‘We got crushed’: NCAA hands down sanctions against UH
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
David Matlin, UH Athletic Director, responds to NCAA sanction regarding the University of Hawaii basketball program at Clarence Ching Complex in Manoa on Tuesday, December 22, 2015.
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
David Matlin, UH Athletic Director, responds to NCAA sanction regarding the University of Hawaii basketball program at Clarence Ching Complex in Manoa on Tuesday, December 22, 2015.
• Former UH coach Gib Arnold ‘very pleased’ with outcome of NCAA investigation
The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team is banned from postseason play for the 2016-17 season and is subject to further scholarship reductions for two years, the NCAA announced today.
The sanctions, which the Rainbow Warriors thought they had avoided with self-imposed measures earlier this year, were among those handed down by the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions in the 26-month case.
Meanwhile, Gib Arnold, who UH fired as its head coach Oct. 28, 2014 in the wake of the NCAA investigation, received the equivalent of a 10-game ban with a 30 percent suspension if he seeks to coach at an NCAA-member institution between Dec. 22, 2015 and Dec. 21, 2018. The NCAA report did not name Arnold but he was referred to as “a former UH-Manoa men’s basketball coach.”
However, the penalty is likely moot since he is working in the NBA as a scout for the Boston Celtics.
The post-season ban means that current UH players who are juniors would be free to transfer to another school after this season without having to sit out a year, the NCAA said.
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According to an NCAA spokewoman, “The rule applies if a student-athlete’s last year of eligibility is the 2016-17 season. If it is the student-athlete’s last season of eligibility, he can transfer without sitting out a year because his last season of competition is affected by the postseason ban.”
Current players Aaron Valdes, Stefan Jankovic, Stefan Jovanovic, Mike Thomas are among those who would be eligible to transfer penlty-free.
“We got crushed,” said a UH figure not authorized to speak publicly. UH has yet to officially comment on the sanctions or said if it will appeal.
But Arnold claimed “vindication” since he was not found guilty of any Level I (the most serious) violations, according to his attorney James Bickerton.
The NCAA also sanctioned “a former assistant” believed to be Brandyn Akana with a two-year show cause order.
Valdes greeted the sanctions on Twitter with: “We still got a season to play and a NCAA tourney to make This year we just have to stay focused. Either you’re with us or against us.”
UH and Arnold appeared before the committee in Dallas in October, nine months after the NCAA Enforcement staff charged the program with seven violations of the association’s rules.
At the time, the allegations included three Level I violations and four from Level II, the most severe of the four levels. But in today’s announcement, the Committee on Infractions reduced the case to the overall Level II, it said.
The NCAA placed blame both on the UH coaching staff and the athletic department’s compliance office saying, “the case provides a cautionary tale regarding the interaction between coaching staffs and institutional compliance office. The relationship between the former head men’s basketball coach and the director of compliance at this institution was tense to the point of being nearly dysfunctional. Communication between the two was poor and overshadowed by an ongoing personality conflict. Had they worked more collaboratively in their dealings, at least some of the violations in this case would likely not have occurred.”
Amanda Paterson was the compliance director at the time and attanded the NCAA hearing. This week her promotion to an assistant athletic director position was announced.
Penalties and corrective actions imposed by the panel include:
- A three-year probation period from Dec. 22, 2015, through Dec. 21, 2018.
- A three-year show-cause order for the former head coach from Dec. 22, 2015, through Dec. 21, 2018. If the former coach seeks employment at an NCAA member school, he must be suspended from all coaching duties for the first 30 percent of the season, not counting exhibition games. He must also attend an NCAA Regional Rules Seminar during each year he is employed by an NCAA school during the show-cause period.
- A two-year show-cause order for the former assistant coach from Dec. 22, 2015, through Dec. 21, 2017. If he seeks employment at an NCAA member school, both the school and coach must appear before the committee to detail why his athletic duties should not be restricted.
- A reduction of men’s basketball scholarships by two for a total of 11 during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The university may receive credit towards the scholarship reduction for its self-imposed one scholarship reduction for the 2016-17 season.
- A 2016-17 postseason ban for the men’s basketball program.
- A vacation of wins in which the men’s basketball student-athletes participated while ineligible. The university will identify the games impacted following the release of the public report.
