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UGA sports blog

‘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

Big-EasyDawg

January 19th, 2011
12:50 pm

If you want REAL news on UGA recruiting, go to UGASports.com Much better than this Mickey Mouse organization.

just sayin

January 19th, 2011
12:56 pm

Can we look forward to a similar article from Tim on AL, AU, GT, FL, TN?

just sayin

January 19th, 2011
12:59 pm

Dr. Phil
January 19th, 2011
12:41 pm

Richt is self-reporting improper phone calls and winking at player arrests.

Any facts to back up your claim, or are you just a stupid sob?

Lakedawg

January 19th, 2011
1:15 pm

Just wait until next week and Bradley or Shultz will make it another headline. Do not understand being in state and having such vendettas against the state university?

Mike

January 19th, 2011
1:18 pm

Amazing. They get 7-30 days of no contact for this type stuff but somehow the NCAA can’t do anything about Cecil even after he admitted what he did. The NCAA is so hypocritical.

funny...

January 19th, 2011
1:35 pm

Hey Gatorsam: in regards to three out of twenty isn’t good.

forty out of ninety isn’t good either. You needed 17 out of 20 to get within a decade. LOL at you.

AUaccountant

January 19th, 2011
1:35 pm

Glass houses…..throw stones…LOL! Sweep your own porch before sweeping someone else’s uga.

Walker

January 19th, 2011
1:36 pm

This is a joke! What does this have to do with anything. All you try to do is bring up negative things about UGA. We need to close the deal on these top recruits and it will mean everything to our State and the # 1 school in our State. Regardless of your negative reporting and what you think it want take but several of these recruits to get together and really turn Georgia Football around. Let’s show some Pride in our State.

Want more, Eat Less

January 19th, 2011
1:36 pm

How is it that a coach commits a secondary rule violation, whether intentional or not, depending on what version of the story is actually true and on the other hand a player is shopped around, bartered, and has a history of illegal activities and yet he is ineligible for less than a day?

Folks learn from Auburn, keep your mouth shut, deny everything, tell no one anything and say you saw nothing. Then if all else fails, hire a better University attorney and say “no comment” to everyone including the NCAA.

Bodda Getta

January 19th, 2011
1:45 pm

UGA is the biggest outlaw program there is, worse than Alabama.

Every day there is new fact-based evidence of why this is true.

UGA fans continue to deny this as the evidence piles up.

Go ahead and recite the same fairy tale about Cecil Newton. It has already been fully investigated and you have nothing.

You are out of straws.

collegeballfan

January 19th, 2011
1:51 pm

I agree that the NCAA rules tend toward silly on both ends.

But! But, the rules exist because coaches have been caught cheating.

If coaches did not cheat the rule book would be real thin.

Says a lot about the character of coaches as a profession, does it not?

Sponder

January 19th, 2011
1:52 pm

A very very very s…l…o…w…. news day at the AJC…

steven

January 19th, 2011
2:00 pm

Let it go.

Pay The Man

January 19th, 2011
2:01 pm

How dare he. Follow the leaders of the SEC and just pay players like the Scamster at Auburn. That will show em…..

Bodda Getta

January 19th, 2011
2:01 pm

collegeballfan,

This is not a “character of coaches” issue, this is about the cheating that goes on at UGA.

The moral equivalency card is always played by the guilty.

Dirty Dawg

January 19th, 2011
2:15 pm

What’s the deal, is Don Leeburn payin’ every-damn-soul under the sun – including Francis Tarkenton and the AJC – to come up with anything they can ‘pin’ on Mark Richt? Seems to me that that ‘bootleggin’ bully ought to be arrested for livin’ in sin with Suzanne instead of calling the shots on UGA’s Board.

Trojan

January 19th, 2011
2:16 pm

This article is basically a reprint of what was reported months ago. What is your motive for this blog? Misleading headlines. Poor sports coverage!

ryan

January 19th, 2011
2:16 pm

BFD

Cecil Newton

January 19th, 2011
2:26 pm

UGA is a bunch of cheaters!

SEC Football

January 19th, 2011
2:36 pm

Big Boss must have been in the Office, so everybody is trying to look BUSY….. Can’t wait to see new young “HOT” chick taken your job away and AJC forces early retirement because you have maxed out your times.

Bill Curry

January 19th, 2011
2:40 pm

Once again, we will bring those cheaters to their knees!

Sleepy Dawg

January 19th, 2011
2:47 pm

This would never happen if we had a black coach. He would be well versed in running scams, and being clandestine. Trooper taylor is what we need to right the ship, that dude is one slick operator.

Alabama | MrSEC.com

January 19th, 2011
2:49 pm

[...] Backup offensive lineman Tanner Strickland is ending his Georgia career early.5.  Georgia had to report a pretty small secondary violation in football recently.6.  For you animal lovers out there (and I am one, too), Uga VIII is [...]

Still@theBAR

January 19th, 2011
2:56 pm

If it was MISTAKE then give me a break. If it was not a mistake then fine.

Bodda Getta

January 19th, 2011
3:02 pm

Leave it to UGA fans to play the race card again.

You are out of straws.

Lester Miles

January 19th, 2011
3:03 pm

TIM Did the AJCs open record request include GT, Auburn, Alabama. Tenn or SC. Hopefully not LSU. Is the info for these requests coming tomorrow or was UGA the only school targeted by the AJC (All Jerk Columinists)? If only UGA was targeted then why? Don’t say it is because most of the readers are UGA fans because most of the real UGA fans want to know about the other schools too. Included Fla in your requests. LSU is clean..You have my word. Have a great day.

