Kansas officials acknowledge receipt of Notice of Allegations from NCAA

Kansas Athletics has acknowledged and posted the NCAA’s notice of allegations (with many redactions) regarding violations within the men’s basketball program and football program.

In a nutshell, it charges Bill Self with three Level I violations, a pattern of non-compliance within the basketball program, and a lack of institutional control. It also charges David Beaty and the football program with a single Level II violation.

The notice is dated Sept 23, and Kansas has 90 days from that date from which to respond (barring any extensions). Following that, the NCAA has 60 days to respond to KU’s response, and then we’ll likely have a hearing scheduled a few months after that where a ruling will be issued along with any punishments. I would recommend this Twitter thread by @JayhawkTalk regarding timing, possible punishment, etc. Very succinct, very informative.

The University, Bill Self, Jeff Long, Chancellor Doug Girod, and even Les Miles have already put out statements refuting the allegations which you can read here. It its statement, the University says it “strongly disagrees with the assertion of” lack of institutional control, and generally rebuts the notice of allegations. KU says it will make its response to the the NCAA public once it is submitted.

The football violation is seemingly minor, so we won’t spend much time on that. Video coordinator Jeff Love, a noncoaching staff member, is charged with providing “technical and tactical instruction with football student athletes” during meetings and practices from December of 2017 through October of 2018. It charges Beaty and Love with knowing the rules and failing to identify the breach of compliance, which of course is contrary to what Beaty’s attorney says.

As for the basketball allegations, they appear to tie into the recruitment of Billy Preston, Silvio de Sousa, and Zion Williamson. It is notable that Preston and Williamson never played a minute for KU, and de Sousa has been cleared by the NCAA twice now. How much that matters is something we’ll find out somewhere along the road, I presume. (Still waiting on the investigation for Williamson/Duke.)

I did find it interesting that the NCAA notes one of the “aggravating factors” in this case is KU’s “history of Level I, Level II, or major violations by the institution” then cites six - just six - cases going back to 1957 (i.e., over the last 62 years). Then later in the notice, it notes mitigating factors, and says: “An established history of self-reporting Level III or secondary violations.” LOL Ok guys.

Anyway, this has been covered plenty by the major local news outlets along with the national ones, but I’ll just note a few more things.

Jeff Goodman makes a point that the NCAA is going after Kansas by designating TJ Gassnola as a booster. Goodman says, “If that’s truly the case, most who work for shoe companies are boosters. Nike for Oregon, Duke, UK. Under Armor for Maryland.”

Does the NCAA really want to set that precedent?

And speaking of precedents, I would now like to remind you of the following:

1. North Carolina received five Level I allegations as well as the “lack of institutional control” charge in 2015 and absolutely nothing happened to them.
2. Penn State received severe sanctions in 2012 for the child sex abuse scandal in the football program, all of which were restored - including Joe Paterno’s vacated wins - by January of 2015.
3. After opening an investigation in 2017, the NCAA has yet to levy any sanctions against Baylor for the “lack of institutional control” charge concerning multiple rape allegations and resulting cover up by the coaching staff and the University (along with some academic fraud issues). Officials are optimistic that Baylor won’t see any major penalties.
4. After Sean Miller at Arizona was accused (in court) by a former assistant of paying Deandre Ayton $10,000 per month, he sat out a game, vehemently denied the accusation, and was then reinstated by the University.
5. LSU coach Will Wade was suspended by the University after caught on wiretap discussing an offer for a recruit (Javonte Smart), then reinstated by the University after denying any wrongdoing.
6. Zion Williamson went to Duke.

Per CBSSports.com, “Kansas is the second known school to receive a NOA with Level I violations to date, joining NC State.” Back in June, it was reported by various outlets (including CBS) that at least six schools, including two “high profile” programs, would receive allegations of Level I violations this year. The list of suspected schools numbered around 20, which included Kansas, Arizona, Louisville, Oklahoma State, USC, Auburn, and LSU.

So, it definitely appears as if Kansas won’t be alone in this. What’s unknown is whether or not any of the other major players in college basketball - I’m looking at Duke, UK, UNC - will come under fire as well.

Or are Nike schools somehow exempt from all of this?