MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process put Memphis on three years of probation with a public reprimand on Tuesday, but declined to punish Tigers coach Penny Hardaway or hand down an NCAA Tournament ban.
The IARP issued only its second decision Tuesday, with cases involving Louisiana State, Arizona, Kansas and Louisville still on the group’s docket.
The NCAA had accused Memphis of four Level I and two Level II violations, considered the most serious infractions, and a total of seven alleged violations including lack of institutional control, head coach responsibility and failure to monitor.
The IARP ruled that Memphis failed to monitor Hardaway as an athletics booster, provided impermissible benefits and other benefits to recruits. The panel also ruled that Memphis failed to cooperate with the investigation by delaying handing over requested documents.
The NCAA investigation started in May 2019 and continued into February 2021, with an amended notice of allegations sent to Memphis in July 2021.
The probe began over the recruitment and the short time that James Wiseman spent at Memphis after receiving $11,500 from Hardaway in 2017. That’s when Hardaway was coach at East High School in Memphis. He wasn’t hired as Memphis’ coach until March 2018, and Wiseman committed to the Tigers in November 2018.
But the NCAA ruled the money wasn’t allowed because Hardaway was a booster for the program. The former NBA All-Star gave $1 million in 2008 to his alma mater for the university’s sports hall of fame, which is named for Hardaway.
Wiseman played the first game of the 2019-20 season before the NCAA ruled Wiseman ineligible. He played two more games after filing a restraining order against the NCAA.
On Nov. 20, 2019, the NCAA suspended Wiseman for 12 games and ordered him to repay $11,500 in the form of a donation to the charity of choice. Wiseman withdrew from Memphis in December 2019 and now plays for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
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