If you follow the man on social media, you know Deion Sanders is very much enjoying the longest honeymoon any football coach will ever have.
Hired while Jackson State is waiting out what is essentially a months-long quarantine before its season can begin in the spring, Coach Prime is bouncing back and forth between jobs -- he's in New York for a visit to Barstool HQ, he's in Dallas finishing out his final season as a high school offensive coordinator, and he's in Jackson getting to know his new job and new town.
And he's enjoying himself everywhere he goes. (See IG posts below).
But real life and its problems have a way a finding all of us no matter where we are, and Sanders's first bit of adversity has plopped down at the doorstep of its new office.
On Friday, the NCAA announced Jackson State has been hit with a number of sanctions as punishment for NCAA certification and recruiting violations.
The violations all stem back to previous regimes, obviously. In one case, 34 athletes were allowed to practice and compete before they were officially certified to do so. In another, a former staff member gave $300 to the godmother of a football recruit; the same staff member also arranged for a tutor to assist a prospective transfer meet eligibility standards.
All are Level II violations.
As as a result, in addition to two years' probation and a $5,000 fine for the department, Jackson State football has been hit with the following sanctions:
- The football program must serve a one-week ban on unofficial visits in each of January, February, March and April 2021.
- A reduction of four football official paid visits during the 2021-22 academic year.
- The football program must serve a one-week ban of all recruiting communication contacts and off-campus recruiting by the entire football staff with any prospects, including transfers, in each of May and June 2021.
- A vacation of records of contests in which student-athletes participated while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public release of the decision.
Deion will now be responsible for his staff correctly pays the price for someone else's sins.
Welcome to the NCAA, Coach Prime.
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A post shared by COACH PRIME (@deionsanders) on Oct 23, 2020 at 7:14am PDT