motivation for over-signing prospects is to keep them from signing and playing for a competitor. In the meantime, the player effectively cut from the team by being offered a medical hardship, is egregiously harmed and has no remedy except to lose a year of eligibility by transferring to another Division 1 school.

A school should be limited to signing the number of prospects for which they have openings on the roster.

This should be tightly monitored by the NCAA, with appropriate penalties for cutting players who are declared fit to play by an independent medical staff.

RambleOn84

January 19th, 2011
8:56 am

icallbs,
I agree with you on all of your points, but I happen to agree with the NCAA that you need to limit when and how much coaches can contact kids.

I think this particular ruling is stupid because the kid called Richt first.

nerds! nerds! nerds!

January 19th, 2011
8:56 am

Fire Fox? Really? Just shut up!

Punchy

January 19th, 2011
8:58 am

Thank goodness for Open Records Requests. If it weren’t for them, you guys at the AJC wouldn’t have jobs. Thanks for being on top of the story. I had no idea this type of abhorrent activity was going on right under our noses!

nerds! nerds! nerds!

January 19th, 2011
9:00 am

How about a story on Oversigning???????????????? Come on AJC.

Nate

January 19th, 2011
9:02 am

Just shows how screwed up he is

Barack Dawg

January 19th, 2011
9:04 am

More useless reporting. Thanks for nothing.

saban

January 19th, 2011
9:13 am

Just the tip of the iceburg.

Red Panties, Choak Dawg, Parties at Clarke County Correctional. The list goes on and on.

LOL

January 19th, 2011
9:18 am

I’ll be waiting for the next story about EVERY other school doing things like this soon then. Cause if this is “news” around here, then start looking for this crap with every other school and stop getting one of the few programs that actually follow these rules ethically in trouble. Saban probably does this crap every day, yet I bet he is not reporting him self.

LOL

January 19th, 2011
9:22 am

You guys forget though, since Georgia is a clean program, they get in trouble. Saban and Chizik run obviously dirty programs, and so they hide these things so they can continue to win. Scam gets to play despite getting paid to play, yet georgia gets in trouble for returning a phone call. Yeah, screw college football. Done with it.

Pago Pago Dawg

January 19th, 2011
9:24 am

Now you know why the NCAA employ so many $300.00 an hour lawyers.

GT

January 19th, 2011
9:31 am

Does any rule violation go uncontested by Georgia or are all of them “silly”. It is this attitude not only by the program but by the press towards the NCAA when it pertains to Georgia that positions Georgia for the trouble they get into. Maybe being isolated in the “party school” of the nation causes immaturity in the thinking not only of the players but of the coaching staff as well. I think the NCAA gives the benefit of the doubt to some schools on these things, but Georgia is in the principals office far too many times. I think that violation for excessive celebration against Florida years ago now, was the product of the trash talking personality this team was and still is. If you win like the Jets have at it, the world is against you and you are better than the world. Georgia does not have that benefit of running a winning program either on or off the field.

mcdaviddawg

January 19th, 2011
9:32 am

Richt is a wrong number.

Hector

January 19th, 2011
9:34 am

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

BG

January 19th, 2011
9:37 am

Wow these are small violations. I want to see Alabamas and Auburns!!!

Mike

January 19th, 2011
9:37 am

This gets an article? Must be a slow news day.

dawggone

January 19th, 2011
9:38 am

AD needs to give him more time to make calls…are let his wife just say..”Go Dawgs!”……

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