Kansas State Assistant Football Coach Punished For Recruiting Violations

[STORY UPDATED BELOW THE JUMP]

Both Tyler Dreiling, of GoPowerCat, and Cole Manbeck, of the Manhattan Mercury ($) are reporting that long-time K-State assistant football coach Michael Smith is being punished for making impermissible phone calls.

These violations were called “minor” by Dreiling, and were self-reported by the K-State compliance department. Michael Smith is currently the wide receivers coach for Bill Snyder’s Wildcats team, and has been on the staff for sixteen years.  Manbeck categorized the phone calls as “improper cell phone contacts with recruits”, which he confirmed with Kansas State University president, Kirk Schulz.

Smith’s career at K-State spans both his 16 years as coach, and his time as a starting wide receiver at KSU, from 1989-91. The length of his punishment has not been reported, but during that time, his contact with recruits will be restricted.

UPDATE (6:35 pm): Austin Meek just sent out a tweet noting that a “Short (one month?) off-campus recruiting restriction” was possibly going to be the punishment.