Arizona faces allegations of five Level I rule violations, including two cases of academic misconduct within the men’s basketball program, according to an NCAA notice of allegations the university released to ESPN on Friday through a request for open records.
Arizona issued the indictment in response to an order from a Maricopa County judge issued on Monday. The school denied requests from ESPN and other media last fall to publicize the album, and the network sued it in January.
Among the charges, former Wildcats assistant coaches Emanuel “Book” Richardson and Mark Phelps are accused of violating ethical conduct principles, engaging in pre-registration academic misconduct and / or providing an inadmissible recruitment incentive ” when they deliberately arranged fake academic transcripts for two prospective student-athletes in men’s basketball. “
Among the Level I allegations, the NCAA accused male basketball coach Sean Miller for failing to demonstrate “that it fostered an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his team”.
“Miller was unable to demonstrate that he promoted compliance by failing to establish that compliance was a shared responsibility within the men’s basketball program, not setting clear expectations that his coaching staff complied with NCAA legislation and did not require immediate reporting of actual violations and to the compliance team for an independent investigation, “said the NCAA’s notice of allegations.
The report said that “two of Miller’s three assistant coaches committed intentional violations involving fraudulent academic transcripts, receiving cash bribes, facilitating a meeting with an aspiring agent, inadmissible incentives and recruitment violations, all over an 18-month period. The ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the men’s basketball program rests with Miller and his team’s actions reflect on Miller as the head coach. “
The NCAA application team claimed that Miller “failed to demonstrate” that he was monitoring Phelps and Richardson for their involvement with prospects.
“Specifically, although Miller knew that both potential clients had significant academic deficiencies to overcome in order to become academically qualified, Miller did not ask his team specific questions and did not actively look for warning signs regarding the circumstances and time of studies of student-athletes eligibility “, read the notice.
Miller is also accused of failing to demonstrate that he monitored Richardson and the men’s basketball program’s relationship with Christian Dawkins.
Dawkins, an aspiring business manager, was one of three men who were found guilty for their roles in pay-per-game schemes to influence high-level basketball recruits to attend Kansas, Louisville and NC State. Dawkins and former Adidas consultant Merl Code were convicted in a separate trial for bribing assistant coaches in Arizona, Oklahoma, South Carolina and the USC.
Among the aggravating factors in the case, the NCAA enforcement team noted that Miller “carelessly disregarded” the violations.
The Arizona athletics department is also accused of a lack of institutional control for “failure to establish a culture of compliance within the men’s basketball program.”
Richardson, who was one of 10 men arrested in September 2017 for involvement in bribery and pay per game schemes in a federal college basketball investigation, was also accused of accepting $ 20,000 in cash bribes from representatives of LOYD, Inc., business management company that sought to represent players as soon as they became professionals. Dawkins was a representative of LOYD, Inc.
Phelps is accused of providing an unacceptable $ 500 loan to an Arizona player, instructing a male basketball player to delete a text message related to an NCAA violation and intentionally providing false or misleading information to the institution and the enforcement team of the NCAA, and directing an Arizona player to help recruit two potential recruits.
The school argued that disclosing the allegation notice would violate the NCAA’s confidentiality rules and subject the school to harmful sanctions. In supporting ESPN, Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Mikitish wrote that Arizona “has not presented any evidence” that the NCAA or other related body has ever penalized a public university for releasing a notice of allegations in response to a request for records.
Mikitish wrote that although Arizona officials said they wanted to limit the damage caused by “unproven claims circulating in the media”, there are no public record exemptions to protect a government agency to “save an official or public agency from inconvenience. or embarrassment “.
The Wildcats received the notice of the charges in October, but initially refused to release it publicly. The case will be heard through the Independent Liability Resolution Process, which is handling similar cases involving basketball programs in Kansas, Louisville and NC State.
During the federal government’s investigation of bribes and other forms of corruption in college basketball, Richardson told undercover FBI agents that he paid $ 40,000 to a high school coach to ensure that former Arizona guard Rawle Alkins was academically qualified to play for Wildcats, according to a meeting transcript obtained by ESPN at the United States Attorney’s Office in New York.
