COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The NCAA announced Thursday the Air Force Academy football team is being placed on a two-year probation due to recruiting violations during the COVID-19 "dead period."
The probation is part of a list of penalties that go into effect immediately, after Air Force and four individuals reached an agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on the violations and appropriate penalties.
A fifth person involved in the case is contesting the enforcement staff's alleged violations. The NCAA's Committee on Infractions will hold a hearing on his portion of the case before releasing a final decision.
The NCAA said Air Force and the other four people, who agreed to their violations and penalties, asked the committee to publicly acknowledge the case and let them immediately begin serving their penalties ahead of the committee's final decision.
The penalties in the case include the following:
- Two years of probation.
- A fine.
- A reduction of 46 total official visits for the football program during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years.
- A prohibition against unofficial visits in football from Sept. 1 through Oct. 12, 2022.
- A prohibition against all recruiting communications in football for four weeks during the 2022-23 academic year.
- A reduction in evaluation days for football by 10 during spring 2022 and by 34 during fall 2022.
- A reduction of the football squad size by 10 for four years, starting with the 2022-23 academic year.
- Show-cause orders for the individuals who have agreed to their violations and penalties.
"The (committee) appreciates the parties' efforts in working collaboratively together to reach agreement on the violations, levels, classifications, and significant and meaningful penalties," said Gary Miller, chief hearing officer for the panel and president at Akron. "The panel also recognizes that Air Force has gone above and beyond in its overall approach to this case."
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