Virginia Self-Reports Football Violations to NCAA

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA –.(AP) Virginia has been penalized after it self-reported Level II violations of NCAA bylaws by its football program.

The school says football coaches posed for photographs with prospects during an “evaluation period” when the only approved contact with prospects was a simple greeting.

The NCAA views posing for photographs as going beyond a greeting and is impermissible because it gives the school an unfair recruiting advantage.

Virginia worked with the NCAA and will pay a $5,000 fine.

The school also self-imposed restrictions limiting its off-campus contact with the prospects who were photographed, reduced its spring 2017 evaluations from 168 to 150, and will further educate its staff on NCAA rules.

The school says 32 improper contacts took place during in April and May in 2016.