Penny Hardaway & Will Wade Receive Recruiting Violations From NCAA

For Men’s Basketball, recruiting violations were sent out by the NCAA last Wednesday. Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway will be out for the first three games of the 2023 season. This suspension was followed up with another one. The current McNeese State head coach Will Wade, who was the former head coach for LSU, was given a two-year show-cause order and a 10-game suspension for three Level I violations, the Independent Accountability Resolution Process announced Thursday.

Wade’s suspension was doubled from five to 10 games, along with recruiting restrictions.

According to the IARP, Wade was found to have made impermissible payments to the former fiancée of a player, while also failing to cooperate in an investigation and failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Both the football and basketball program were impacted, as LSU fired Wade prior to the 2022 NCAA tournament, as the NCAA sent a notice of allegations, detailing five Level I violations and a Level II violation involving Wade. This isn’t his first punishment, as Wade was also suspended in 2019 before the tournament that year for recruitment violations.

The former LSU head coach led the Tigers to an SEC title that year he was suspended in 2019 and had three NCAA tournament showings in five seasons during his tenure before he was terminated.

In March 2023, Wade was then hired to be the head coach for McNeese State to a deal that included a five-game suspension to open the season and recruiting restrictions. But now, that suspension is doubled, as the penalties and restrictions will go on until 2025.

Hardaway is being accused of recruiting violations during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The Division I Committee on Infractions panel released a statement explaining their reasoning for the three-game suspension.

“Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse,” the panel said. “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.”

According to the panel, on two separate occasions (one by Hardaway and one by an assistant), the Memphis coaches made two in-home visits with a recruit in his junior year. This goes against the rule, as visits during the fall of a player’s junior year must take place at the player’s high school.

This is the second time Memphis has been sanctioned under Hardaway, as this upcoming season will be his sixth for the Tigers. They are coming off a 26-9 season and a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, as Memphis should be a contender regardless of the Hardaway suspension.