- A prohibition of the men’s basketball staff from conducting on-campus prospect evaluations for the first five official visits of the 2015-16 academic year (self-imposed by the university).
- A reduction of the maximum number of countable athletic activity hours by one hour per week during the 2015-16 men’s basketball season (self-imposed by the university).
- A $10,000 fine, self-imposed by the university, plus 1 percent of the total budget for the men’s basketball program over the previous three years, imposed by the panel.
66 responses to “‘We got crushed’: NCAA hands down sanctions against UH”
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Good riddance Coach Arnold. Feel sorry for the players who must bear the aftermath of the sanctions.
UH once again grossly overpaid a minor league coach. He is done in the world of coaching but stupidly, the UH did what they did with Dobelle: they blew protocol and they were stuck with an enormous salary bill. This is what drives the Governor and the public crazy about the UH. Sheer incompetence with the bill sent to the taxpayer.
But, but, but he was from Punahou.
Chow too
And yet in spite of Gib’s incompetence (or possibly negligence) we paid him a huge settlement; as a result of the incompetence by the administration and their “legal advisers”.
Years ago, although Allie wouldn’t know this, the UH had some so-called minor-league coaches on their staff name Rick Pitino and Jamie Dixon. Today they are two of the most successful coaches in college basketball. You have to start somewhere Allie, besides hiding in college and being critical of things of which you have no knowledge and understanding. You come from a people of a population of a little over 1170 or so. Do you really think they hold any power? If you want to think minor league, better start with your background. Pretty easy to get an undeserved scholarship when you’re the only candidate and than milk it for all it’s worth. You take the minimal classes, receive the rest on a check and call that going to school. I call that hypocritical. Not many people start at the top. It’s called earning your way up. I’ve left this before and here it is again: jimmyhouse67@aol.com. Let’s start a relevant intellectual conversation rather than hiding behind an anonymous.
They’re playin’ basetball… We love that basetball…
The main point is they’re losing another shcolarship for basetball players…a shcolarship is important for a basetball player.
‘scholarhips’ reduced too … so much for spell check.
NO MORE Arnolds at Manoa, nuff already. So when are we getting rid of Mike Trepasso? His utter failure with the baseball team was obscured by the equally pathetic performance of Norm Chow. Now the light shines squarely on this career loser
Boy, under the leadership of Tom Apple and Ben Jay, athletics took a noise dive. Chow and Arnold. Glad both of them are long gone.
Both Arnold and Chow were hired by Jim Donovan, not Ben Jay. Tom Apple was hired after both of them as well.
Well, Chow was really hired by MRC Greenwood. It’s pretty well known that Donovan wanted to hire Dirk Koetter. (And who knows what that would’ve been like after the Arizona State fiasco.)
True but the horrific decision of hiring of Fib Arnold can be placed squarely on Donovan’s back. Fib could not work with Amanda because he is exactly like his daddy – let’s just say extremely difficult to work with. Fib came from being swept out of USC in the wake of an NCAA investigation where Fib’s “mentor” Tim Floyd admitted paying O.J. Mayo to play. Yet Donovan, despite daddy Arnold’s pathetic time at UH, and the NCAA issues, still hired Fib. Now all the taxpayers of this state are paying for it as is the UH basketball program. Arnold, a name that will live in infamy in the history of UH basketball.
To PCWarrior, was it really Donovan that hired Gib, though? Or the Punahou mafia? My guess is the latter played a big influential role in Arnold’s hiring.
Arnold’s contract was ending and BJ approved a 3 year extension, gave Trap new one, adored Chow.
Where is pattersons pink slip!!!
She needs to resign instead. This entire fiasco could have been settled in-house instead, as the NCAA also pointed out…
Why is Amanda Paterson getting promoted to Assistance AD?. They found and I quote “The NCAA found that the compliance department mishandled matters and did not do its job and that contributed to the problems substantially” and “Had they worked collaboratively in their dealings, at least some of the violation in this case would likely not have occurred”. Did she reported the situation to upper management or did the buck stopped with her? Where is the transparency? Incompetency and get promoted!!! This is second terrible decision by Dave. The first hiring a coordinator with no HC experience and paying a raise from $160k to $400K.
