Aggies Men's Basketball Coach Buzz Williams Suspended By NCAA
Texas A&M head men's basketball coach Buzz Williams was suspended for two games for committing multiple NCAA violations, according to a release by the Division I Committee on Infractions.
The announcement came from the NCAA in a detailed breakdown of the coach's infractions on Friday morning.
Specifically, (Wiliams) had impermissible contact with a prospect during an evaluation period. The assistant coach violated NCAA rules when he observed a prospect participating in an open gym during an unofficial visit and later conducted two 45-minute tryouts with that prospect, during which he provided coaching instruction.
The university, assistant coach and enforcement staff also agreed the assistant coach violated multiple NCAA rules when he impermissibly conducted approximately 24 supervised, off-campus workouts with a prospect and several men's basketball student-athletes. The workouts were prohibited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On several occasions, the assistant coach arranged for noncoaching staff members to supervise and conduct the workouts, exceeding permissible limits for countable coaches.
Additionally, the university, head coach and enforcement staff agreed the head coach allowed six noncoaching staff members to participate in on-court activities and engage in skills instruction, exceeding NCAA countable coaches by three.
According to the agreement, the head coach violated head coach responsibility rules when he did not promote an atmosphere of compliance because of his personal involvement in the violations and because he did not monitor his staff's involvement in violations.
Texas A&M, as well as Williams, an unnamed assistant coach, and the NCAA enforcement staff, came to an agreement on the rules violations, as well as the punishment for those violations.
You can view the penalties that the University and Williams were given below:
- Two years of probation.
- A $5,000 fine.
- A reduction in men's basketball official visits for the 2021-22 academic year by five.
- A suspension of unofficial visits during the first three Southeastern Conference men's basketball games during the 2021-22 academic year.
- A reduction in men's basketball recruiting days by 5% (7 days out of 130) during the 2021-22 academic year.
- A two-game suspension (during the regular season) for the head coach at Texas A&M or any school that employs him.
- A suspension of the assistant coach, self-imposed by the university, June 2020 through the end of the 2020-21 basketball season. During that suspension, the program operated with one fewer assistant coach than allowed under NCAA rules.
Following the announcement from the NCAA, Texas A&M released a statement, voicing their intentions to stand by their coach.
“On August 20, 2021, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions announced that it approved a negotiated resolution jointly submitted by Texas A&M University and the NCAA enforcement staff concerning the men’s basketball program,” the release stated. “Texas A&M Athletics and the men’s basketball program are pleased to have this matter concluded. We support Coach Williams and will continue to move forward in a positive direction.”
The Aggies' first scheduled game is a November 22nd matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawai'i. That game is set to be broadcast on ESPN 2.
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