Larry Brown “nailed for cheating”…. AGAIN !

Larry Brown
BobLee
September29/ 2015

Among Life’s Undeniable Truths:  “Water is wet” ….. “God made little green apples” ….. “Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown is a serial cheater”

Once the overwhelming choice of many many TruBlues to replace Bill Guthridge “after Roy said ‘I’m staying (in Kansas)…..

“Suitcase Larry” Brown, a Dean Smith disciple, has been nailed for “cheating” AGAIN. This 3rd time moves LB ahead of both twice-nailed John Calipari and Jerry Tarkanian.

To be fair to Larry, this is the first time he has “been nailed for cheating” as SMU’s Basketball Coach.  The other times were as UCLA and Kansas’ Basketball Coach.   Larry was NOT nailed for cheating as Davidson’s Coach; but, to be fair again, he was only at Davidson for two weeks.   A dispute over new carpeting foLarry Brownr his office led to that abrupt ending.

The NCAA announced the penalties earlier today.  The requisite pictures of Larry crying and blubbering about how my only “crime” was “caring too much about these kids” should be up within a few hours.

Also likely to follow soon will be Larry leaving SMU…. and being hired to coach somewhere else.

Also for certain…. because he (LB) is forever linked to UNC / Dean Smith, his being caught cheating AGAIN, is not “good news” for embattled UNC fans and UNC’s embattled basketball tradition.

FWIW…. Amedeo’s is offering “Free Garlic Bread” until 5 PM to celebrate  today’s announcement.

 

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SMU hit with 2015-16 postseason ban, loses scholarships

The NCAA has banned Southern Methodist University’s men’s basketball team from 2016 postseason play, and it has also suspended Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown for 30% of the team’s game this season due to multiple rules violations, the NCAA announced Tuesday morning. Brown was hit with a “lack of coach control” charge, and other NCAA charges against the program include academic fraud and unethical conduct.

In addition, Brown “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance when he did not report violations and was not initially truthful during an interview with NCAA enforcement staff,” the NCAA found. Brown was also hit with a two-year show-cause order, and he will be required to attend an NCAA Regional Rules seminar during each year of the show-cause period.

SMU will also lose nine scholarships over the next three years and face recruiting restrictions.

This is the third time that a program led by Brown has been sanctioned by the NCAA. The previous two: Kansas and UCLA.

Most of the investigation at SMU centered on whether former assistant coach Ulric Maligi and a former basketball administrator helped former McDonald’s All-American Keith Frazier with coursework to become eligible to play at SMU.

Maligi left SMU in the middle of last season (and was ultimately not charged with any violations in the NCAA report); Frazier missed the second half of last season after being ruled ineligible. The former basketball administrator was at the heart of the investigation. The NCAA found that she had access to Frazier’s username and password and completed his coursework for an online class required to boost his GPA before he got to SMU.

The NCAA was unable to determine if she had been instructed by anyone within the SMU program to do so, and did state that Brown did not have any direct knowledge of her involvement in academic misconduct as it happened (and her encouraging Frazier to fabricate a story about completing his coursework at her house, which wasn’t true). Still, Brown hired this administrator and was her direct supervisor; they interacted daily.

The NCAA also found that Brown was told by both Frazier and the administrator that the administrator had completed the online course “that led to the student-athlete obtaining fraudulent academic credit.” Brown did not report this information to his compliance staff, his athletic director, his school president, his conference office or the NCAA.

“In fact, he did not initially report the possible violations in his program to the enforcement staff when they interviewed him on September 9, 2014,” the NCAA report reads. “In addition, he initially lied about having any information about conversations he had with the student-athlete and the former administrative assistant about possible academic improprieties in his program, though he later corrected that information in that same interview.”

Brown apparently expressed remorse during his interviews with the NCAA — and responsibility for the program as its head coach — but offered no rationale for failing to report possible rules violations and initially lying about receiving information about them.

The postseason ban — if not appealed — is the most damaging part of the sanctions. This season, the Mustangs are likely to be ranked in the preseason Top 25, and they’re expected to be a contender for the American Athletic Conference title.

The penalties are heavy-handed, but shouldn’t come as much of a surprise in the current climate of NCAA enforcement. Earlier this year, the NCAA came down hard on Syracuse, and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim in particular. Boeheim will be suspended for nine ACC games this season after an NCAA investigation found that he did not control and monitor his program — in all areas: academics, drug testing/reporting and impermissible benefits.

One other reason these SMU penalties are so strict? The history of major violations by the institution (the so-called death penalty following a series of football rules violations in the 1980s) is listed as an “aggravating” factor in the NCAA report.

Brown, 75, took over the SMU program in 2012 after a long career in the NBA; he won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He also won an NCAA championship with Kansas in 1988.

 

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