Jeff Faraudo of the Contra Costa Times is all over the story. This is referring to the previously reported story regarding the hundreds of phone calls made by the coaching staff to recruits (and the countless thousands others of calls made by "anonymous") upon the arrival of Mike Montgomery to Berkeley in 2008. Monty and the Cal coaching staff self-reported the violations and made the appropriate self-corrections, thus decreasing the stiffness of the penalties.
Here are the penalties.
- PROBATION DOES NOT MEAN ANY FORM OF POSTSEASON BAN. It just means Cal needs to keep the program clean, or we won't be so lucky the next time.
- (I'm sure now that the above statement has been cleared, 95% of you no longer care about the rest of the punishments, but moving on.)
- Only five athletes can make official paid visits (which will be a decrease from the outrageous average of 5 3/4 athletes that make paid visits on average the past five years dating back to Ben Braun)
- An unnamed assistant coach cannot contact any high school prospects for a 90 day period after Cal likely declines their appeal for these penalties. Montgomery and the other assistants have already served university penalties.
- Cal must inform recruits of these penalties. So recruits, if you're reading this, we've been penalized, and this won't affect you in any way shape or form, unless you're that 3/4th of an athlete who will no longer be able to enjoy the splendor of Memorial Glade on the campus's dime.
- Montgomery and the two assistants involved must attend an NCAA regional rules seminar in 2011. And the university has to do some internal monitoring of policies regarding recruit contact, which I think is similar to sensitivity training in the workplace.
To read the official report from the NCAA, click here for the PDF. For reaction from Sandy Barbour and Mike Montgomery, go to CalBears.com.