Louisville men's basketball avoids postseason ban in punishment for NCAA recruiting violations

The Louisville men’s basketball team avoided a postseason ban after the conclusion of long-running NCAA investigation into violations under the watch of former coaches Rick Pitino and Chris Mack.

The Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) on Thursday announced Louisville's punishment -  a $5,000 fine, recruiting restrictions and a two-year probation that ends Nov. 3, 2024.

The ruling includes no sanctions for Pitino and Mack who were the coaches when the violations occurred.

Former Cardinals assistants Kenny Johnson and Jordan Fair were assessed two-year show-cause penalties. Johnson, Louisville's former associate head coach and now an assistant at Rhode Island, will be prohibited from recruiting during that period. Show-cause penalties require an NCAA member school to provide reasons why it should not face penalties for hiring a coach.

The ruling means the Cardinals under first-year coach Kenny Payne are eligible to play in this this year's men's tournament if the team qualifies. Payne and his staff will face recruiting restrictions in the 2022-23 season.

The sanctions include a two-week ban on unofficial visits this season and an additional two-week ban on recruiting communication — "telephone and written correspondence," per the IARP decision — and a seven-day reduction of "recruiting person days" for this academic year.

Louisville also receives a "public reprimand and censure" as part of its punishment. The school's probation will be "publicized by the NCAA on its website, in appropriate publications and in NCAA championship game programs."

Additionally, graduate assistant managers and other noncoaching staff members "are restricted from participation in any on-court practice activities for 10 Louisville men’s basketball practices during the 2022-23 playing and practice season."

And Louisville is "restricted from showing personalized recruiting videos to prospective student-athletes during the remainder of the 2022-23 recruiting calendar."

Later Thursday morning, the IARP will hold a Zoom news conference with David Benck, senior vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary of a retail company, international and domestic arbitrator and the chief panel member for the panel appointed to the case.

University interim president Jason Gonzalez and athletic director Josh Heird are scheduled for a press conference at noon. Pitino will hold a press conference at 12:30, according to an Iona University press release.

The ruling brings to a close a five-year NCAA investigation into the Louisville program, alleged to have committed a total of seven violations under the guidance of former coaches Pitino and Mack. The most severe allegations stem from the Cardinals' recruitment during Pitino's tenure of former five-star prospect Brian Bowen.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York revealed the bribery scheme behind Louisville's relationship with Bowen on Sept. 26, 2017.

In December of 2020, Louisville — seeking consistency and calling into question the fairness of the NCAA Committee on Infractions — requested that its case be handled by the IARP, a review body formed in 2019 for “reviewing select complex infractions cases,” according to its website, but which the NCAA announced this summer will be dissolved after adjudicating its current cases.

The NCAA’s investigation of Louisville, delayed by federal court cases and a second set of allegations arising from Dino Gaudio’s attempted extortion of former Cardinals’ basketball coach Chris Mack, was completed Aug. 6, 2021.

The most significant of the allegations against Louisville were that employees of Adidas, representing the university’s athletics interest, made an impermissible recruiting offer of $100,000 and arranged for a $25,000 extra benefit to Bowen's father.

In addition, Fair was alleged to have knowingly been involved in an impermissible recruiting inducement of $11,800 to $13,500 to Brad Augustine, a non-scholastic boys basketball coach associated with prospects. And former Louisville assistant coach Kenny Johnson allegedly knowingly provided a $1,300 extra benefit to Bowen’s father.

Those violations were considered Level I, the most severe under NCAA bylaws, but Louisville also was alleged to have committed multiple Level II violations.

Johnson and Fair were alleged to have participated in impermissible recruiting activities related to a basketball prospect and individuals associated with basketball prospects, including impermissible in-person off-campus recruiting contact with a prospect; impermissible contact and/or communication with individuals associated with Team United and providing impermissible transportation to Christian Dawkins and Augustine while they accompanied a prospect on an unofficial visit.

The NCAA also alleged that former coach Rick Pitino violated head coach responsibility legislation by failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the men’s basketball program, and that Louisville violated the NCAA's principle of rules compliance by failing to adequately monitor the recruitment of Bowen.

Louisville also was alleged to have committed Level II violations during the tenure of coach Chris Mack, including using graduate assistants for on-court activities and “producing and showing, playing or providing personalized recruiting videos and recruiting aids to basketball prospects containing the recruits’ names, pictures and/or likenesses.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Louisville avoids NCAA tournament ban for recruiting violations