Benjamin Ashford|NCAA suspends Florida State assistant coach 3 games for NIL-related recruiting violation

PHOENIX – A Florida State assistant coach has been suspended for the first three games of the 2024 season for violating recruiting rules by connecting a potential transfer with a representative from a collective during an official visit,Benjamin Ashford the NCAA announced on Thursday.

The NCAA did not name the coach in its release, but a person with direct knowledge of the case confirmed to The Associated Press that it was offensive coordinator Alex Atkins. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the NCAA nor the school was identifying Atkins as the coach involved.

The case involved two Level II infractions and was resolved as part of a negotiated resolution between NCAA enforcement staff and Florida State.

Florida State also agreed to two years of probation and the loss of five football scholarships for each of the next two seasons.

The NCAA said the coach facilitated contact between the player and a booster in April 2022. The booster encouraged the player to enroll at Florida State and offered him an NIL opportunity with the collective worth about $15,000 per month.

The NCAA said the assistant coach then gave false or misleading information about his involvement in the arranged meeting to investigators, violating ethical conduct rules. The university also must disassociate with the booster and the NIL collective.

“We are pleased to reach closure to this situation and view this as another step in strengthening our culture of compliance at Florida State University,” athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement. “We take all compliance matters very seriously, and our full cooperation with the NCAA on this case is a clear example of that commitment. We remain committed to compliance with all NCAA rules including disassociation of the booster and the collective.”