Appalachian State University announced on Wednesday that the school has been fined $5,000 in penalties for a rule violation in 2012-13.
App State accepted the penalties this month after the NCAA initiated an internal investigation in June 2015 finding that the former coach sent over 400 impermissible text messages in 2012-13 to a parent of a prospective student-athlete.
Former football running back coach Chris Foster resigned in 2015 in connection with the incident.
A violation of the 2012-13 manual NCAA Bylaw 13.4.12 limits electronically transmitted correspondence that may be sent to prospective student-athletes or their parents or legal guardians to email and facsimiles.
The university and the Sun Belt Conference were notified immediately when the investigation began, leading to Foster’s resignation. Foster coached at App State from 2012-2015 and is now a RB’s coach at Georgia Southern
“Appalachian State has an established culture of compliance with NCAA rules and the response to this incident confirms the university’s continued commitment to the NCAA,” athletic-director Doug Gillin said in a statement. “I am confident that our corrective actions will help further strengthen the university’s culture of compliance.”
Concluding the investigation this November, App State informed the NCAA of the results and corrective actions accepting the penalties. The NCAA cited the following mitigating factors in its decisions:
“Prompt acknowledgement of the violation, acceptance of responsibility and imposition of meaningful corrective measures and/or penalties; an established history of self-reporting Level III or secondary violations; implementation of a system of compliance methods to ensure rules compliance and satisfaction of institution’s/coaches’ control standards; the violations were unintentional, limited in scope and represent a deviation from otherwise compliant practices by the institution; other factors warranting a lower penalty range.”
The committee classified the institution’s violation as Level II-Mitigated, no other factors were identified. The committee will release a public infractions decision in the near future.
“While I am disappointed that a violation occurred, the immediate actions take by [Doug] Gillin and head coach [Scott] Satterfield to address the issue to the NCAA shows our dedication to operating with the highest standards to positively support the academic mission of the university and represent Appalachian’s students, faculty, staff, alumni and community,” Chancellor Sheri Everts said in a statement.