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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Clemson's athletic department reported 15 violations to the NCAA in the past year, including three by the defending Atlantic Coast Conference football champions.
The school released its infractions report Tuesday after an open records request by The Associated Press.
None of the violations is considered serious. All but one of them is classified as a Level III infraction. Level III infractions are those the NCAA considers isolated or limited in nature; provide no more than a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage; and don't include more than a minimal impermissible benefit.
Clemson detailed its NCAA violations from Aug. 1, 2015, through this past July 31.
Three of the violations involved the football program, which starts the season ranked No. 2.
One came from an "accidental" FaceTime call placed by coach Dabo Swinney to a prospect before the allowable date of Sept. 1. Coaches can't place any phone calls to the prospect from Sept. 1-15 as punishment for the infraction.
Another violation in football came last October and involved two players who dropped engineering courses and were not enrolled full-time, as required by the NCAA. Clemson declared both players ineligible, conducted rules education with all athletes and paid a $500 fine. The NCAA restored the two athletes' eligibility.
The final football infraction came this past January when the staff gave excess travel reimbursement to several prospects after their official visits. The school said the staff wrongly thought it could round up the travel reimbursement amount to the nearest dollar.
The staffer involved received a letter of admonishment, although the school said it did not try to collect the overpay from prospects because of the "minimal amount of the over-award."
The first-year baseball program of coach Monte Lee had three violations.
Lee, who led the Tigers to the ACC Tournament title last May, was admonished for an infraction from last September when he responded to a text from a 2018 prospect before Sept. 1 of the player's junior year of high school. Lee, the school said, thought the prospect was set to graduate in 2017. When informed otherwise by the player, Lee stopped all communication with the prospect and reported it to the compliance office.
Lee and his staff must also refrain from communicating with the player for two weeks starting Sept. 1.
Last August, an assistant coach on Clemson's men's golf team impermissibly brought in an outside consultant to work with two players on the course and teach a three-session with the whole team. The men's golf team was made to take three days off from all countable athletic activity for three weeks.
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