Florida avoids NCAA penalties regarding Joker Phillips

Florida won't be penalized for former assistant football coach Joker Phillips having impermissible contact with a recruit.

The NCAA released its ruling Friday, saying the Gators handled the situation appropriately by taking corrective action and self-imposing penalties. A Division I Committee on Infractions panel assigned no additional penalties or measures.

Florida suspended Phillips immediately last year and later parted ways with the former Kentucky head coach. Phillips is now working in the NFL as receivers coach for the Cleveland Browns.

Without naming Phillips, the NCAA said the assistant coach assistant coach had an impermissible off-campus recruiting contact with the prospect. The contact occurred on the campus of the prospect's high school during January of the prospect's junior year of high school.

Florida did not mention Phillips by name, either, but he's the only coach who resigned last June.

"The University of Florida Athletic Association takes pride in the culture of compliance it has built over the years," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said in a statement. "Integrity is one of the core values of our organization - we act in a fair, ethical and honest manner and we strive to do things the right way every day. That is why we took quick and decisive action after we learned of a recruiting contact rule violation involving one of our assistant football coaches in January 2014. We stopped recruiting the involved student-athlete, we removed the assistant coach from all recruiting activities and later secured his resignation.

"We thank the NCAA Committee on Infractions for their thoughtful deliberation. We look forward to putting this issue behind us and we will continue to operate with the highest level of integrity and compliance."

Florida, Phillips and the NCAA agreed on the facts and that the violation occurred.

Before Phillips talked with the prospect, he was notified by a recruiting service reporter that the prospect would be waiting outside of his high school when they arrived. Once Phillips was at the high school, he spoke with the prospect, let him know the school wanted the prospect to be a part of their football program and got the prospect's social media contact information.

The panel determined the former coach's contact with the prospect was a Level II violation because it was not inadvertent and provided more than a minimal recruiting advantage. Specifically, the former coach was able to get the prospect's contact information at a time when coaches who were following the rules were unable to have the same level of contact.

Florida suspended Philips from all off-campus recruiting for 30 days beginning April 10, 2014.

The Gators also ended the recruitment of the prospect.