It’s called the Peter Principle. Rob Peter to pay Pater. O Wrong one. People are promoted until they achieve their highest level of incompetence.
You have to promote someone under the state system so you can get them out of the position their in before they can cause more damage. See below. This is to avoid any union issues. lol
It’s not what you know or how well you do it. It’s who you know and how much they like you. There’s never any accountability when you’re a public employee, if they blame anyone it will be someone already gone.
just hears Amanda Patterson had threatened to take away a senior players scholarship if he did not answer questions ask by the ncaa her way. it was one of the allegations the ncaa found, so there was probally a lie he had to tell by her threats. her and gib never got along.
Boy, it would help if people could write simple sentences that are coherent and readable. Not to mention that some of you folks need to seriously use some type of spell checker and proof read your comments to be taken seriously. I would like to say whether I agree or disagree with some of the comments posted but I can’t because the comments are so poorly written. It is so hypocritical to call someone incompetent when the accuser can’t write a complete sentence that is grammatically correct.
Ferd and Brian, are you sure “A 2016-17 postseason ban for the men’s basketball program” means just a single-season ban? Sounds like it could be a two-year ban to me, unfortunately. I sure hope you’re right and I’m wrong.
its 1, because every season we start around october and end in march……if it were 2 seasons it would have said 2016-2018.
Wow! Very harsh penalty. How did it ever get this bad? As the article stated, the compliance director when all this happened got promoted. Gee whiz.
I agree. This should have been more directed at the Coach rather than the program.
Especially since they reduced the overall violations to Level II.
Anything having to do with,($$$$) should be deducted from Arnold’s settlement.
And I wonder how many institutions got the guillotine this past 2015-2016?, or is the NCAA selecting UH as a sorry example/poster child who needs to be discilpined?
agree but Gibby ripped the UH off and got away with it. He was grossly overpaid for a minor league schedule. Stop paying bad coaches these enormous salary contracts. They cannot coach and they are in a minor league division. Hire Kalani High coaches who would love to work for $35,000. Coaches are a dime a dozen.
How little you know. Best to be quiet then open your mouth…..
Coaches are worth their weight in gold, especially high school coaches. They give their time, effort and guidance to the kids. You owe coaches nationwide an apology. You’ve said demeaning things before, but that by far is the lowest you’ve ever gone. Coaches can make a difference between a student being inspired and successful. Why I respond to you I don’t know as you HIDE behind a surname and come from a culture of no advancement. So sad.
Brandyn Akana slapped with a 2-year show case order? Wth is that?
Rather than saying what level the violations are, why not tell us what the violations were?
Look on the bright side: The ban from post-season for the 2016-17 season is not much of a ban at all. The reason being that Hawaii rarely qualifies for it anyway. The last time the men’s basketball team went to real post-season play (i.e. – NCAA tournament or NIT) was eons ago. So, I would say: thank you to the NCAA for this particular sanction. 🙂 It shows that the investigatory committee doesn’t know anything about UH basketball.
Postseason play includes the conference tournament at the end of the regular season. So no matter how well the team does, they basically have nothing to show for in the end.
UH MUST APPEAL THIS RULING!!! This is where you are a small guy willing to take it or a bigger program that will not take unfair punishment!!!
I agree. If this was a BIG team, trust me the NCAA wouldn’t even touch that kind of penalty for fear that they would lose kick backs from those same institutions. What goes on behind closed doors with the NCAA is the real crime. Too much power for a select group of people!!!
Agree.
3 years for sneaking in an extra assistant coach and covering up a player in a rental car?! So what will the NCAA give North Carolina for committing MAJOR ACADEMIC FRAUD to allow a bunch of their football and basketball players to stay eligible to play? Not to mention rendering them with useless college degrees, unable to make it in the real world on their own after their playing careers are over.
The “good news”? Amanda gets promoted and Gib gets “vindicated.” A win-win!
problem between gib and compliance….NO! i know both, gib is a dick! the problem is all on him, not amanda but, i bet he laughing at uh now.
takes two to Tango…
Amanda Paterson was the compliance director during the fiasco and is promoted to an assistant athletic director….to keep the streak going… Way to go Bows.
