The basketball team’s famous coach, Larry Brown, will also be suspended for 30 percent of the upcoming season, according to an announcement by the college sports governing authority.
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However, according to Goodman’s source, Brown failed to promptly report the violation and was not clear about the details of it when the NCAA interviewed him. The NCAA also said a former men’s basketball administrative assistant hired by Brown completed the coursework, provided false information to NCAA investigators and attempted to influence the player to provide false information.
This is the third time Brown has coached a team that was found in violation of NCAA rules with the other two instances occurring at Kansas and UCLA.
While Tuesday’s punishment isn’t almost as bad as the “death penalty” that killed off the school’s football operations for a year in 1987, it is rather significant for a collegiate program that now has 10 major infractions cases – the most of any team in the nation.
The NCAA banned the Ponies from postseason play for the coming season.
It is not the first time that a program coached by Brown has been caught in a scandal.
“Our compliance program is among the best in the nation, but we acknowledge that even the strongest compliance programs can fall short when individuals act in an unethical manner”, SMU President Gerald Turner said in a statement.
Boeheim, and now Brown, have been treated more harshly than a number of coaches who knowingly committed or participated in NCAA violations. When he was the head coach at UCLA from 1979-81, his team’s final four season was vacated because two of his players were found academically ineligible. “I wish I could have changed all that”. Any potential appeal would span several months and would be unlikely to conclude before the players finish their senior seasons. “I think it might be a little harsh for what happened, but I think Larry Brown is still going to come out on top”, said student Hollis Byram.
“SMU disagrees with a few of the Committee’s conclusions and penalties”, Turner said.
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SMU also lost nine scholarships and was placed on three years of probation. The NCAA decided that it had enough evidence to assess a “lack of coach control” charge, ESPN said.”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.
