Several Badgers staffers violated recruiting roles and the program is facing penalties as a result.
The Wisconsin Badgers are being penalized for recruiting violations that occurred back in 2023 by several staffers, according to a report from BadgerExtra’s Colten Bartholomew.
“Nine members of coach Luke Fickell’s staff at that time violated a since-changed NCAA rule by making phone calls to recruits before the recruiting calendar allowed them to be made, according to the NCAA’s investigation into what it deemed a Level II violation,” Bartholomew wrote. “The NCAA’s violation structure lists a Level II infraction as involving significant breaches of conduct that ‘provide or are intended to provide more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantage.’”
According to the report, “the school, assistant football coach Matt Mitchell, former assistant coach Greg Scruggs, former director of player personnel Max Stienecker and the enforcement staff agreed that the violations occurred when staff placed 139 impermissible phone calls to 48 prospects. Of the impermissible calls, 117 were placed prior to the first permissible contact date for the prospects. Sixty of the calls lasted one minute or less.”
“The violations were uncovered due to the school’s compliance monitoring systems for phone communications, which monitored in real time when staff members used mobile phones to contact a prospect. The system also included software that retroactively screened phone logs for potential impermissible calls. Upon detecting the impermissible calls, the school self-reported the violations and immediately self-imposed penalties while it began a collaborative investigation with enforcement staff.”
With the penalties being considered as Level II-Mitigated, the following penalties were distributed:
- One year of probation
- $25,000 fine
- A one-year show-cause order for Scruggs. During that time, any employing member school will restrict him from engaging in recruiting communication for two months and will suspend him from one regular-season contest.
- A one-year show-cause order for Stienecker. During that time, any employing member school will restrict him from all recruiting communications with high school prospects from June 15-21, 2025.
- A prohibition of recruiting communications for three weeks during the 2023-24 academic year (self-imposed by the school).
- A reduction in fall evaluation days by three and a reduction in spring recruiting person days by nine during the 2023-24 academic year (self-imposed by the school).
- A prohibition for Fickell and Mitchell from recruiting communications with high school prospects for one week from June 15-21, 2025.
Former defensive line coach Greg Scruggs earned the harshest sanctions. He made 71 of the 139 impermissible calls. Stienecker and Mitchell both made 19, while Fickell was responsible for nine. Three unnamed assistant coaches and two unnamed recruiting staffers made up the rest of the 21 calls.
While a “vast majority” of these calls would’ve been permitted by the current rules for calling recruits, which started taking place on August 31st, 2023, these violations occurred months before and were therefore deemed impermissible by the NCAA.
So, the Badgers are being penalized.