Arizona facing multiple Level I violations, per report

The Notice of Allegations the Arizona Wildcats received from the NCAA this week accuses them of nine instances of misconduct including five Level I violations, according to a report from The Athletic’s Seth Davis.

Level I violations are considered the most severe and the possible sanctions include a postseason ban, loss of scholarships, recruiting visit restrictions, fines, a head coach suspension, and/or show-cause penalties.

According to the report, the violations include “a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university, a lack of head coach control by men’s basketball coach Sean Miller; and a lack of head coach control by Augie Busch, the women’s swimming and diving coach.”

It’s unclear exactly how many of the violations are related to men’s basketball and how many are attributed to women’s swimming and diving and the athletic department as a whole.

However, the report says that the refusal of former assistants Book Richardson and Mark Phelps to speak with NCAA investigators was an “aggregating factor” in the severity of the violations. As was Arizona’s unwillingness to hand over the report it received from Steptoe & Johnson, the law firm it hired to conduct an independent investigation of the basketball program.

Arizona confirmed Friday that it received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, but “in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing enforcement process, the University is not releasing the NOA at this time.”

Miller declined to comment during a press conference Thursday.

“I’m not going to comment on anything that is around any investigation,” he said. “That’s really what I’m called to do as a member of our athletic department. I’m not able to comment. ... We’re looking forward to today’s practice, to our future.”

Arizona has 90 days to respond to the NOA and then the NCAA has 60 days to respond to the reply before setting up a hearing with the infractions committee.

Arizona isn’t going to go down lightly, as the report says it wants an independent panel—the NCAA’s relatively new Independent Accountability Resolution Process—to “hear the evidence, consider the legal and factual arguments, and issue a decision that is fair and just.”

The Arizona Board of Regents is expected to meet Monday to discuss the NOA.

This story may be updated.