Arizona receives IARP ruling, no sanctions for Sean Miller

The Independent Accountability Resolution Process ruled that former Arizona assistant men’s basketball coach Book Richardson solicited and accepted $20,000 in cash bribes and paid $40,000 for a fraudulent academic transcript. Another former assistant, Mark Phelps, also provided an impermissible benefit to a student-athlete before directing the player to conceal the violation.

Richardson has been handed a 10-year show cause, while Phelps has received a two-year show cause.

Elsewhere, the program’s penalties are minimal, at best. In fact, former Arizona head coach Sean Miller — now at Xavier — received no sanctions or penalties at all.

The IARP hearing panel found “no violation” for Miller, adding that he “promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored two of his assistant coaches regarding the academic eligibility of men’s basketball prospective student-athletes, rebutting the presumption of head coach responsibility.”

The Wildcats originally faced five Level I violations from the NCAA, including three cases of academic misconduct. Miller faced a failure to monitor charge, while the program as a whole faced a lack of institutional control charge.

Instead, Arizona is facing the following punishments, many of which self-imposed and previously dealt with — namely the postseason ban it served during the 2020-21 season:

• Competition penalty during the 2020-21 academic year during which the men’s basketball program did not participate in the postseason conference or NCAA tournament competition (self-imposed).
• $5,000 fine, plus 1% of the average men’s basketball budget based on the average of the men’s basketball program’s previous three total budgets (self-imposed).
• A reduction in the total number of men’s basketball scholarships for the incoming class of the 2023-24 academic year by one, from the permissible total of 13, or if a scholarship becomes available prior to the 2022-23 academic year (self-imposed).
• A two-week ban on men’s basketball campus visits during March 2022 (self-imposed).
• A reduction in the number of official visits in men’s basketball by 10% for the 2021-22 academic year (self-imposed).
• A 15-day reduction in the number of recruiting person days for the 2021-22 academic year (self-imposed), plus an additional two-day reduction in the number of recruiting person days for the 2022-23 academic year.
• A seven-week recruiting communication (telephone and written correspondence) ban for the 2022-23 academic year

The IARP does not allow appeals, meaning today’s rulings are final.

It’s the fourth ruling the IARP has handed down, with Arizona joining Louisville, Memphis and NC State following their individual pay-for-pay scandals. All four received slaps on the wrist.

Five years since the FBI’s investigation into college basketball’s ugly underbelly with nothing to show for it. What a waste of everyone’s time.