The time is 12:23 PM.
The NCAA placed the men's basketball program on four years of NCAA supervision and suspended coach Bruce Pearl for two games for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
More than four years after Person was arrested and charged with accepting bribes from a financial advisor who was working as an FBI mole, the NCAA has finally made a ruling.
The first head coach to be punished in a case related to the federal investigation was Bruce Pearl of auburn. He was given a three-year show cause penalty by the NCAA after he lied to investigators about his program's impermissible contact with recruits. The show-cause order had expired when he was hired by auburn.
"We are pleased that a conclusion has been reached in this case," the release said. For the last four years, auburn has been proactive and cooperative with the NCAA enforcement staff We are committed to NCAA rules compliance. We accept all penalties and are ready to move forward.
Person, a former NBA player and star at the University of auburn, was accused of soliciting and accepting at least $91,500 from Louis Martin Blazer III, a former financial adviser who was working as a cooperating witness for the FBI in its investigation into college basketball corruption. Person was accused of facilitating some of the money to the players' families as a way to get them to sign with financial advisors once they turned pro. He was accused of giving money to one player's family and another player's.
In November 2020, the Tigers self-imposed a one-year ban for the 2020-21 season as part of their punishment for the NCAA violations. Pearl said in a statement that it was a difficult decision but the right one. In 2020-21, the team finished in a tie for 10th in the SEC with a 13-14 record.
The Tigers had recruiting restrictions in place from September to April. The self-imposed punishment was not disclosed.
The NCAA's ruling stated that Pearl's monitoring efforts were tardy or limited in nature, and that there were specific examples, despite Pearl's claims "to have monitored and educated his staff about NCAA compliance."
Pearl failed to ask questions when he became aware of potentially problematic situations. These weaknesses allowed violations to go undetected.
The NCAA investigated an allegation that an unnamed assistant coach and a non-scholastic coach paid the tuition of a walk-on player but could not corroborate the violation. The assistant coach didn't meet with the NCAA investigators again after uncovering additional information about potential violations. The assistant was accused by the NCAA of failing to cooperate in the investigation. The report said that person never met with NCAA enforcement staff.
The NCAA said Pearl will have to serve his suspension immediately after the panel's decision. The team is ranked 18th in the AP poll. They play Nebraska in Atlanta on Saturday.
Pearl said in a statement that he was thankful for the leadership of the university, the family and the current and former student-athletes. The panel recognized we took meaningful and contemporaneous penalties and we respect the NCAA peer evaluation process. It is time to move on. I will be suspended for two games tomorrow against Nebraska.
The NCAA imposed restrictions on recruiting and imposed a $5,000 fine on the men's basketball program, as well as the loss of two scholarships and 3% of its budget.
A person received a 10-year show-cause penalty and an unnamed assistant coach received a one-year show cause.
Two former auburn players were suspended for the entire season for accepting improper benefits from Person He was suspended for 30 percent of the next season. Person's parents accepted $4,500 in cash and hotel rooms, according to officials. Over the course of 10 months, the officials said, Wiley accepted about 800 dollars from Person.
Person gave impermissible benefits to both Wiley and Purifoy over a period of several years.
The committee's report said that the payments to one student-athletes began when he was a college prospect after his father and mother separated. The associate head coach kept in touch with the then-prospect's mother, but eventually shifted their conversations to recruiting the prospect. He gave the prospect's mother a total of $2,300 over the course of three years and paid for a $750 suit for him.
Person, who played for five NBA teams over 13 seasons after being drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 1986, was sentenced in July to two years of community service. His lawyers told a judge that he was having financial problems when he accepted the bribes.
The university wrote in a victim impact statement that Person's poor decision failed the university.
"They have resulted in considerable financial expense relating to internal and external investigations that confirmed the limited scope of Person's conduct," the letter said. The NCAA process will present the possibility of significant sanctions and penalties flowing from Person's criminal actions, and those costs will continue to rise." Person's actions have damaged the national reputation of auburn because they were attached to Person's criminal spectacle.
The government's wide-ranging investigation included pay-for-play schemes involving Adidas employees and a business manager, as well as allegations of NCAA violations by 12 men's basketball programs.
Seven of the NCAA cases have been resolved through the traditional Committee on Infractions process, and Alabama, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, and USC were each placed on at least two years' probation for violations committed by assistant coaches and staff members. The NCAA denied Oklahoma State's appeal in November and the Cowboys are banned from playing in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments this season.
The NCAA created the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) to handle complex cases, and five other cases involving Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, LSU Tigers and NC State are being handled there. NC State was the only school that had a hearing. The IRP has not yet issued a final report and there are no appeals.
The other four cases are not expected to be finalized until next year.
