Oklahoma State Will Appeal NCAA’s Hefty Postseason Ban

The NCAA dropped the hammer on Oklahoma State and the university is not taking it lightly. At least, it’s not going down without a fight.

On Friday, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions handed down a one-year postseason ban to OSU’s men’s basketball program following an investigation into the wrongdoing of former associate head coach Lamont Evans, all of which occurred before Mike Boynton took over as head coach over three years ago.

As Marshall Scott, dutifully laid out, the NCAA is punishing the kids it is supposed to protect as well as a university that seemingly took swift action once it was made aware of the investigation. Whether or not the intention to make some type of example of OSU, the punished certainly seems hefty for the crime. Oklahoma State agrees.

The university quickly released the following statement, announcing its intention to appeal the decision.

The Oklahoma State University Department of Athletics will file an immediate appeal of the NCAA penalties assessed to the men’s basketball program on Friday. The deadline for filing the appeal is June 20. It will be heard by the Infractions Appeal Committee, the final step in the NCAA infractions process.

The University is stunned by the severity of the penalties and strongly disagrees with them. The penalties do not align with the facts and are unfair and unjust. The NCAA agreed with OSU that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own personal gain. Evans was terminated by OSU on Sept. 28, 2017, within 72 hours of learning of allegations against him.

The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player, and did not display a lack of institutional control. As the report documents, OSU cooperated throughout the process, which lasted two years.

The NCAA appears to have made an arbitrary decision in the sanctions applied to the institution for the egregious actions committed by a former coach that did not result in any benefit for the University.

Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder reiterated on Friday in a conference call that OSU is going to come out swinging in this fight.

“We would want to appeal this because we disagree with the postseason ban and loss of scholarships,” said Holder. “We don’t think that was fair, don’t think that was justified given the nature of infractions. We want to contest that.”

“Any appeal is an uphill battle, that being said, we believe this is an unfair decision and that precedent doesn’t support it,” added The Compliance Group president Chuck Smrt, who is assisting Oklahoma State. “The standard is, Did the committee abuse its discretion in this penalty? Based on our analysis the finding does not justify the penalty.”

The NCAA’s postseason ban affects the upcoming 2020-21 season which is set to welcome the No. 10 recruiting class in the nation headlined by the country’s top player Cade Cunningham.