Transfer Tampering Sanctions
NCAA Sanctions North Dakota Football Program for Transfer Tampering Violation by Assistant Coach
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The NCAA penalized the University of North Dakota’s FCS football program for transfer-portal tampering after finding that assistant coach Travis Stepps held impermissible recruiting conversations with a student-athlete from another school who had not entered the Transfer Portal. The NCAA said Stepps, who had previously recruited the athlete out of high school, discussed the possibility of transferring to UND in the fall and the athlete shared materials such as practice video and an academic transcript; UND’s compliance office flagged the issue after receiving the transcript. UND self-reported the violation through a negotiated resolution process, and the Division I Committee on Infractions imposed sanctions ahead of the 2026 season opener against LIU on Aug. 27. The program was placed on one-season probation, fined $25,000, and hit with recruiting restrictions for the January 2027 transfer/notification-of-transfer window, including a one-week ban on recruiting communications and limits on visits, official and unofficial, over the 2026-27 academic year. Stepps received a one-game suspension in 2026 and a one-year show-cause order requiring any employing NCAA school to restrict him from communicating with four-year transfer prospects during the entire January 2027 window. The NCAA report said head coach Eric Schmidt was not personally involved or aware, so he was not subject to individual penalties.
Key Points
1
Beyond probation and the fine, the NCAA specified that UND will suffer a “3% reduction in official paid visits” during the 2026-27 academic year and also face “three one-week bans” on unofficial football visits across that same 2026-27 period.
2
While the parties acknowledged that head-coach responsibility legislation could make Eric Schmidt “automatically responsible for the violations,” the negotiated resolution states Schmidt was “not personally involved,” “not aware of the impermissible contact,” and “promoted an atmosphere for compliance,” so no individual penalties were imposed on him.
3
The NCAA’s finding was quoted as: “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.”
4
Multiple outlets identified Stepps specifically as UND’s “Assistant Coach/Defensive Backs” (not just an assistant coach generally), underscoring his recruiting-access role as the enforcement focus.
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