Report: NCAA alleging Arizona committed five Level I violations
Arizona is facing some of the most serious allegations that can be handed down to a college athletic program from the NCAA. According to a report from Seth Davis of The Athletic, the Wildcats are alleged by the NCAA to have committed five Level I violations with allegations of nine violations overall.
That would be the most violations of any program involved with the FBI's corruption case that resulted in former UA assistant coach Emanuel "Book" Richardson serving prison time for his role in the scandal.
Arizona acknowledged Friday that it has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, but has opted not to release the NOA citing its desire "to protect the integrity of the ongoing enforcement process" as its reason for keeping the details of the allegations private.
The Arizona Board of Regents is set to hold a special executive meeting Monday afternoon to discuss the NOA.
Among the five Level I violations reported by Davis are charges of a lack of institutional control by UA, a lack of head coach control by men's basketball coach Sean Miller plus lack of head coach control by swimming and diving coach Augie Busch.
Kansas was previously hit with similar violations that totaled eight overall including five Level I violations for the men's basketball program under Bill Self.
Davis says the details of the violations from the NOA were included in a letter from UA outside counsel Paul Kelly informing the NCAA of the school's desire to have the case heard by the Independent Accountability Resolution Process.
This process would allow an independent panel to review the case and hear the arguments rather than the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, which Davis reports Arizona believes would be the best course to “issue a decision that is fair and just.”
The report indicates that one big aspect of the NCAA's case against Arizona is the lack of cooperation by former assistant coaches Mark Phelps and Richardson. Phelps was suspended before the program let his contract expire without retaining him on staff stemming from what was reportedly an NCAA investigation into a situation involving a "fraudulent online course" and one-time UA commit Shareef O'Neal.
Davis writes: "The NCAA argued in the NOA that Arizona “compromised the integrity of the investigation and failed to cooperate.” Kelly characterizes this as “adversarial posturing” and writes that Arizona “strenuously denies this allegation and intends to establish that this claim is unfounded.”
Kansas, LSU and North Carolina State are three other programs that have decided to take advantage of the IARP versus the traditional route. The one downside for a school in doing so is that it waives its right to an appeal whenever the IARP reaches its resolution.
Davis also noted that an "aggravating factor" in the NCAA's allegations is the refusal by Arizona to turn over final report from the private investigation by law firm Steptoe and Johnson that the school initiated when Richardson was arrested as part of the FBI's case.
Kelly says, according to Davis, that the NCAA was allowed to allowed to attend interviews and review documents throughout the process it was not necessary to send the final report that was produced.
Level I violations carry lofty penalties for universities and programs including postseason bans and scholarship reductions. So far Oklahoma State is the only school involved in the FBI's case to receive its punishment that includes a postseason ban for the 2020-21 season in addition to a loss of three scholarships for the next three seasons. That was the result of one Level I violation committed by former assistant coach Lamont Evans for his involvement in the scandal, which resulted in 90 days in prison as well.
OSU did not decide to utilize the IARP, which has yet to hear any of the cases.
Programs have 90 days to respond to the allegations made by the NCAA upon receiving an NOA followed by a potential 60-day period for the NCAA to then respond. Arizona received its NOA Wednesday according to Davis' report.
Miller chose not to comment on the situation when asked by reporters Thursday during his virtual media day press conference.
"I'm not gonna comment on anything that is around any investigation, and that's really what I'm called to do as a member of our athletic department," he said.
At this time it is unclear how many of the violations are connected to the men's basketball program and how many are connected to the swimming and diving program or UA's athletic department as a whole.
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