IARP updates KU’s NCAA case entry for first time in months. Here are vague takeaways
Kansas Athletics received a second amended notice of allegations in December, and since then, its NCAA infractions case has been filled with requests for both documents and extensions, according to an update posted to the Independent Accountability Review Process (IARP) website.
The NCAA in 2019 alleged five Level I violations against the Kansas men’s basketball program and coach Bill Self that center around payments made by representatives of Adidas, KU’s apparel sponsor, to prospective recruits. The newest IARP timeline entries deliver an incomplete picture of progress in recent months, with the log not clearly defining KU’s path forward nor stating plainly where the case stands, which makes exact implications unclear.
According to the log on the IARP website as viewed on Sunday morning, the IARP’s Complex Case Unit delivered an amended notice of allegations to KU on Dec. 13 after submitting an original draft on Oct. 6. Three days later, on Dec. 16, the log stated KU’s “head men’s basketball coach and the assistant men’s basketball coach submitted information related to the review of documents by the chief panel member.” This appears to be in reference to both Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend, who were explicitly named in the NCAA’s original notice of allegations.
From there, both sides began a crossfire of submissions and demands. That included:
• Dec. 17: KU asked for “information and documents”
• Dec. 19: Self “made document requests”
• Jan. 10: The Complex Case Unit, which is the IARP’s investigative body, responded to KU and Self’s requests
• Jan. 13: The NCAA’s Enforcement staff replied to KU and Self’s requests
• Jan. 20: The NCAA Enforcement staff gave further response to KU and Self, with KU requesting a deadline extension to provide the IARP with more information it was seeking
• Feb. 3: Self “submitted a request to compel the production of documents”
• Feb. 7: The IARP’s chief panel member gave a response to Self’s request
• Feb. 9: KU and Self “submitted a further request regarding the review of documents”
The final weeks of February also contained short log updates regarding the IARP’s chief panel member holding case status conferences on Feb. 18 and Feb. 28. The last entry was dated Feb. 28.
Before this point, the IARP had not revised the timeline from KU’s case since mid-January, which updated case’s happenings through Dec. 7. The play-by-play revealed then that KU had requested an “alternative resolution” for its NCAA infractions case on Oct. 5, with Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby offering support for that outcome on Nov. 3.
On Nov. 29, the chief panel member “provided a determination regarding the parties’ request,” though the log did not state whether the proposed resolution was accepted.
No further mention of that negotiated resolution is apparent in the wording from the latest timeline entries.
The NCAA was forceful in its original allegations against both Self and Townsend in September 2019, as evidenced in one line 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 then 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.”
The NCAA announced in July 2020 that the IARP would hear KU’s case. This new process has basically no precedent; NC State is the only school to have a case decided through this track, as it was given one year of probation among other penalties while avoiding a postseason ban following the completion of its matter in December.
With KU’s NCAA case resolution still pending, Self and the Jayhawks will be competing in Monday’s national championship game against North Carolina at Superdome in New Orleans.
NCAA president Mark Emmert, when asked at the Final Four on Thursday about KU’s NCAA case and others in the IARP path like KU’s, said, “I think by anybody’s estimation they’ve taken way too long. ... [I]t’s just been really slow in getting through that new independent process that’s wound up reinvestigating the entire case. So I think that the work that’s going on right now, especially with the transformation committee and a group that’s working with the membership to try and accelerate the enforcement model is going to be really important.”
Self, when questioned about the status of KU’s case Friday, said he couldn’t comment directly about it.
“But I do hope that the end is soon. I believe we’re getting closer,” Self said. “And I know that no one probably from any party has wanted this to go as long as it has.”
The Star’s Gary Bedore contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 8:06 AM.
