SAD NEWS:THE HEAD COACH OF Memphis tigers HAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED THE SUSPENSION OF AN KEY PLAYER DUE TO MISUNDERSTANDING.
The NCAA said on Wednesday that Penny Hardaway, the basketball coach of Memphis, will miss the first three games of the 2023–24 season due to a suspension.
The two illegal in-home recruiting visits with a highly regarded prospect during his junior year of high school, according to the NCAA, are the reason for the punishment.
According to NCAA regulations, recruits must have all in-person interactions with potential teammates during the fall of their junior year of high school at their respective schools, not at their residences.
The visits took place in September and October of the school year 2021–2022.
Hardaway claimed he was unaware of the NCAA’s ruling against in-home interactions. Additionally, he attributed some of the error to Memphis’ compliance software’s inaccurate entry of the prospect’s year.
The panel declared in its ruling that “not knowing the rules is not an excuse.” “The head coach committed careless infractions as a result of his lack of attention to compliance, especially during a period when his program was being scrutinized in connection with another infractions case. Head coaches cannot assign their duties to administrators or compliance personnel; instead, they must always be watchful over their employees and encourage compliance.
Hardaway, who was a four-time NBA All-Star and is arguably one of Memphis basketball’s most well-known alumni, is starting his sixth season as head coach of the Tigers.
He is scheduled to miss games on November 6 against Jackson State, November 10 at Missouri, and November 17 at Alabama State.
In a statement, Memphis stated that it firmly feels Hardaway never intended to break the law.
The University of Memphis is dedicated to adhering to regulations. The school released a statement saying, “We will take this incident to heart and become even more vigilant in our supervision and instruction. “As with all of our programs, we will proceed in support of Coach Hardaway and our men’s basketball program now that the entirety of this case has been resolved.”
Here at his alma mater, Hardaway is 111-52. The Tigers finished 26-9 in the previous campaign and were eliminated by Florida Atlantic in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round.
Norman Bay, a private practice attorney; Cassandra Kirk, an Atlanta chief magistrate judge; Gary Miller, the president of Akron and the panel’s chief hearing officer; Joe Novak, a former Northern Illinois University football head coach; and Dave Roberts, a special advisor to Southern California, are the members of the panel who reviewed this case.
