KU, Self Avoid Harshest Penalties in Federal Investigation

A federal investigation launched in 2017 into bribery and fraud in college basketball has reached closure for the University of Kansas men's basketball program, head coach Bill Self and one long-time staffer. 

According to KSHB, the Jayhawks avoided the worst possible scenario, and the investigators reportedly refrained from imposing penalties on KU that would impact current players who had no part in the scandal. 

KU received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA back in 209 based on evidence that several former Adidas representatives “provided impermissible benefits to and had impermissible recruiting contacts” with prospective student-athletes on behalf of the men’s basketball program and Self.

The allegations are concerned with phone calls placed to and money paid to former Jayhawks basketball players, including Billy Preston and Sivio De Sousa during the recruiting process. 

Kansas had previously adopted some self-imposed penalties before the 2022-23 season in relation to the case. 

"The hearing panel was intentional in not prescribing penalties that would have a negative impact on current student-athletes," IARP chief panel pember Christina Guerola Sarchio said. "The hearing panel also applied significant weight to Kansas’ self-imposed penalties, especially the men’s basketball recruiting restrictions for the 2022-23 academic year."

Ultimately, the IARP downgraded the severity of the violations, including five Level I violations for the men's basketball team and two for the football program, levied against KU, Self and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend and placed the Jayhawks on three years probation, ending Oct. 10, 2026.

The panel ruled that Kansas must vacate 15 wins from the 2017-18 season in which De Sousa participated. Those include four wins in the NCAA Tournament, which vacates the Jayhawks’ 2018 Final Four appearance, and three wins in the Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, including a championship-game win against West Virginia.

The Jayhawks also must vacate eight regular-season wins — two against Kansas State and wins versus West Virginia, Baylor, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas — and NCAA tourney wins against Pennsylvania, Seton Hall, Clemson and Duke en route to a Final Four loss against Villanova.

The Jayhawks also must vacate eight regular-season wins — two against Kansas State and wins versus West Virginia, Baylor, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas — and NCAA tourney wins against Pennsylvania, Seton Hall, Clemson and Duke en route to a Final Four loss against Villanova.

The vacated conference tourney wins came against Oklahoma State, K-State and West Virginia.

KU also received a $5,000 fine plus 1% of the average men's basketball budget over the last three seasons.

KU chancellor Doug Girod and athletic director Travis Goff issued a joint statement on the decision:

Today’s decision by the Independent Resolution Panel confirms what we’ve said since the beginning: the major infractions of which we were accused were unfounded. Most importantly, the Panel decision unequivocally confirms our coaches were not involved in — or had knowledge of — payments to student-athletes.

While doing our due diligence as part of this process, we acknowledged lesser infractions for which we self-imposed penalties last fall. Regarding the additional penalties announced in today’s decision, we accept them and will move forward.

As we’ve said throughout this process, KU has one of the most robust compliance programs in the country — a point that was confirmed by the multiple comprehensive audits we’ve undertaken throughout this process. Looking ahead, we will build upon our strong culture of compliance and continue to be a national leader in this space.

We appreciate the members of the Independent Resolution Panel for their fair review of the facts. We fully support Coach Self and his staff, and we look forward to him finishing his career at KU many years from now. Most importantly, we are pleased that our coaches and student-athletes can now move forward with their Jayhawk careers unfettered by the uncertainty this case has brought.