An aerial view of Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis.
An aerial view of Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., home of the Wisconsin Badgers.
MADISON – Telephone calls to recruits made early in Luke Fickell’s regime as head coach resulted in the Wisconsin football program committing violations of NCAA recruiting communication rules.
The calls involved nine coaches and staff members. An investigation by the NCAA and the Wisconsin athletic department determined the coaches made 139 calls during the first half of 2023 that violated rules. One-hundred seventeen of the calls were made before the first permissible contact date for prospects.
The penalties were first reported by the Wisconsin State Journal.
The violations, which were self-reported by the UW athletic department, resulted in both NCAA and self-imposed penalties.
Here is the rundown of the sanctions, according to an NCAA document. As Wisconsin’s head coach, Fickell is held responsible for any violations committed by his staff.
* One-year probation beginning June 12, 2025 and last until June 11, 2026.
* A $25,000 fine for the institution to the NCAA.
* A one-year show-cause order for former defensive line coach Gregg Scruggs, who is now the assistant defensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers. During that time, any NCAA program that hires him must restrict him from recruiting communication for two months and suspend him for one regular-season game.
* A one-year show-cause order for former UW director of player personnel Max Stienecker, who is now the executive director of player personnel at USC. He is restricted from all recruiting communications with high school prospects from June 15-21, 2025.
* Fickell and outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell are also prohibited from recruiting communication with high school prospects from June 15-21.
In addition to those penalties Wisconsin’s athletic department self-imposed a handful of penalties that were served during the 2023-24 school year.
Those included a reduction of fall evaluation days by three and a reduction of spring recruiting person days by nine. The department also prohibited recruiting communications in the football program for three weeks during the 2023-24 academic year.
The violations were detected thanks to a mobile app the department UW uses to monitor the telephone calls its coaches and staffers makes to prospects.
Scruggs made 71 impermissible calls, 55 early and 16 extra calls during a permissible period.
The investigation found that Fickell made nine early calls to seven prospective student athletes. Mitchell and Stienecker made 19 impermissible calls. All of Mitchell’s calls were described as early, while Stienecker had a breakdown of 14 early calls and five extra calls during a permissible period.
The investigation determined that the violations occurred due to a combination of factors, including a misunderstanding of certain aspect of the telephone call legislation, an unfamiliarity with the department’s compliance process as well as its procedure for logging and initiating calls to recruits.
This story was updated to add information.