Former Penn Coach Jerome Allen Hit With 15-Year Show-Cause Penalty

The NCAA leveled a 15-year show-cause penalty on former Penn men's basketball head coach, current Boston Celtics assistant coach Jerome Allen on Wednesday after accepting at least $250,000 from a prospect's father to ensure his acceptance into the school. 

Allen's punishment matches the longest show-cause penalty ever levied against a coach by the NCAA. Both Penn and NCAA officials agreed that Allen's actions resulted in multiple tryout and recruiting contact violations and that he also accepted additional pay without submitting it to the school.

Allen, per the NCAA's release, also refused to participate in an interview with the university and NCAA enforcement staff. 

The NCAA also placed the Quakers on two years' probation, fined them $5,000, imposed a three-week ban on men's basketball recruiting communications and reduced their recruiting days.

"The University of Pennsylvania Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics acknowledges the report released today by the NCAA Committee on Infractions regarding recruiting violations committed by Penn's former head men's basketball coach," the university said in a statement. "As the report indicates, the former head coach received impermissible benefits in exchange for recruiting a prospective student-athlete. The NCAA agreed that the violations occurred even though current Penn Athletics leadership exhibited appropriate institutional control and monitoring of its athletics program. The report also indicates that Penn Athletics promptly acknowledged the violation, accepted responsibility, and imposed meaningful corrective measures."

Last July, Sports Illustrated dove into the story behind Allen's false step and downfall in an attempt to better explain Allen's motives and the motives of those involved. 

The Celtics hired Allen as an assistant in July 2015, four months after Penn fired him with a 66–104 career record. A team spokesperson addressed the situation for the aforementioned SI story, saying, "Jerome was forthright, accountable, and contrite in discussing the mistakes he made prior to becoming a Celtics employee. We believe he has learned from the situation, and we appreciate all Jerome has done in his time with our organization."

They have yet to issue a statement on Wednesday's ruling.

Allen played for the Quakers between 1992–95 and coached at the school between 2009–15. He pled guilty to last year to accepting bribes from businessman Philip Esformes to help get his son into Penn. He later repaid the bribe and was fined $200,000. 

Last year, Allen also testified during a federal criminal trial that he accepted bribes from Esformes. 

As part of his punishment, any NCAA school that hires Allen as a coach must suspend him for the first half of its season.