KU Jayhawks’ NCAA case timeline released to IARP website. Here’s what we learned
The Independent Accountability Review Process released a retrospective timeline for Kansas Athletics’ ongoing infractions case Monday, and perhaps most notable was that the investigative part of KU’s case appears to be ongoing.
KU’s last entry — from late August — is still under an “Investigation” heading. Other school timelines on the site, like those from Louisville and Arizona, show those programs have already received an Amended Notice of Allegations.
KU’s case is not at that advanced point yet, according to its timeline, which means it likely remains months from completion. With a hearing still to come, the KU case seems unlikely to be decided until at least the early months of 2022.
Monday’s timeline also revealed some procedural back and forth between the IARP and counsel from KU and men’s basketball coach Bill Self, which could be partially responsible for the current trajectory of the timeline.
One entry from Aug. 19 notes a request for “extension of the supplemental investigation period” by Self. Previously, in May, lawyers for both KU and Self submitted letters “regarding appearance of a conflict of interest.” Both parties received a response from the IARP on the matter in late May.
The last dated entry in the timeline is from Aug. 30, where the case’s investigators “submitted a response regarding additional clarity and position regarding investigative matters.”
NCAA Bylaw 19.01.4 states that involved parties in the case cannot comment on pending infractions cases.
Derrick Crawford, the NCAA’s VP of Hearing Operations, told The Star in August that Monday’s case timelines were being added to IARP cases in an effort to add transparency to the process. The change was made after the NCAA Division I board of directors approved this “emergency legislation.”
Previously, no information about each IARP’s timeline was made available publicly.
“We want to make sure that we’re putting enough information in there that is useful so that anyone who goes to the site can look at it and have some understanding of what’s been going on in the case,” Crawford said in August, “and not just have this kind of dearth of information that’s currently out there.”
Crawford also told The Star the timelines were being published to help give a rough estimation of when cases might be completed. For example, Crawford said that with a standard NCAA Committee on Infractions case, a ruling is typically issued a maximum of 90 days following a hearing. There are exceptions, of course, but once an IARP case timeline shows a hearing has taken place, the public can know that a final resolution is likely coming in the next few months.
Crawford also said in August that the investigative part of KU’s case was close to being completed.
“They are all substantially done investigations,” Crawford said then of the six NCAA cases referred to the IARP. “There may be a few things that are outstanding, but they are pretty much all winding down and entering the resolution of that investigative phase.”
KU received its original notice of allegations on Sept. 23, 2019, as the NCAA Enforcement staff charged the athletic department with seven violations: five for men’s basketball and two for football. Each of the basketball charges were Level I — or the most severe. KU was also cited with lack of institutional control.
The NCAA was forceful in its allegations against both Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend, as evidenced in one line in the notice that stated the two KU basketball staff members, along with Adidas representatives, “intentionally and willfully engaged in NCAA violations and blatantly disregarded the NCAA constitution and bylaws.”
Self and his attorneys fought back with powerful statements of their own. Scott Tompsett, one of Self’s lawyers, said, “The NCAA has alleged that Coach Self did not exercise appropriate due care in the management of his program. We will vigorously dispute that allegation.”
KU also received a first amended notice of allegations on Jan. 30, 2020 that charged a Level III violation — least severe in the NCAA’s three-tier scale — to the football program while under the watch of then-coach Les Miles.
On July 1, 2020, the NCAA announced KU’s case would be heard by an independent panel in the newly created Independent Accountability Review Process (IARP). This path was created following the advice of the Condoleezza Rice-led commission on college basketball, with the option of using NCAA outsiders to gather evidence and deliver rulings on complex cases.
