Penny Hardaway Suspended Three Games for Past Recruiting Violations

Memphis men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway will serve a three-game suspension at the start of the 2023–24 basketball season due to compliance issues, including recruiting violations, within the program during the 2021-22 academic year, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.

Hardaway and one of his assistants committed the violations when they took part in two illegal in-home recruiting visits with a highly touted prospect during his junior year of high school, according to the Division I Committee on Infractions. In September 2021, the assistant traveled to the recruit’s home in Texas and visited with him and his family to discuss Memphis’s “style of play” for 15 to 20 minutes in a PowerPoint presentation.

Two weeks later, during that same year, Hardaway took a trip to the prospect’s home in Dallas. While Hardaway previously stated he made the trip to Dallas to watch his son play in a basketball tournament and to “attend a golf outing with friends,” he received a text from a member of his staff on Oct. 1, 2021, asking if he could visit the prospect. While at the recruit’s home, Hardaway also discussed the team’s style of play and took a picture with the family that was later posted on social media.

However, the NCAA mandates that any in-person visits with prospects during the fall months of their junior year of high school must be conducted at the recruit’s school. Hardaway’s “personal involvement in the violations and failure to monitor his staff” from the impermissible contact with recruits is considered a Level II-mitigated violation that warrants a three-game suspension, according to the committee.

“The bylaws at issue are fundamental to the men’s basketball recruiting landscape and Memphis’ failure to follow them provided its men’s basketball program with a competitive advantage over compliant programs,”the NCAA’s statement read. “… The head coach’s inattentiveness to compliance—particularly at a time when his program was under scrutiny related to a different infractions case—resulted in careless violations. Head coaches must remain diligent in monitoring their staff and promoting compliance at all times and cannot delegate those responsibilities to compliance staff members and administrators.”

While the Tigers non-conference schedule is not yet complete, Memphis will play in three exhibition games during the week of Aug. 1–7 in the Dominican Republic. However, some of the Tigers earliest non-conference games include Jackson State on Nov. 6, Missouri on Nov. 9 or 10 and Alabama State on Nov. 17, according to the Commercial Appeal.

Last season, Memphis finished 26–9 overall and 13–5 in the AAC. The Tigers won the AAC tournament and earned an appearance in the men’s NCAA tournament. However, FAU eliminated Memphis in the first round of this year’s Big Dance.