UF Looks At Coach's Possible Violation
Published: Jan 23, 2008
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GAINESVILLE - The University of Florida compliance office is gathering information about a possible secondary recruiting violation involving Gators football coach Urban Meyer and his communication with a junior-college transfer and his girlfriend, a Gators gymnast.
According to a Jan. 16 report in The Gainesville Sun, gymnast Maranda Smith said Meyer called her about signing with Florida in hopes of luring her boyfriend, Carl Moore, a five-star wide receiver from Sierra (Calif.), to Gainesville. Moore signed his letter-of-intent with the Gators on Dec. 19 and enrolled in classes this month. Smith competed for UCLA but transferred to Sierra Community College last year before enrolling at UF.
"I used to talk to him every day back in November when he was recruiting Carl," Smith said in the story. "He kept asking how Carl was doing, and [he] wanted me to come here and do gymnastics."
There are two issues with these alleged conversations - coaches are limited to recruiting athletes in the sport they coach, and there are limited periods when coaches can contact recruits more than once per week.
The compliance office has been gathering information about the incident for a week or two, said Jamie McCloskey, Florida's associate athletics director of compliance and sports administration. Once the office is done with the investigation, it will write a report to give to the Southeastern Conference.
"We have a duty [and an] obligation to look at everything and anything that's been reported," McCloskey said Tuesday. "We're trying to find out if this occurred, and if it did occur, what does it mean?"
Smith did not respond to an e-mail, but her mother, Patricia, said Tuesday evening that her daughter had not mentioned that Meyer had called her. Patricia said her daughter called Meyer once when Moore went on a recruiting visit and was stuck at an airport.
Patricia also pointed out that her daughter had been recruited by the Gators when she was a junior in high school in 2005, and her final two choices were Florida and UCLA. Maranda Smith contacted Florida coach Rhonda Faehn in Decemberabout joining the Gators.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Meyer met with McCloskey last week and left the office thinking he had committed no recruiting violations. Meyer is on the road recruiting and could not be reached for comment.
The incident is considered a secondary violation, and McCloskey said Florida deals with about 15 to 20 secondary violations each year. It is a relatively minor infraction, and McCloskey did not say what type of penalty Meyer could face if a violation did occur.
"That's like three steps ahead of where we are," McCloskey said. "We're not even close to that point yet."
McCloskey said there is no timetable until a conclusion is reached, and the compliance office hopes that will be in a week or two.
