The NCAA has launched five Level 1 charges against Arizona – four against the men’s basketball program and one against the athletics department, the school announced on Friday.
The charges included the failure to charge the lead coach against coach Sean Miller. Most of the accusations revolved around former assistants Book Richardson and Mark Phelps, while Miller was accused of a general failure to promote compliance or monitor his reports.
The complete list of Level 1 fees are as follows:
- Unethical recruitment conduct involving academic misconduct by former assistant coaches Book Richardson and Mark Phelps. The NCAA said they “engaged in pre-registration academic misconduct and / or provided an inadmissible recruitment incentive when they deliberately provided false academic transcripts.
- Richardson’s unethical conduct for taking $ 20,000 in bribes (a charge Richardson admitted and served a three-month prison term).
- Phelps’ unethical conduct of asking an AU player to delete a text message topic related to an unacceptable $ 500 loan he had made and lying to investigators.
- Leader’s responsibility for Miller for failing to demonstrate that he promoted compliance.
- The lack of institutional control for Arizona because of the male basketball charges and two Level II charges involving swimming.
The NCAA also issued Level 2 charges against Phelps for giving a player a $ 500 loan and for asking a player to help recruit him.
Other Level 2 charges were brought against the swim and dive program for organizing illegal tests and for the coach’s lack of responsibility for Augie Busch.
Arizona self-imposed a one-year post-season ban on December 29 for its men’s basketball program, recognizing “that the NCAA investigation revealed that certain former members of the men’s basketball team exhibited serious errors of judgment.”
The NCAA penalty system requires a one to two year post-season ban under a standard Level 1 violation, although an aggravated Level 1 violation has a two to four year ban. Among the aggravating factors is the designation that a program “compromised the integrity of the investigation” and did not cooperate.
If Miller is found guilty of a Tier 1 charge, he will forfeit a $ 1 million bonus, although he may have already received a portion of that bonus and must return the payment.
Richardson pleaded guilty to taking $ 20,000 in bribes to direct Arizona players to would-be agent Christian Dawkins and financial manager Munish Sood. Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying Deandre Ayton $ 10,000 to sign with Arizona, and the intercepted call was dropped in court.