A “reply all” email from Tennessee’s swimming coach, another coach’s two-word greeting to recruits and the Lady Vols’ travel blunder all violated NCAA rules.
A University of Texas student worker was also fired from his job on the sports broadcast team for betting on Vols football games.
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These were among six minor NCAA violations reported by UT athletic teams in the second half of 2025, according to a document obtained by Knox News through a public records request.
These are Level III violations that the NCAA defines as minor infractions. They are common and reported regularly by every school’s athletic department. They almost always result in low-level penalties, like these examples from UT.
UT’s violation also provides a glimpse into the complexity of the NCAA rulebook. This is a breakdown.
Lady Vols break rules, swap coaches on the road
According to NCAA rules, up to four women’s basketball coaches can evaluate recruits off campus during the evaluation period. And coaches are not allowed to change every day.
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Kim Caldwell’s staff put a total of five coaches on the road over two weekends last July, but never more than four at a time. After recruiting day is over, one coach will return to Knoxville and another will hit the road to replace them.
This is a violation because the replacement coach is considered a fifth recruiter during this period.
According to the NCAA report, the violation was discovered during an investigation into the SEC office, which may have targeted a rival school. UT places some of the blame on its compliance staff for giving Caldwell’s coaches poor advice about the NCAA’s byzantine recruiting guidelines.
As self-punishment, UT reduced its off-campus recruiting staff to three coaches for five days during the fall evaluation period. The NCAA also had a staff member shorten the Lady Vols’ recruiting day by five days in the 2025-26 season.
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The coach said a few words to recruit people, but that was too much
In June, an assistant cross country coach attended the New Balance National Championships in Philadelphia. As they walked along the public path surrounding the track, two high school runners approached from opposite directions.
One of them is a 2026 recruit who has visited UT before. The other is a 2027 recruit who, due to NCAA rules, cannot yet have face-to-face contact with college coaches.
“Good job!” UT coach says to 2027 rookie, which violates NCAA rules. Later they contacted by phone, which was allowed.
UT self-imposed punishment. UT cross country coaches are prohibited from contacting 2027 recruits for two weeks, and a two-word interaction is considered an in-person recruiting contact. Coaches also received additional training on NCAA rules.
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The SEC also banned the coach from all recruiting activities for 14 days.
Cross-country also committed another violation by requiring athletes to participate in a 45-minute workout after the game. The team was still within NCAA-mandated athletic activity time that week, but was not allowed to hold mandatory workouts after games.
The team was suspended for 90 minutes.
Swim coaches shouldn’t send “reply all” emails
Last summer, a recruit sent an email to the UT swimming coaching staff before being contacted. It’s only a violation if the coach replies, and they did inadvertently.
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When an assistant coach intended to send an email only to other staff members, he clicked “reply all.” This is considered unauthorized contact with a recruit.
After allowing contact, UT imposed a self-imposed two-week ban on recruiting the prospect.
A violation occurred because two recruits had the same name.
A recruit from an unnamed sport visited campus without approval from the NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse, but the mix-up was due to coincidence and a clerical error.
A UT compliance director approved a new employee with the same name as the prospective recruiter. When correct recruits arrive on campus, they are not registered because they do not have an NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse account.
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The staff member received additional training to prevent the same mistake from being repeated.
Adam Sparks is a Tennessee football reporter. e-mail adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@adamsparks. Support strong local journalism with a subscription knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee NCAA violations include Lady Vols recruiting, unexpected emails
