A Penny saved: Memphis hoops coach Anfernee Hardaway is spared by NCAA investigation
>
The NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process put Memphis on three-year probation on Tuesday with a public reprimand, but refused to punish Tigers coach Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway or impose an NCAA Tournament ban.
The IARP made only its second decision on Tuesday, with cases involving the state of Louisiana, Arizona, Kansas and Louisville still on the group’s roll.
The NCAA had charged Memphis with four Level I violations and two Level II violations, considered the most serious violations, and a total of seven alleged violations, including lack of institutional control, head coach responsibility and failure to monitor. Hardaway was charged with paying James Wiseman, James Wiseman, nearly $12,000 in 2017, when the former Orlando Magic guard was still a high school basketball coach in the Memphis area.
The program was fined $5,000 and an additional 0.25 percent of the average men’s basketball budget, based on the last three seasons. The team also will leave three games in which Wiseman played.
The NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process put Memphis on three-year probation on Tuesday with a public reprimand, but refused to punish Tigers coach Penny Hardaway (left) or impose an NCAA Tournament ban. The investigation began about the recruitment and the brief time James Wiseman (right) spent in Memphis after receiving $11,500 from Hardaway in 2017. That was when Hardaway was a coach at East High School in Memphis. He was not hired as Memphis coach until March 2018, and Wiseman committed to the Tigers in November 2018
The media saw the outcome as largely favorable to Memphis, which was not excluded from the NCAA tournament. “Basically, to wrap up this morning’s Memphis news, the men’s basketball program was originally faced with four Level I violations, the most serious violations possible,” Fox Sports’ John Fanta tweeted. “The IARP concluded that the case did not go that far. For Penny Hardaway and the Tigers it’s a big W’
The IARP ruled that Memphis was not monitoring Hardaway as an athletic booster, offering impermissible benefits and other benefits to recruits. The panel also ruled that Memphis failed to cooperate with the investigation by delaying the delivery of requested documents.
The NCAA investigation began in May 2019 and continued through February 2021, with an amended impeachment notice sent to Memphis in July 2021.
The investigation began about the recruiting and the short time Wiseman spent in Memphis after receiving $11,500 from Hardaway in 2017. That was when Hardaway was a coach at East High School in Memphis. He was not hired as Memphis coach until March 2018, and Wiseman committed to the Tigers in November 2018.
But the NCAA ruled that the money was not allowed because Hardaway was a booster for the program. The former NBA All-Star gave $1 million to his college sports hall alma mater, which is named after Hardaway, in 2008.
Wiseman played the first game of the 2019-20 season before the NCAA declared Wiseman unfit. He played two more games after filing a restraining order against the NCAA.
On November 20, 2019, the NCAA suspended Wiseman for 12 games and ordered him to repay $11,500 in the form of a donation to a charity of its choice. Wiseman retired from Memphis in December 2019 and now plays for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
A former Tigers star when the school was known as Memphis State, Hardaway became an NBA All-Star in the 1990s alongside Shaquille O’Neal with the Orlando Magic. Since then, the Memphis native has coached high school prom and the Tigers in his hometown
The media saw the outcome as largely favorable to Memphis, which was not excluded from the NCAA tournament.
“Basically, to wrap up this morning’s Memphis news, the men’s basketball program was originally faced with four Level I violations, the most serious violations possible,” Fox Sports’ John Fanta tweeted. “The IARP concluded that the case did not go that far. For Penny Hardaway and the Tigers, it’s a big W.”
A fan joked about the Memphis basketball program, which only appeared once in the NCAA Tournament in Hardaway’s short tenure.
“Penny Hardaway and Memphis can compete in the NIT this season,” the fan jokes, referring to what many see as a consolation tournament for teams that fail the NCAA. ‘Relief.’
A former Tigers star when the school was known as Memphis State, Hardaway became an NBA All-Star in the 1990s alongside Shaquille O’Neal with the Orlando Magic. Since then, the 6-foot-7 Memphis native has coached high school basketball and the Tigers in his hometown.
