The NCAA has penalized the State University of New York at Albany for violating a recruiting rule that bars coaches from using text messages to communicate with prospective athletes.

The Division I Committee on Infractions said yesterday that several assistant coaches in Albany’s football program had sent hundreds of text messages to 220 recruits during the fall of 2007, months after the NCAA adopted a rule banning the practice.

The association said that the following summer, Albany’s head baseball coach violated the same rule by sending a total of 56 text messages to five recruits.

Albany and the NCAA agreed on the facts of the case, and the NCAA has approved the university’s self-imposed penalties, some of which have already taken effect. Those penalties include two years of probation, a reduction in scholarships in the baseball program, a reduction of paid official visits in the football program, and a one-year ban on off-campus recruiting by the baseball coach.

The committee’s full report will be available on the NCAA’s Web site tomorrow. —Libby Sander