The NCAA announced on Tuesday that Oklahoma Sooners running backs coach [autotag]DeMarco Murray[/autotag] will be suspended for one game related to recruiting violations self-reported by the University of Oklahoma Compliance Department.
According to the NCAA’s release, “The school, Murray and the enforcement staff agreed that the violations in the football program occurred when Murray impermissibly contacted 17 prospects over 16 months, including 65 impermissible phone calls and 36 impermissible text messages. Murray indicated that he was not aware that a COVID-19 waiver of recruiting contact rules had expired. During the investigation, the enforcement staff determined that the school had properly educated football coaches on the applicable recruiting rules and the timing of changes to them.”
Brent Venables was able to rebut some of the violations under previous rules that removed the full weight of responsibility from the head coach. In January of 2023, any rules violations became the automatic responsibility of the head coach.
According to the NCAA release, “As a result of the violations in their respective programs, the parties agreed that football head coach Brent Venables violated head coach responsibility rules.” However, with some of those violations taking place prior to rule changes in January of 2023, Venables was able to rebut some of the responsibility for Murray’s actions. “Because Venables was not personally involved in the violations and demonstrated that he promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his staff, Venables rebutted his presumed responsibility for some of the earlier violations,” the release stated.
The NCAA revealed that the University of Oklahoma has already self-imposed a number of sanctions related to violations. Many of those sanctions date back to 2023, but here are the sanctions meted out by the NCAA, but there are a few that will be relevant for 2024 and 2025.
Here are the sanctions against the OU Football Program and DeMarco Murray. Current sanctions in bold.
- One year of probation.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A one-game suspension for Murray during the 2024 football season.
- A prohibition against football staff calling the involved prospects during the May 29-June 11, 2022, and April 15-May 31, 2023, periods (self-imposed).
- A 20% reduction in football recruiting days in spring 2023 (self-imposed).
- A prohibition against football staff from calling or corresponding with involved prospects from Aug. 1-31, 2023 (self-imposed).
- A limitation of Murray’s 2023 football recruiting days to eight, down from an average 16.4 per recruiting coach (self-imposed).
- A prohibition from off-campus recruiting for Murray during the 2023 fall evaluation period (self-imposed).
- A three-week ban on recruiting phone and electronic correspondence for the football program from Dec. 8, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
- A prohibition against unofficial visits during the first game of the 2024 season.
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