Cal Football Receives Probation, Fine, Suspensions for NCAA Violations

Cal’s football program was hit with a one-year probation, a $25,000 fine, the suspensions of several recruiting staff members and some recruiting restrictions as a result of NCAA violations involving recruiting, according to news posted on May 2 on the Cal sports website.

Probation does not prevent Cal from participating a postseason bowl game. Probation means Cal’s program will be watched closely over the probation period to ensure it complies with NCAA rules. In essence it means the NCAA will pay close attention to what Cal does from May 2, 2025 to May 1, 2026.

It is believed that none of the members of the current Cal coaching staff has been suspended or was involved in the violations.

The situation was resolved as a “Level II-Mitigated” for Cal and for the four staff members involved, and as a “Level-II Aggravated” for one staff member who violated NCAA ethical conduct. Two staffers were suspended for one game, one received a two-week suspension and another was hit with a two-year Show Cause order and disassociation.

Cal self-reported the violations, and accepted the negotiated settlement.

Here is the entire announcement from Cal, with the penalties outlined at the end of the statement. (When someone is referred to as a “representative of the institution's athletics interests” it typically means a booster.)

STATEMENT FROM CAL ATHLETICS

The violations stemmed from football staff members disregarding a directive from Cal's Athletic Compliance Office instructing them not to engage in what was an impermissible recruiting activity. Moreover, a football staff member failed to cooperate in a timely manner during the ensuing NCAA investigation and also provided false and misleading information to the NCAA Enforcement staff. Although the University questioned whether the underlying recruiting violation itself warranted a Level II classification, those aggravating factors resulted in the violation being classified as a mitigated Level II case.

UC Berkeley self-reported the incident as per NCAA policy and accepts full responsibility for these violations. We cooperated with the NCAA throughout the process and understand that having a compliant culture is paramount for the mission of the athletics department and University.

BACKGROUND

On May 2, 2025, the NCAA Committee on Infractions accepted a Negotiated Resolution with the University of California, Berkeley and involved staff members regarding a Mitigated Level-II violation involving the Cal football program.

The NCAA determined that the football program arranged for representatives of the institution's athletics interests to impermissibly recruit multiple prospective student-athletes and their family members. Specifically:

---In March 2022, despite direction from the athletic compliance staff, football staff members arranged for a Zoom panel during which three representatives of athletics interests promoted the football program to over 40 prospective student-athletes and their family members.

---A representative of athletics interests had impermissible in-person contact with four prospective student-athletes and their family members.

---A football staff member requested an individual to impermissibly contact prospective student-athletes and obtain information about a prospective student-athlete from the prospect's father, prior to the individual being employed by Cal. The individual made calls and/or text messages to five prospects and/or their parents.

A football staff member also violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct and failed to cooperate with the NCAA enforcement staff by failing to provide full, complete or timely information during the investigation, and knowingly providing false and misleading information to the enforcement staff.

Per NCAA policy, the head football coach is presumed responsible for the violations involved in the football program and he did not rebut the presumption of responsibility. The NCAA noted that except for the circumstances set forth in the negotiated resolution, the head football coach otherwise promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his staff, so a suspension was not warranted.

During the process, the University, NCAA and involved staff members collaborated and agreed on the imposed penalties, and agreed that the case should be resolved as Level II-Mitigated for the institution and for four of the involved staff members, and Level II-Aggravated for the staff member who violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct.

In reaching the mitigated classification for the university, the NCAA gave weight to the prompt self-disclosure of the initial violation, its affirmative steps to expedite the matter, an established history of self-reporting Level III violations, and the absence of a Level I or II violation within the past 10 years.

The violations resulted in the following penalties:

---One year probation (May 2, 2025 - May 1, 2026)

---A $25,000 fine.

---Recruiting restrictions for the football program, including restrictions on recruiting communications for three weeks during the 2024-25 academic year, a reduction of seven recruiting-person days during the 2024-25 academic year, a prohibition on unofficial visits from March 31 to April 14, 2025, and a prohibition on official visits for a two-week period during Fall 2025. Some involved staff members were prohibited from off-campus recruiting and/or communicating with prospects for periods ranging from two to three weeks.

---Suspensions for the involved staff members, including one-game suspensions for two staff members, a two-week suspension for one staff member, and a two-year Show Cause order and disassociation for the staff member who violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct.

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