According to The Kansas City Star, the NCAA is preparing to send the University of Kansas a notice of allegations alleging “multiple major violations” against the school’s storied basketball program.
Though the details of the allegations aren’t yet known, it’s speculated that they’re related to the FBI’s investigations into alleged pay-for-play recruiting schemes that involved several Division I basketball programs associated with the athletic apparel brand Adidas.
The NCAA had hinted during the summer that at least six programs would receive a notice of allegations tied to Level 1 violations — the highest degree of violations — that carry penalties such as postseason bans and scholarship reductions.
In July, North Carolina State became the first school to receive an NOA since the NCAA’s announcement.
Kansas was one of the schools that came up during a federal investigation that led to NC State’s NOA.
In federal court last October, ex-Adidas official T.J. Gassnola testified that he made payments to the families or guardians of Jayhawk basketball recruits Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa. Gassnola allegedly sent $90,000 on behalf of Adidas to Preston’s mother, and $2,500 to De Sousa’s legal guardian, on top of a $20,000 payment he made to help De Sousa out of an agreement to play at Maryland (a school affiliated with Under Armour).
Preston never played a regular season game for the Jayhawks, but De Sousa will be allowed to play this upcoming season after Kansas successfully appealed his two-year NCAA suspension.
Gassnola testified that head coach Bill Self was unaware of the payments.
If Kansas does indeed receive an NOA from the NCAA, it will begin a countdown clock whereby the university has 90 days to file a response, though extensions have been granted in the past. The school’s response is sent to an NCAA enforcement committee, which then has 60 days to reply.
After that, a hearing before the NCAA Committee on Infractions is scheduled, during which the school presents its case. The NCAA issues its final ruling on the matter after that hearing, but the ruling could take months to reach.
A school has the opportunity to appeal the ruling if penalties are handed down.