WVMtnDawg

January 19th, 2011
3:04 pm

It’s very relevant:

http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/the-difference-between-ignorance-and-inadvertance/

dawgster

January 19th, 2011
3:39 pm

Tim will not respond to the bloggers..at least from what i can tell…the AJC is a pitiful excuse for a newspaper…i have no problem with reporting news, if you call it that, but where are the articles about the other schools…please don’t tell me that they didn’t have secondary violations…oh wait they probably were cleared just as Mr. Newton and others were by the NCAA…go dawgs

dog2

January 19th, 2011
3:43 pm

The Atlanta fish wrapper at its best, no wonder you circulation in dwindling… report something with substance…

Dawg Squeeze

January 19th, 2011
3:45 pm

UGA Football…..30 years and counting

Flat Tire on I-95 In Jacksonville

January 19th, 2011
3:48 pm

Wish he would make a call to some offensive coordinators that can coach

DawginLex

January 19th, 2011
3:54 pm

bodda getta must be trishadisha’s male prostitute she picked up in glendale.

Does it itch and ooze or just itch down there?

Better get it checked out by a doctor or go let Rev Cecil heal it for you.

Mr. SEC

January 19th, 2011
3:54 pm

The NCAA Rules Committees are a joke. Everybody should be treated the same, but they are not. They do not much to do, so they have to show their power every now and then! ALL schools violate rules every year in every sport, they (NCAA) need to get on the same page.
Here is a good example of having nothing to do. Recently the NCAA Softball program released a “Legal Bat” chart to be used in the 2011 season, it must be in the dugouts of both teams; the document is 33 1/2 pages long! Why not just just ask the coaches if their players are properly equipped, then if a bat is in question, go to a document of “ILLEGAL BATS”! Put the burden on the coaches to prove that the bat is legal. I grant you, different teams will get treated differently than others when it comes to this rule.
Again, the NCAA is a joke; maybe there needs to be an independant clearing house for all sports and do away with the NCAA’s B___ S___!

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

January 19th, 2011
4:05 pm

Typical stupid dawg fan…”The AJC is so mean to us (even though everyone there is a UGA grad). They investigate us and don’t always say nice things…..that’s why the AJC makes me sad :( ” Have a tissue crybaby!

Kendawg

January 19th, 2011
4:07 pm

This seems to be “Much Ado About Nothing”. Have we stooped to this level in society?

Thwg

January 19th, 2011
4:08 pm

I’m calling BS on this Richt story. He knew exactly what he was doing. NCAA needs to investigate. No program is as corrupt as UGA. Which is funny since they can’t even cheat and be any good. I’ve never made that mistake and continued with the call. Sure, we’ve all dialed a wrong number” but usually catch the mistake on a ‘callback’ before completing the call. What a hypocrite. Can you say Tuitt!!! The next Fairley. When we add Vaughters UGA is gonna be cringing!

Stinger2

January 19th, 2011
4:10 pm

Not even worthy of reporting. The AJC was obviously hoping to find something negative about UGA that they could blow up into a big deal. Instead nothing…pitiful.

Coach Grohbo

January 19th, 2011
4:22 pm

UGA is GUILTY!

henry

January 19th, 2011
4:25 pm

Seems like coach Richt forgot to make a $180,000 offer

Snake Plissken

January 19th, 2011
4:29 pm

Seems fair to me…CMR was not permitted to make calls for 1 week…after all $cam Netwon was suspended for almost 24 hours…yep, the NCAA sure is consistent

Punchy

January 19th, 2011
5:54 pm

No more $$$ donated to the swim team until they clean up their act! I knew they were dirty.

Dawg in gatorville

January 19th, 2011
5:58 pm

NCAA, They police like Barney Fife.

Denver Dog

January 19th, 2011
6:00 pm

I saw some pink elephants flying by last night, and then I saw a dog driving a car, and then I heard some Auburn fans saying nothing Cam did is wrong. Next thing that they will be saying is that Auburn didn’t know about whatever they find out.

LagDawg

January 19th, 2011
6:00 pm

This is what’s wrong with reporting on UGA. If the stupid UGA Police is not arresting a football player for any incident, then we are getting these kind of stupid reports. Focus on recruiting and what the coaches are doing to improve the team.

Sam

January 19th, 2011
6:26 pm

THE HORROR!!!!

mikey

January 19th, 2011
7:05 pm

The NCAA is a joke

dawg to the bone

January 19th, 2011
8:38 pm

Great story. Unlike Newton taking a cut in pay to go to the NFL.

old dawg fan

January 19th, 2011
9:03 pm

This is probably one of the “worst” articles I have ever red. Mr. Tucker-please find something more interesting to discuss.

1962 Dawg

January 19th, 2011
10:13 pm

Maybe some of these recruits will major in Sports Journalism.
One reason CMR can’t get any love from the AJC is he won’t give them an interview or what they want to hear. Therefore all the negativity.
A couple of seasons ago M. Bradley couldn’t even get an interview with Coach Willie Martinez.
When’s the last time you heard any of UGA’s coaches commenting in the AJC? Don’t happen very often.
Can you blame them???

Dawgster

January 19th, 2011
10:57 pm

What a bunch of crap. Scam newton gets $200k and gets to keep playing and Richt gets a week for nothing.

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