Larry Brown Suspended By NCAA, SMU Gets Postseason Ban
DALLAS (AP) — The NCAA has banned the SMU men's basketball team from postseason play and suspended coach Larry Brown for nine games during the upcoming season after finding multiple violations in the Mustangs program.
The NCAA says the problems include academic fraud and unethical conduct. It singled out Brown for making bad choices that 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 penalties were revealed Tuesday, more than eight months after the school acknowledged an NCAA investigation. The basketball team will also lose nine scholarships over the next three seasons.
SMU was the American Athletic Conference champion last season. The Mustangs went to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993.
This is Brown's third coaching job at the college level, and each program has faced NCAA sanctions.
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