Why is Amanda Paterson getting promoted to Assistance AD?. They found and I quote “The NCAA found that the compliance department mishandled matters and did not do its job and that contributed to the problems substantially” and “Had they worked collaboratively in their dealings, at least some of the violation in this case would likely not have occurred”. Did she reported the situation to upper management or did the buck stopped with her? Where is the transparency? Incompetency and get promoted!!! This is second terrible decision by Dave. The first hiring a coordinator with no HC experience and paying a raise from $160k to $400K.
That’s how it works in Hawaii government (state, city) and UH. When they screw up, they get promoted to a higher position with more pay, and the taxpayers pay for all their mistakes. Amanda Paterson, you should be ashamed and embarrassed about your poor performance and resign immediately !
What happened ???? and why was the other person promoted ? so next time we .THE PUBLIC TOO. know what is correct to do …
Full BS. Paterson should loose the promotion she just got and i hope the people that pushed to hire Arnold is happy. They just screwed the people that really did not have anything to do with this and that’s the players.Of course Arnold must be happy with the money he got from UH and now making more with the Celtics, on the other hand what is Akana up to these days.
In the private sector…they get fired. In the public sector…they get promoted. What the hell is wrong with this picture?
This is terrible. It’s the athletes that’ll suffer. I’m predicting several players transferring to another program.
I feel the NCAA acted harshly because this the second time UH Basketball has been found violating NCAA rules. First time was 1975-76 when numerous violations were cited. Head Coach Bruce O’Neil was fired, and UH Basketball was paced on a two-year probation.
Wow, recent UH admin history. You couldn’t make this kind of stuff up. Should make a movie out of it and title it “Forrest Gump Does Hawaii”
My first thought was that the NCAA was, as usual in such matters, unfair with a punishment clearly out of proportion to the offense. Then I read that UH had promoted Amanda Paterson, who was at least as responsible as Gib. Was UH consciously flipping the bird to the NCAA?
I put full blame in the Compliance Officer. Additionally, I blame the AD for PROMOTING her to a higher position!!!!! That’s insane man! I’m sure these types of “situations” (aka violations) happen at ALL SCHOOLS ALL THE TIME. The only difference being, those schools CO know how to handle the situations while the one we had at UH was a total dud – kind of like a doctor who has all the book knowledge but with no clinical experience on how to apply what she knows. Lol…what a joke.
I feel the 2016-2017 ban in post season play is unfair, they could of just gave us fine, lets see the presidents in town maybe, he can convince the ncaa infraction committee to drop that sanction. here is a chance for him to help us.
This is what accountability looks like, folks. We’re just not used to it in Hawaii
This is why the Gov and Legis isn’t bailing out UH. They were incompetent dealing with Arnold and cost us close to a million dollars for that. It is only right that the taxpayers shouldn’t be made to bail out such incompetent management.
Gib please go far away You were poison to the university.
Wow!! Only in Hawaii where you don’t do your job as compliance officer…and you get promoted to Assistant Athletic Director!!
No matter how they sugarcoat it I forecast lean times in the next few years for the program. It’s not like UH is a big name program that can draw recruits with its name, they have to scour for recruits all over the country. This ruling just made it that much harder. I guess this is where Ganot will really be put to the test.
Will the UH ever learn? We keep going around in circles since Sheriff passed away.
Geez, the current players and coaches had nothing to do with the infractions and yet they are the ones who are being punished. That’s like punishing the underclass students who remain for those who cheated but already graduated. Why not fine the guilty parties? (I know, the NCAA has no jurisdiction once they leave the system.) I wonder what would happen if someone filed a suit on this basis. But can’t all NCAA coaches be first required to sign a contract that holds them responsible and liable for infractions? It can be done if they all have to do it. The Punahou alumni who lobbied for Gib in the first place should be required to fork over his payoff. At the very least they should be publicly named.
[…] (10-1 at home, 0-1 on the road). For the last year, Hawai’i has been under the cloud of an NCAA investigation. While they should be able to move on under first-year head coach Eran Ganot, it looks like they’ll be out of the postseason NEXT year. Read this article to get more details about the sanctions. […]
[…] after the penalties were announced, according to the Honolulu Star Adviser, Hawaii junior guard Aaron Valdes took to Twitter: “We still got a season to play and a NCAA […]