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 included the lack of a charge of head coach responsibility against head coach Sean Miller. Most of the allegations centered around former assistants Book Richardson and Mark Phelps, while Miller was alleged to have failed to encourage compliance or monitor his reports.
The complete list of level 1 fees is as follows:
- Unethical recruiting conduct involving academic misconduct of former assistant coaches Book Richardson and Mark Phelps. The NCAA said that “they engaged in pre-enrollment academic misconduct and / or provided a ground for unauthorized recruitment when they knowingly arranged false academic transcripts.
- Richardson’s unethical behavior for accepting a $ 20,000 bribe (a charge Richardson admitted and served a three-month prison sentence).
- Phelps’ unethical behavior because he asked an AU player to delete a text message related to an illegal $ 500 loan he gave and lied to investigators.
- The head coach’s responsibility for Miller for not proving that he promoted compliance.
- Lack of institutional control for Arizona due to men’s basketball fees and the two Level II fees involving swimming.
The NCAA also issued Level 2 charges against Phelps for lending a player a $ 500 loan and for asking a player to help him recruit.
Other Level 2 charges were issued against the swimming and diving program for organizing illegal trials and for the lack of responsibility of the head coach by Augie Busch.
Arizona imposed a one-year post-season ban on Dec. 29 on its men’s basketball program, acknowledging “that the NCAA investigation revealed that certain former men’s basketball staff filed serious gifts in court.”
The NCAA Sanctions System requires a one- to two-year post-season ban based on a standard Level 1 violation, although an aggravated Level 1 violation has a two- to four-year ban. Among the aggravating factors is the fact that a program “compromised the integrity of the investigation” and failed to cooperate.
If Miller is found guilty of a Level 1 fee, he will lose a $ 1 million bonus, although some of the bonus may have already been paid and he should have returned the payment.
Richardson pleaded guilty to accepting a $ 20,000 bribe for directing Arizona players to aspiring agent Christian Dawkins and financial manager Munish Sood. Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying $ 10,000 for Deandre Ayton to sign with Arizona, and the intercepted phone call was played in court.