SMU is the only major school given the so-called death penalty, one that shut the football program down for two seasons in the late 1980s.
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The basketball team will lose nine scholarships over the next three seasons and could have a few if not all of its 2013-14 season vacated; the Mustangs went 27-10 and lost in the NIT championship game. Now, not only will the Mustangs miss the postseason, they’ll have to give up seven scholarships in the next three years. The school must decide on an appeal within 15 days.
Everyone knew Brown’s history when he was hired, but that didn’t stop SMU from taking the risk, no matter how it looked. While coaching at the University of Kansas towards the end of his tenure, Brown and the Jayhawks committed recruiting violations and were banned from postseason play in 1989, after Brown had left Kansas to coach in the National Basketball Association.
ESPN previously reported that Ulric Maligi, a former basketball assistant, provided impermissible coursework help to Keith Frazier, now in his junior season. The student-athlete received fraudulent credit for the course and, as a result, competed while ineligible during his freshman season.
Brown didn’t have direct involvement in the academic misconduct, according to the report, but he allegedly misled the NCAA’s investigators and declined to report information to the school’s compliance staff. Brown was also penalized with a two-year “show-cause” penalty that restricts his duties.
In its 60-page report, the NCAA repeatedly suggested that Brown deliberately ignored warning signs and did nothing when he had the chance. He has to attend an NCAA regional rules seminar each of the two years.
“He’s different than me, so we all have our individual ways to get there”. During the course of the investigation, I was being interviewed by the NCAA and they blindsided me with a question and I answered it. And after thinking about it a while I asked to be excused.
The NCAA, which had spent months investigating the allegations, issued its punitive report Tuesday – which bans SMU from participating in any postseason tournament in 2016. An official at the AAC said the league would have no comment on the matter Tuesday. The NCAA says this is the tenth time SMU has seriously violated NCAA rules.
“An institution’s head coach is presumed to be responsible for the actions of all institutional staff members who report, directly or indirectly, to the head coach”, the rule states.
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SMU head coach Larry Brown speaks to the media during a news conference before practice at the NCAA college basketball tournament in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, March 18, 2015.
