The NCAA has filed five Level 1 charges against Arizona – four against the men’s basketball program and one against the athletics department, the school announced Friday.
The allegations include a lack of charges against head coach Sean Miller. Most of the allegations were aimed at former aides Book Richardson and Mark Phelps, while Miller reportedly promoted negligence in general or failed to check his reports.
The full list of Level 1 costs is as follows:
- Unethical recruiting behavior related to academic misconduct by former assistant coaches Book Richardson and Mark Phelps. The NCAA said they “were guilty of academic misconduct prior to enrollment and / or gave inadmissible recruitment inducement when knowingly arranging false academic transcripts.
- Richardson’s unethical conduct for accepting $ 20,000 in bribes (an indictment Richardson admitted serving a three-month jail term).
- Phelps’ unethical conduct for asking a UA player to delete a text message thread regarding an inadmissible $ 500 loan he had provided, and lying to investigators.
- Head coach responsibility to Miller for failing to demonstrate promoting compliance.
- Institutional lack of control over Arizona due to the men’s basketball charges and two Level II charges related to swimming.
The NCAA also issued Level 2 charges against Phelps for giving a player a loan of $ 500 and for asking a player to help him recruit.
Other level 2 charges were filed against the swimming and diving program for organizing illegal tryouts and for Augie Busch’s lack of responsibility for head coaching.
Arizona itself imposed a one-year post-season ban on its men’s basketball program on Dec. 29, acknowledging “that the NCAA investigation found that certain former members of the men’s basketball staff were exhibiting serious errors of judgment.”
The NCAA’s sanctions system calls for a one to two year post-season ban under a standard Level 1 offense, although an aggravated Level 1 offense has a two to four year ban. One of the aggravating factors is the indication that a program “compromised the integrity of the investigation” and failed to cooperate.
If Miller is found guilty of a Level 1 charge, he will lose a $ 1 million bonus, although he may have already received some of that bonus and should return the payment.
Richardson pleaded guilty to accepting $ 20,000 in bribes for sending Arizona players to aspiring agent Christian Dawkins and finance manager Munish Sood. Richardson told Dawkins that Miller paid $ 10,000 for Deandre Ayton to sign with Arizona, and the intercepted call was played in court.