Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend haven’t hired directly for the past six weeks. This seems to be an attempt to mitigate the effects of penalties issued in response to allegations of fraudulent recruitment.
According to a CBS Sports report, Self and Townsend did not attend the AAU event during the four summer public evaluation periods. The final evaluation period ended on Sunday. However, the active national champions were represented by assistants Nome Roberts and Jeremy Case. So the J-Hawks weren’t completely off the road.
This decision was voluntary and was not mandated by the NCAA. The NCAA has investigated Kansas on suspicion of five Level I violations. The organization has historically accepted sanctions imposed by the university under investigation, but the proceedings in the J-Hawks proceeding do not appear to be imminent.
In September 2017, 10 people were arrested for corruption and fraud in an FBI investigation into illegal payments in college basketball recruitment. The NCAA passed a notice of allegations to Kansas in September 2019, including allegations of lack of institutional control, and its executive staff in May 2020, Self and Townsend to represent Adidas as top new basketball hires. He claimed to have “encouraged” him to lead him to J-Hawks.
Kansas has been fiercely challenging these claims for years. The case was subsequently referred to the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), which has provided irregular updates to the process since the review began and is unlikely to be resolved before the start of the season. ..
College officials have long thought they wouldn’t comment on the incident, but athletic director Travisgoff said at Big 12 Football Media Day in Arlington, Texas two weeks ago, he could provide the latest information. “Unfortunately not,” he said.
“I was hoping that I could get over it in 2022. I’m on my way home in 2022, so I haven’t seen it yet,” Goff said.
Despite off-campus restrictions, J-Hawks was able to accept new employees on campus for an official visit. Mikey Williams, a five-star security guard in San Diego, and Taison Chatman, a four-star security guard in Minneapolis, were each in Lawrence at the end of last month.
Kansas is not the only program waiting to be contacted by the IARP regarding the breach. Arizona, Memphis, LSU, and Louisville have not yet been sentenced.
