Two more Arizona State assistants placed on administrative leave

Arizona State defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins and wide receivers coach Prentice Gill have been placed on administrative leave, as first reported by Yahoo’s Pete Thamel.

This makes three Sun Devils assistant football coaches placed on administrative leave amid the school’s investigation into recruiting violation allegations. In late July, tight ends coach Adam Breneman was placed on leave. According to The Athletic’s Doug Hallar, Breneman allegedly paid for a recruit’s travel expenses when he was a graduate assistant for ASU.

Breneman had only recently been promoted to tight ends coach back in January of this year.

In June, it was announced the NCAA is investigating allegations of violations within the Sun Devils football program.

“ASU can confirm the NCAA is conducting an investigation regarding allegations related to our football program,” Arizona State vice president of media relations and strategic communications Katie Paquet told The Athletic in a statement. “In accordance with NCAA bylaws, the university cannot provide further comment at this time.”

What’s in the dossier?

According to multiple reports, an anonymous person sent a dossier of dozens of pages to the Arizona State athletic department. Within this dossier were receipts, pictures, screenshots and emails related to multiple potential recruiting violations committed by the Sun Devils staff.

Among the allegations, Arizona State allegedly hosted recruits during the NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that started in the spring of 2020 and last until June 1, 2021.

In Thamel’s report of the allegations he cited multiple sources stating:

“At least 30 players visited campus over a span of months,” Thamel stated. “A practice so common coaches referenced ‘official visit weekends’ in staff meetings, coaches bumped into recruits and families in a back stairwell and a routine developed of facility tours being given around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. at night.”

Also among the allegations are claims members of the Arizona State coaching staff assisted in arranging trips for recruits to visit campus in Tempe. In the dossier are emails from Regina Jackson, the mother of ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels, allegedly assisting with booking more than $1,100 in flights for recruits and their families on a trip from Florida. Hawkins, Gill and Breneman are alleged to be involved.

“In the dossier is an email forwarding a ticket for the guardian of one of the recruits.” Thamel stated. “The email is from Jackson to an email address for Chris Hawkins, the ASU defensive backs coach. Hawkins then forwarded the ticket to the guardian. There are receipts explicitly listing the names of two recruits on their tickets with their flight locator numbers, and both are purchased by the credit card that the documents tie to Jackson.”

ASU assistant denies allegations

Previously, Hawkins had denied any involvement on record in a phone interview with Thamel in June.

“I’ve never paid a kid,” Hawkins said. “I’ve never paid for a flight. I’ve never done any of that. I made $100,000 last year. I was the lowest-paid [Power Five] coach in America. I didn’t have the money to be paying players or paying for flights. I live check-to-check. I’m not one of the big guys yet.”

Hawkins joined the Arizona State staff in December 2019 after most recently serving as a graduate assistant at USC. Gill joined the staff in December 2019 as well after serving as an offensive analyst at Oregon.