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Former Arizona men’s basketball coach Sean Miller avoids all sanctions in the upcoming ruling by the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP). Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde first reported the lack of punishment for the former Wildcats coach.
The full ruling, which was released at noon ET on Wednesday, hits former members of Miller’s Wildcats staff the hardest.
Book Richardson, an assistant under Miller at Xavier and Arizona from 2007 to ’17, receives a 10-year show-cause penalty with the ruling. Richardson was one of four college basketball assistants arrested in the FBI’s probe into corruption in the sport. He served a three-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in ’19. He was charged with accepting $20,000 in bribes to influence Arizona players to hire agent Christian Dawkins, another figure arrested in the probe.
On a wiretapped call between Richardson and Dawkins, the assistant coach reportedly said that Miller would pay then-recruit Deandre Ayton—who became a Wildcats star and 2018 NBA draft No. 1 pick—$10,000 to insure that he would sign with the program. Miller was briefly suspended in ’18 after an ESPN report that he’d been caught on wiretap discussing payments to Ayton and denied making impermissible payments to any player.
“I have never knowingly violated NCAA rules while serving as head coach of this great program,” Miller said in a statement after being reinstated that season.
Mark Phelps, an Arizona assistant from 2015 to ’19, receives a two-year show-cause. The school suspended him and later allowed his contract to expire that year. He was accused of seeking fraudulent academic transcripts for Arizona recruits. Phelps was also accused of asking a player to lie about receiving an impermissible loan of $500.
In addition to the penalties for Miller’s former staffers, Arizona basketball will receive a $5,000 fine, a one-scholarship reduction for the 2023–24 season and a seven-week ban on recruiting communications during 2022–23. The program will also be on probation for three years. Arizona previously self-imposed an NCAA tournament ban in fall 2020 for the ’21 postseason, a move that held “significant weight,” per the IARP decision.
In total, Miller and Arizona faced five Level I charges in the NCAA notice of allegations, the most serious level of violation in NCAA enforcement, making today’s penalties appear quite lenient.
The school parted ways with Miller after 12 years at the conclusion of the 2020–21 season. He is currently in his second stint as the coach at Xavier.
Decisions by the IARP are final and cannot be appealed.