During a meeting on June 20, 2017, with aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins, financial planner Munish Sood and two undercover FBI agents, Richardson said that Alkins needed one more class to be eligible under NCAA rules, and that an unidentified trainer wanted $ 40,000 to add the class to his official transcript.
“It’s ingenious,” said Richardson, according to the transcript. “Initially, I was mad at the high school coach, but I would say he is resourceful. He said, ‘Book, I need $ 40,000 to include this in his school record. If he doesn’t get this class, he will be a partial qualifier. He there won’t be 16 credits to graduate. ‘
“To sum up the story, I said OK. You need 40 thousand for that class. He said, ‘Yes, Book, because I am not the only one doing this. I have to take care of some people. ‘ I said, ‘[Expletive] you i’m not doing this. ‘I tried to play poker and a week turned into a month, and I said,’ Oh, what … ‘”
The transcript of the interview was part of the evidence for a federal criminal trial in 2019, when Dawkins and Code were convicted of paying bribes to Richardson, former Oklahoma State assistant Lamont Evans, and former USC assistant Tony Bland to refer his clients. players to the sports management company Dawkins and certain financial planners.
In late December, Arizona announced that it was self-enforcing a one-year post-season ban as a “proactive step in its ongoing NCAA enforcement process” that will keep Wildcats out of Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments this season.
“I fully understand and support the University’s decision to self-impose a one-year post-season ban on our men’s basketball program,” Miller said in a statement. “Our team will remain united and will compete aggressively to win a PAC-12 championship.”
Alkins, who played in Arizona for two seasons before turning pro in 2018, attended Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York for three years and then the Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, for your last year.
“I tried to get someone else to give him a summer course,” Richardson said during the meeting, according to the transcript. “I couldn’t do it because what [the coach] had was a seal. He had the school seal, and the best thing about the seal he had, the school, and Bishop Ford closed in Brooklyn, so you can’t investigate. You cannot investigate. So, when the NCAA says I need to see the course and everything – the school is closed. “
Richardson told undercover FBI agents that Alkins did not receive any of the $ 40,000 that he allegedly paid the high school coach. Alkins played 10 games for the Chicago Bulls during the 2018-19 season. He signed with the Pelicans on December 4, 2020 and was released at the end of the training camp later that month.
“I felt that the boy was being done an injustice and a disservice because what – the high school coach again, was ingenious, but when you fool everyone and that boy didn’t get any of the 40’s, that’s my problem” , Said Richardson.
“Because his mom is still, she has to get places. And that’s my goal. If I do something for you, I want to make sure that mom is in every game. So she doesn’t [expletive] with us. Because I’ve always said that: when you give someone something in advance and say, ‘Hey, you book these tickets’ – now they aren’t calling two days before to say,’ Oh, book, you won’t believe it. I never booked this flight. The only thing left is first class and costs $ 1,500 one way. What? So the season is going on. I’m like, ‘Just do it’. So, I’ve had moments of ‘just doing’ in the past seven years and it hasn’t benefited me. “
Richardson, who worked as an assistant in Arizona from 2009 to 2017, pleaded guilty in January 2019 to taking $ 20,000 in bribes and was sentenced to three months in prison and two years of probation as part of a plea bargain.
During the meeting, Richardson also told secret agents that he was paying Alkins’ cousin, Rodney Labossiere, $ 2,000 a month after he moved to Tucson, Arizona.
“I said to his cousin, ‘I’m going to give you two thousand a month to make sure he works,'” said Richardson. “But he brought him, his wife and his son. Wrong move.”
In February 2019, Arizona suspended Phelps and “initiated the process” to fire him for an alleged NCAA violation, his lawyer told ESPN at the time. The school did not renew its contract after the 2018-19 season.
Sources told ESPN that Phelps is accused of a violation of the academic transcripts of former Arizona recruit Shareef O’Neal. O’Neal, son of former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, committed to the Wildcats in 2017 before signing with UCLA and staying out of the 2018-19 season with a heart condition. He was transferred to LSU in February 2020.
Two other Level II violations included in the allegation of allegations involved Arizona’s swim and dive programs.