Tampering violations occurred in North Dakota football program

Tampering violations occurred in the North Dakota football program when football assistant coach Travis Stepps had impermissible recruiting conversations with a student-athlete from another school who had not been entered into the Transfer Portal, according an agreement released by a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. 

The school, Stepps, football head coach Eric Schmidt and enforcement staff agreed that the violations in this case occurred after Stepps knowingly communicated with a student-athlete at another school who was not in the Transfer Portal and whom he had previously recruited out of high school. The majority of their conversations occurred in the fall — before the notification-of-transfer window for football had opened — and centered on the student-athlete inquiring about transferring to North Dakota, offering to send Stepps his practice film and providing his academic transcript. The violations were uncovered when Stepps sent the transcript to the North Dakota compliance department, which flagged that the student-athlete was not in the Transfer Portal and self-reported the violation. 

Stepps agreed that he knew the student-athlete was not in the Transfer Portal and that communicating with him was not permissible. 

The parties also agreed that Schmidt was automatically responsible for the violations due to head coach responsibility legislation. However, the parties noted that he was not personally involved in the violations, was not aware of the impermissible contact and promoted an atmosphere for compliance, and thus the parties agreed that he should not receive any penalties. 

This case was processed through the negotiated resolution process. The process was used instead of a formal hearing or summary disposition because the university, coaches and enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases.

The parties used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-mitigated penalties for the university, Stepps and Schmidt. The decision contains the full list of penalties as approved by the Committee on Infractions, including:

• One year of probation. 
• A $25,000 fine.
• A one-week ban on recruiting communications for the football program during the January 2027 notification-of-transfer window.
• A 3% reduction in official paid visits in football during the 2026-27 academic year.
• Three one-week bans on football unofficial visits during the 2026-27 academic year.
• A one-year show-cause order for Stepps, during which any employing NCAA member school must restrict him from communicating with four-year transfer prospects during the entire January 2027 football notification-of-transfer window. 
• A one-game suspension for Stepps during the 2026 football season.

Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and public. The panel members who reviewed this case are Norman Bay, attorney in private practice; Susan Cross-Lipnickey, the chief hearing officer for the panel and senior associate athletics director for compliance and student resources and senior woman administrator at Xavier; and Steve Waterfield, athletics director at Oakland.