What 3-year NCAA probation means for Memphis basketball, Penny Hardaway

The leadup to the penalty prescription phase of any NCAA investigation is seldom comfortable.

Especially when investigators purport to find multiple Level I violations. Which is just what happened on July 9, 2021. Members of the Complex Case Unit – the investigative arm of the soonto-be-defunct Independent Accountability Resolution Process – argued that University of Memphis, men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway and others committed at least four of the most severe violations, and several more violations that weren’t quite as severe, stretching as far back as 2011.

The IARP’S Independent Resolutions Panel disagreed. On Tuesday, it ruled four Level II and five Level III violations took place and that “the university’s leadership at the time” was primarily culpable.

As a result, Memphis received a $5,000 fine, was ordered to vacate two wins in which former center James Wiseman appeared in and has been placed on probation for the next three years.

The first two penalties are fairly selfexplanatory. The school must pay a $5,000 fine; wins over South Carolina State and Illinois-chicago in November 2019 have been stricken from the school’s record, as well as Hardaway’s, who is now officially 83-49 at Memphis.

What does Memphis basketball being on probation for the next three years – beginning Tuesday and ending Sept. 26, 2025 – entail?

h The school is required to send at least one counsel from the university’s Office of Legal Counsel to two NCAA Regional Rules Seminars.

h The school is required to inform any recruit taking an official visit with the Tigers and all signees during that period that it is on probation.

h Memphis must publicize the nature of its infractions (website, media guides and other publications) and post a link to the infractions report.

h Memphis must file a final compliance report with the NCAA Office of Committees on Infractions by Sept. 30, 2025.

h Finally, prior to the conclusion of its probation, Memphis’ president is required to provide a letter to the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions affirming the university’s current athletics policies and practices conform to all NCAA requirements.