The NCAA announced Wednesday that Memphis men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway has been suspended for the first three games of the 2023-24 season due to recruiting violations. According to the NCAA, Memphis coaches conducted two impermissible in-home recruiting visits with a prospect in 2021 when the prospect was a junior in high school. NCAA rules allow coaches to have in-person contact with recruits during their junior years, but they must occur at the prospect’s school. In-home visits are not allowed for high school juniors.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions determined that Hardaway’s “personal involvement in the violations and failure to monitor his staff” caused a violation of the NCAA’s head coach responsibility rules.  Hardaway claimed, however, that “he should not be held responsible for the violations because he did not know NCAA rules prohibited in-person home visits and Memphis’ compliance office failed to appropriately train his newly promoted director of recruiting.”

During his suspension, Hardaway cannot attend his team’s games or have any contact or communication with players or coaches. In a statement, Memphis Athletics said: “We supported Coach Hardaway’s right to work directly with the NCAA on his portion of the case, and we strongly believe Coach Hardaway never intentionally committed a violation. The University of Memphis is committed to compliance. We will learn from this incident and be even more diligent in our education and monitoring. Now that the entirety of this case is finalized, we will move forward in support of Coach Hardaway and our men’s basketball program.”

Hardaway, a former NBA star who played at Memphis, is entering his sixth season as the head coach at his alma mater. Memphis has reached the last two NCAA tournaments, and are coming off a 26-9 record and American Athletic Conference tournament title in 2023.

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