Memphis coach Penny Hardaway was suspended for the first three games of the 2023-24 season for Level II recruiting violations committed during the 2021-22 academic year.
Hardaway will miss the season opener vs. Jackson State (Nov. 6), Game 2 at Missouri (Nov. 10) and Alabama State (Nov. 17).
“… We strongly believe Coach Hardaway never intentionally committed a violation,” Memphis said, in part, via a statement released Wednesday. “The University of Memphis is committed to compliance. We will learn from this incident and be even more diligent in our education and monitoring. Now that the entirety of this case is finalized, we will move forward in support of Coach Hardaway and our men’s basketball program, as we do all our programs.”
The suspension stems from in-home visits with a prospect ahead of the appropriate recruiting period for that individual. Such visits are mandated to be held at schools, not homes.
The NCAA found that a former Memphis assistant first visited the prospect and then Hardaway paid a visit to the recruit, who was not named by the NCAA.
“Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse,” the Division I Committee on Infractions said in its decision. “The head coach’s inattentiveness to compliance — particularly at a time when his program was under scrutiny related to a different infractions case — resulted in careless violations.”
The NCAA put the Memphis program on three years’ probation last September over rules violations in the recruitment of James Wiseman. Memphis was forced to vacate two wins and also was fined $5,000.
The NCAA levied another year of probation in December for related offenses.
–Field Level Media
