The NCAA decided to take its dealings with the Hawaii men’s basketball program into another overtime.
TIMELINE ON UH CASE
March 2014: NCAA sends investigator to UH campus.
Oct. 28, 2014: UH announces firing of Gib Arnold.
Jan. 30, 2015: NCAA issues Notice of Allegations.
May 15, 2015: UH submits official response to NCAA Notice of Allegations.
July 2, 2015: NCAA announces amended Notice of Allegations.
Oct 15, 2015: NCAA holds hearing on the case in Dallas the same date as UH Board of Regents on Maui approve settlement with Arnold.
Dec. 22, 2015: NCAA announces sanctions, including 2016- 17 postseason ban.
Jan. 6, 2016: UH announces intent to appeal NCAA ruling.
Feb. 8, 2016: UH files 26-page appeal.
March 28, 2016: UH receives Committee on Infractions response.
April 8, 2016: UH issues reply to COI response and says “A decision from the Infractions Appeals Committee is expected within the next 60 to 90 days.”
Oct. 28, 2016: Exactly two years after the firing of Arnold, the IAC sends UH’s sanctions back to the COI with instructions to “reconsider” them under a more lenient penalty structure. The IAC upholds Arnold’s three-year “show cause” order through 2019.
UH learned Friday it has a chance to salvage a positive outcome from its 2 1/2-year NCAA investigation, as the Infractions Appeals Committee kicked the Rainbow Warriors’ sanctions — a 2016-17 postseason ban and two-year reduction of scholarships, among other things — back to the hammer-wielding Committee on Infractions with a mandate to “reconsider” them using a “less stringent” penalty structure.
The question remains: When will final resolution come? How much time is on the OT clock?
Neither UH athletic director David Matlin nor coach Eran Ganot could answer that yet.
“Our goal is as expeditiously as possible. We’ll be communicating with them to find out when it is,” Matlin said.
The Rainbows are less than two weeks out from their Nov. 11 season opener against SIU-Edwardsville. As of now, they have only the Big West regular-season title to play for; they are ineligible for the Big West tournament in March. They were also docked two scholarships this season and next.
UH resumed practice like normal Friday afternoon.
“I think we’re doing a good job trying not to speculate,” Ganot said of the NCAA’s timetable, which was not supplied in the governing body’s news release. “You certainly hope that with some of this recent news — it’s encouraging and moving in a good direction — you would hope part of that would be (expedited) timing, but we can’t control that.”
There was some surprise that the dragged-out process went to another step. After filing its last response to its sanctions in April, UH was initially hoping to receive word from the appeals committee over the summer. In the interim, last year’s Big West championship team was dismantled and the ‘Bows were picked to finish eighth of nine Big West teams in the BWC media preseason poll.
But the university was encouraged that it’s still alive for some relief; meanwhile, former coach Gib Arnold, under whose watch UH’s violations occurred, had his appeal of a three-year “show cause” order through 2019 rejected by the NCAA committee in a separate announcement Friday.
Matlin didn’t want to choose a greater need between a postseason restoration or the return of scholarships.
“I think that the postseason, I’m optimistic (getting it back) is likely, at least from my logic when I look at the matrices,” Matlin said. “Scholarships are real important. That’s a lifeblood of a program. … I hope we get some relief on both.”
Senior forward Mike Thomas, one of the last remaining ‘Bows present for the whole saga, read some of the NCAA’s release before practice. He called it “a little confusing.”
“It is what it is already,” said Thomas, who is redshirting with a right wrist injury. “We know that we’re under the same circumstances we were yesterday. We just gotta keep working and get better.”
UH’s case is unusual in that its violations for impermissible coaching and extra student-athlete benefits — plus Arnold’s “false and misleading information” provided to the NCAA during its investigation — bridged a period in which the NCAA transitioned to a new penalty structure. The Division I Board of Directors adopted a four-tiered penalty system on Oct. 30, 2012. UH’s violations were found to be among the middle tiers, Level II and III.
In April, UH argued the COI “abused its discretion” in applying the postseason ban without finding any Level I violations, a lack of institutional control or a failure to monitor. It also argued that it should be judged under the former system, as the violations began before Oct. 30, 2012.
The four-person IAC sided with UH, and disagreed with the COI’s position that the conduct of Arnold and “unethical actions” by former assistant Brandyn Akana after that date justified use of the brand-new and mostly untested enforcement system on the university.
“There is no indication that the university encouraged the behavior or failed to warn the coaches that such behavior would not be acceptable,” the IAC determined. “The appeals committee did not find the connection needed to tip the balance to the new infractions structure. As a result, the appeals committee sent the case back to the hearing panel to determine which infraction structure is less stringent and review the postseason ban, scholarship reductions and financial penalty under that infractions structure.”
NCAA: Penalties appealed in Hawaii case sent back to committee by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
NCAA: Gib Arnold's violations upheld by appeals committee by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
