Clemson athletics had seven NCAA violations in 2025. See the cases, details
At some point in 2025, a high school or transfer portal recruit verbally committed to the Clemson football team. Some time afterward, one of Clemson’s assistant coaches “quote-tweeted” and reacted to the recruit’s commitment post on X.
It was an innocent comment — and a minor NCAA violation.
NCAA rules state that schools and coaches can publicly “confirm” their recruitment of a prospect before they’re signed by re-sharing things like scholarship offer posts and commitment posts — but they have to do so without comment. And they can’t publicly discuss things like a recruit’s “ability” or “the contribution (a recruit) might make to an institution’s team” before the recruit has formally signed.
The specific wording of the Clemson assistant’s “quote tweet,” which could’ve included words or emojis or both, wasn’t listed in the school’s report.
But the difference between a “retweet” and a “quote tweet” wound up triggering a Level III NCAA violation, the least severe kind. Clemson self-imposed a two-week communication ban with the recruit (who hadn’t yet signed). The assistant coach also removed the social media post and received “rules education.”
That was one of seven NCAA violations resolved by Clemson athletics in 2025, per documents obtained by The State via public records request.
All seven violations were Level III (the least severe kind), five were related to recruiting and one led to further action by the NCAA. The NCAA defines Level III violations as breaches of conduct that are “isolated and limited in nature.”
Here’s a closer look at Clemson’s other 2025 NCAA violations. The school redacted the names of coaches, players and recruits involved in each violation, as well as the specific date when each violation occurred and other details.
‘Impermissible’ men’s tennis prize money
A men’s tennis player “accepted impermissible prize money” that “exceeded actual and necessary expenses” while representing Clemson at a 2025 tournament.
The tennis player had to repay his prize money to a local charity and received rules education. He was also declared ineligible until reinstated by the NCAA.
Track and field squad list error
A women’s track and field athlete participated in a 2025 competition before she was formally added to the sport’s “squad list.”
Clemson director of track and field and cross country Mark Elliott received a letter of admonishment, and Elliott and the Clemson assistant coach responsible for meet submissions reviewed and signed the corrected squad list.
Softball manager’s video
A softball student manager posted a social media video of a recruit during that recruit’s 2025 official visit to campus. Clemson’s compliance staff contacted the staff member and had them remove the post. Compliance later conducted a “rules education session” with the entire softball staff.
Rowing team emails recruit early
In 2025, a rowing assistant coach emailed a recruit “prior to the first permissible date to send such correspondence” for recruits in that specific grade/class. The assistant coach received rules education, and the entire rowing staff was barred from communicating with that specific recruit for two weeks once it was allowed.
Restaurant visits lead to violation
During a 2024 unofficial visit, Clemson track-and-field coaches met a recruit and her mother at two different restaurants that were more than a mile outside Clemson’s campus. That violated an NCAA rule stating off-campus contact can only occur “within one mile of campus boundaries” during an unofficial visit. The violation occurred in 2024 but wasn’t resolved until 2025.
Clemson sent the staff a letter of admonishment, gave them rules education and restricted the program from taking recruits off campus during unofficial visits for 30 days. The NCAA, after reviewing the case, also made the program count that “impermissible contact” with the recruit as a “permissible contact” (schools have a limited number of permissible contacts to use during recruiting).
Women’s soccer recruiting violation
While driving current Clemson women’s soccer players back from an airport in 2024, an assistant coach on the team included those players in an “in-person, off-campus contact” with a potential recruit. Athletes are barred from participating in those kinds of off-campus recruiting contacts, per NCAA rules.
Clemson said the assistant women’s soccer coach was “placed on leave of absence” as a result of the violation (the length of their suspension was unclear). Clemson also provided rules education and prohibited the women’s soccer staff from making any off-campus contact with recruits for two weeks. The NCAA closed the case in 2025 without taking any further action.
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Clemson athletics had seven NCAA violations in 2025. See the cases, details."
