On Thursday afternoon, the NCAA approved its decision on violations committed by former South Carolina basketball assistant coach Lamont Evans.
A university release is posted below …
In January 2020, the University of South Carolina received an official notice of NCAA allegations of a Level I violation in relation to a former male assistant basketball coach. The violations were from a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into college basketball fraud and corruption, announced in September 2017.
Throughout an extensive three-year analysis and investigation by the DOJ and the NCAA, the University of South Carolina Athletics showed that the violation in question was limited to the hidden actions of a former technical assistant and that Athletics had the systems and personnel to demonstrate an ethical and compliant department.
“During the NCAA investigation process, members of our athletics team, Southeastern Conference team and NCAA enforcement team met in Indianapolis to review the facts of the case,” said the athletics director at the University of South Carolina Ray Tanner. “It was a cooperative meeting and I thought it was important in the way we reached that conclusion.”
As a result of the former employee’s actions, the University self-imposed sanctions, which the NCAA accepted. It is important to note that the NCAA has not added any additional sanctions, thus reaffirming the University of South Carolina’s athletics processes of educating and monitoring its sports, coaches and student-athletes.
Statement by the President of the University of South Carolina, Bob Caslen:
“Compliance with NCAA rules is essential within our university, and it is essential that we are accountable both as individuals and as an institution. As soon as we become aware of any violations, we investigate, hold responsible, learn from it and implement a process to ensure that it does not occur again. I am satisfied with the way our athletics department handled this problem, and that the NCAA has accepted our self-imposed sanctions. “
Additional Tanner statement:
“I am proud of how our department handled this situation. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we were proactive in determining what happened and worked in cooperation with the Department of Justice and the NCAA. The NCAA’s acceptance of our self-imposed sanctions validates our commitment. and the work done by our compliance, management and coaches team ”.
University of South Carolina Chief Basketball Officer Statement Frank Martin:
“I would like to thank our Board of Trustees, President Caslen, Coach Tanner, our administration, our campus leadership and our compliance department who have worked so hard for our program and to get us to this place. Our compliance department does a job unbelievable to work with and educate our team and players. I would also like to thank the NCAA for the meticulousness and consideration that this process involved. As I have said throughout my career, I conduct my program with transparency, an open political door and with integrity – is in my heart and is the essence of who I am. We move on and I am grateful to have this situation behind. “
The NCAA version can be found on here.