All that for this ? This must undoubtedly be the feeling that reigns in the NCAA sphere in recent hours…
A quick reminder of the facts: last November, ahead of the opening of the 2022/23 season, the athletic management of Kansas had decided to suspend his coach Bill Self and his first assistant Kurtis Townsend for the first four games of the campaign. The reason ? The program was accused, since 2017 and the opening of an investigation by the FBI and then the NCAA, of multiple violations of university regulations. Management then decided to impose its own sanctions, hoping that these would be considered sufficient by the NCAA, before the latter imposed its own, which could potentially have been much heavier.
READ: DETAILS OF THE CASE
A year later, it is clear that this strategy has paid off. The verdict was actually rendered this Wednesday by the IRP (Independent Resolution Process), an independent committee charged by the NCAA to investigate this matter, and it ensures that it has not found “ no credible evidence » of the guilt of Bill Self and his assistant in this affair. In other words, Kansas gets away with leaving a single feather, or almost.
The only “sanction” imposed on the Jayhawks? The cancellation of 15 victories obtained during the 2017/18 season. Because a Kansas player during this season, Silvio DeSousa, was involved in this affair, which resulted in invalidating all the matches in which he took part (20 matches, 15 victories and 5 defeats).
The only concrete consequence of this particularly lenient verdict, in summary, for Kansas? The 2022 champions fall to second place in the ranking of the most victorious programs of all time, behind Kentucky (2,377 victories for the Wildcats, 2,370 victories for the Jayhawks)…