NCAA suspends Brown in latest rip for SMU coach

DALLAS — Every stop in college for Larry Brown has meant more wins. A national title at Kansas. A runnerup finish at UCLA.

There also has been NCAA scrutiny, and now SMU has been banned from postseason play next season and Brown was suspended for nine games after the NCAA issued a scathing report Tuesday that placed the blame on the veteran coach for multiple infractions tied to academic fraud — including lying to NCAA investigators.

It is the nationleading 10th major infractions case for SMU, the only school ever given the socalled death penalty that shut the football program down for two seasons in the late 1980s.

Brown led Kansas to the 1988 national championship with Danny Manning leading the way before returning to the NBA as San Antonio’s coach. But the Jayhawks were banned from postseason play the next season and placed on probation for recruiting violations during Brown’s tenure.

Brown insisted that he never lied to NCAA investigators, and instead quickly corrected a statement after being “blindsided” by a question during an interview with investigators.

“When I found out about what happened, I told the parties involved to do the right thing,” Brown told reporters. “In hindsight, I wish I would have done more. So when the question was proposed to me, I was kind of surprised.”

Noting that NCAA rules dictate that the head coach is responsible for the entire program, Brown said he accepted that responsibility, but did “not accept the appropriateness of the punishment.”

In its 60page report, the NCAA repeatedly suggested that Brown deliberately ig nored warning signs and did nothing when he had the chance, choosing instead to make “choices against his better judgment when it came to compliance issues” at SMU.

“These choices included not reporting possible violations in his program, initially lying to the enforcement staff during the investigation and providing no specific guidance to his staff on rules compliance,” the NCAA said, adding that Brown waited more than a month to report it after learning of misconduct in 2014.

While quoting Brown in its report saying, “I don’t know why I lied,” the NCAA said the coach acknowledged “his failed judgment” during a hearing on the case.

The school said it was studying the report and had 15 days to decide whether to appeal penalties against Brown’s team and the men’s golf program, including scholarship and recruiting reductions.