NCAA places LSU football on probation, accepts school's self-imposed penalties over recruiting violations

The NCAA placed LSU's football program on one year of probation and issued a three-year show cause against a former assistant coach, who it says admitted to meeting with a prospect and giving him team gear during a COVID-19 recruiting dead period.

The Tigers said they fired offensive line coach James Cregg for cause in June 2021 after he admitted violating NCAA rules. On Aug. 25, a Louisiana judge awarded him nearly $500,000 after ruling that LSU had terminated his contract without cause. At the time, the university said it planned to appeal the judge's ruling.

In addition to the probation, LSU had already self-imposed a $5,000 fine, a one-week prohibition in recruiting communication and unofficial visits, and reductions in official visits and evaluation days.

LSU said in a statement: «Today's decision of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions involving a former LSU assistant football coach concludes a 21-month cooperative process between the University and the NCAA. Throughout this process, the University has worked in concert with the enforcement staff to determine the truth and to self-impose sanctions. We are grateful to the Committee and the enforcement staff for their work and for accepting our self-imposed penalties, and we are pleased to be able to move forward as an institution and as a football program. LSU continues to work through the IARP process regarding other allegations of rule violations.»

While the violations were not major in nature, the timing of them during the pandemic was of significant concern to the NCAA's investigation.

«Although the [committee] has encountered more egregious conduct in past cases, the violations in this case represent intentional misconduct that should be of concern to the