Five biggest penalties for NCAA basketball coaches

The NCAA has finally issued its sanctions against former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl was given a show-cause penalty for multiple years. This doesn’t outwardly ban him, but it does require schools that wish to hire him to present a case to the NCAA. Those schools could face penalties. Essentially, it is a ban without really being called a ban. The penalty is harsh, but other coaches have gotten much worse. Here is a look at five basketball coaches that received stiff penalties from the NCAA.

1. Dave Bliss

Bliss is involved in one of the worst scandals in the history of sports. The infamous Baylor scandal involved Bliss paying tuition for a player, allowing drugs, and even covering the facts regarding the murder of a player. Bliss was given a 10 year show-cause penalty in 2005, the longest ever given by the NCAA. It is unlikely that Bliss will ever coach college basketball again.

2. Todd Bozeman

Bozeman was the coach of the University of California men’s basketball team and oversaw a strong era there in the 1990s. After a scandal involving payments he made to the family of a recruit, Bozeman was forced to resign in 1996. The NCAA hit him with a show-cause penalty for eight years. Bozeman didn’t return to the college ranks until 2006 when Morgan State hired him. Like Pearl, Bozeman was hit hard for lying to NCAA investigators. Bozeman is the only basketball coach to return to coaching after being given a show-cause penalty.

3. Clem Haskins

Haskins was the basketball coach at Minnesota and helped the Golden Gophers reach the Final Four in 1997. However, Haskins was discovered to have paid tutors to write college papers for his players. After lying to the NCAA, Haskins was given a seven year show-cause penalty. That penalty ended in 2007 but he has not returned to coaching.

4. Kelvin Sampson

Sampson’s violations covered two major programs. He made a number of recruiting violations while coaching at Oklahoma and did the same after he left for Indiana. He was forced to resign in 2008 and was given a five year show-cause penalty. Sampson has since been an assistant coach in the NBA. Both basketball programs struggled to recover following Sampson’s actions.

5. Neil McCarthy

McCarthy was fired as the coach at New Mexico State in 1998. After that, it was discovered that he and a junior college coach were involved in academic scandals as well as unethical player transfers. The NCAA gave McCarthy a five year show-cause penalty starting in 2001. He has not coached since.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *