Stricklin: 'There Is No Evidence Of Systemic Compliance Issues At Florida'

Gators Athletic Director Scott Stricklin addressed Gator Nation on Tuesday. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath)

Stricklin: 'There Is No Evidence Of Systemic Compliance Issues At Florida'

Tuesday, December 22, 2020 | General, Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the wake of today's announcement from the NCAA regarding the Gators football program, UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin made an announcement of his own.

Stricklin's message aimed directly at those closest to UF Athletics: coaches, players, University Athletic Association employees, boosters and season-ticket holders. The people who are most invested in the Gators on a daily basis.

The same people very familiar with the key phrase in the UAA's mission statement: To create a Championship Experience with Integrity.

Stricklin assured the group that Tuesday's announcement, an issue the UAA has been aware of for more than a year, is not an indication of a shift in philosophy by one of the country's top athletic programs.

"Part of having integrity is accepting responsibility and consequences when we make mistakes,'' Stricklin said. "For over a year we have been cooperating with the NCAA regarding two situations where we needed to be better related to rules compliance in the sport of football.

"The first situation involved a group of high school students who stopped by campus on unofficial visits while en route to a 7-on-7 tournament. While today this is allowed under NCAA rules, at the time this occurred it was not permitted. The second involved an interaction between two of our coaches, including our head coach, and a prospective student-athlete at his high school that lasted 15 minutes, which is beyond what is allowed under NCAA rules. Neither of these violations involved impermissible benefits or offers of impermissible benefits, and UF ceased recruiting these athletes once made aware of the circumstances."

As a result of the infractions, the UF football program faces a reduction in the number of off-campus evaluations, a loss of one official visit and a fine. Most of the punitive measures stemming from the incidents have already been fulfilled.

The infractions came under the watch of head coach Dan Mullen, who addressed the NCAA's announcement in a public statement.

"As Head Football Coach of the Florida Gators, promoting an atmosphere of compliance within our program is important to me. Following the rules and being committed to doing things the right way is part of my history as a coach, at all levels, and I regret we didn't do things the right way in this situation,'' Mullen said. "Even though this is an isolated matter, I'm still disappointed in the violations outlined in the report. We're going to learn from our mistakes and I'm confident this won't happen again. Most importantly, we'll keep working for the benefit of our student athletes to make our program one our fans and University can be proud of."

A point of pride for the Gators is their commitment to NCAA compliance and the program's long history of success in that area, first under former Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, who took over in 1992, and the past four-plus years under Stricklin.

Stricklin reassured Gators insiders "there is no evidence of systemic compliance issues at Florida."

His final statement focused on the future.

"More importantly, UF remains committed to operating with integrity in all we do and will take every action within our power to prevent future missteps,'' Stricklin said.