The NCAA investigation that will never end

The NCAA’s sense of timing is fine when being prompt suits its agenda.

For example, it knew it would get publicity for new get-tough policies starting with slamming the University of Hawaii men’s basketball program if it announced its sledgehammer-on-an-egg sanctions during the Diamond Head Classic last year, the tournament of which UH is the de facto host.

On Thursday, that will be exactly one year.

It’s not exactly an anniversary of which UH is proud — and nor should it be for the NCAA.

Sometimes I think the NCAA is too easy a target and that its job is impossible like that of a football or basketball official. As a ref could call holding or a foul on every play, the NCAA could find violations at any athletic department it investigates.

And so it was for UH, and the NCAA investigation that never ends. Next month will mark three years since UH self-reported a doctoring of a document. It started a chain of events that the school is still paying for today, with five lost scholarships over three years and a postseason ban for 2017.

Pretty harsh for relatively minor violations, especially when you look around and see some of the other stuff going on around the country, mostly at big-time programs. At Louisville, the NCAA report said basketball staff provided prostitutes to players. At Hawaii, the NCAA report said basketball staff provided an IPad to a player.

If you’d rather compare apples to apples, how about fellow Big West member Cal State Northridge?

The UH director of basketball operations was found guilty of coaching. The CSUN director of basketball operations was found guilty of academic fraud.

CSUN’s penalties announced earlier this month were similar to UH’s, except that the Matadors lost just two scholarships.

CSUN had also self-imposed a postseason ban for 2015-16. It did this last January, when the team had a 5-10 record. So that’s a joke … sort of like if I were to ban myself from playing in the NBA, or flying to Mars.

It’s true that UH extended things with the NCAA by appealing the penalties. But the move seems justified, as in October the NCAA agreed its Committee on Infractions may have hit Hawaii too hard and it would look at lessening the penalties.

Well, that’s nice — even though some of the worst damage can’t be undone; four underclassmen who would’ve started or played lots of minutes this year left the program at least partly due to the postseason ban.

That makes it extremely unlikely this rebuilding team can defend its Big West tournament championship and advance to the Big Dance again … but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have the opportunity to try.

Also, UH remains in a state of confusing limbo regarding recruiting.

The NCAA, however, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to wrap this up.

Let’s go back to the officiating analogy for a minute: Hawaii asked for a replay review, the NCAA looked at the video and said it might change its call.

And then …

Nothing from Indianapolis since the NCAA’s Oct. 28 admission that it went overboard. Its sluggishness in bringing things to closure is in some ways even more frustrating than the original inappropriate level of punishment.

And why were the sanctions so harsh to begin with?

“The (COI) hearing panel assigned significant weight to the former head coach’s provision of false and misleading information, and the unethical actions of the former assistant coach, which occurred after Oct. 30, 2012,” the NCAA said in its Oct. 28, 2015 release addressing UH’s appeal.

The appeals committee went on to acknowledge that there was no “connection between the behavior of the coach and the university” and “no indication that the university encouraged the behavior.” Thus, they did not “tip the balance” to the new get-tough policy, which went into effect Nov. 1, 2012.

“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,” the release concluded.

Each additional day that review takes, the less it will matter.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.