UGA’s Stricklin punished for violation of NCAA’s texting policy

Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin recently had to report an inadvertent violation of the NCAA’s text messaging rule and has had limited telephone contact with recruits as a result.

According to a May 9 letter from UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, Stricklin accidentally responded to a text message from a prospect on May 4. Stricklin was in the process of answering a flurry of congratulatory messages from well-wishers that Sunday after the Bulldogs won the second of three games against Top 10 opponent South Carolina that day. Stricklin realized the mistake after the fact and reported the violation to UGA’s compliance office at 7:02 a.m. on Monday, the next day.

UGA penalized Stricklin by not allowing him to make telephone contact with any prospects for a 14-day period from May 5 to 19. Additionally, no one from Georgia will be allowed to have contact with the specific prospect (whose name is withheld from documents) for a one-month period that ends June 4. The violation is considered minor.