Bill Self, the coach of the reigning Division I champion Kansas men’s basketball team, will begin the season with a four-game suspension as part of the university’s self-imposed punishments in response to its ongoing case with the N.C.A.A. that emerged from a sport-wide corruption and bribery scandal.
Kansas, ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll, opens its season on Monday against the University of Nebraska Omaha. As part of the suspension, Self and an assistant coach, Kurtis Townsend, will miss a game against No. 7 Duke in the Champions Classic on Nov. 15 in Indianapolis. Another assistant, Norm Roberts, who was head coach at St. John’s from 2004 to 2010, will serve as the interim head coach.
“Coach Townsend and I accept and support K.U.’s decision to self-impose these sanctions,” Self said in a statement. He added: “I am proud of the way our guys have handled this situation and I look forward to returning to the bench for our game against N.C. State” on Nov. 23 in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
Generally, universities impose penalties on their own athletic departments in an attempt to soften the potential for harsher punishments from the N.C.A.A., which created a panel in 2019 to handle complex cases related to an F.B.I. investigation that emerged in 2017. The investigation led to plea agreements with four assistant coaches at various schools besides Kansas, and several arrests.
“We have your playbook,” William F. Sweeney Jr., the assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s field office in New York, said when the arrests were made. “Our investigation is ongoing and we are conducting additional interviews as I speak.”
Merl Code Jr., a former Adidas employee who was convicted of wire fraud, said in a book that Self knew about the payments he shuttled to players. Self has denied any involvement.
The N.C.A.A. panel is set to dissolve after four remaining cases, including one involving Kansas, are adjudicated.
In September 2019, the N.C.A.A. sent a notice of allegations to Kansas that included five Level I violations, which questioned Self’s responsibility and Kansas’ control over its men’s basketball program. Punishments for Level I infractions often include postseason bans, forfeiture of wins and championships and the loss of scholarships.
More than 12 months ago, the N.C.A.A. said its panel would rule in the next year.
Last December, North Carolina State was placed on probation for one year after a ruling on recruiting violations.
Kansas said in a statement that it informed the panel of its own punishments last week. They also include: Self and Townsend being absent from all off-campus recruiting-related activities from April to July of this year (they were); the reduction of four official visits during this academic year and in 2023-24; the reduction of three total scholarships in men’s basketball to be distributed over the next three years; the implementation of a six-week ban on recruiting communications, a six-week ban on unofficial visits and a 13-day reduction in the number of permissible recruiting days during the 2022-23 calendar year. Kansas also wasn’t permitted to host any recruits on official visits for its “Late Night in the Phog” event last month.
In September, the N.C.A.A. panel put Memphis on three years’ probation with a public reprimand and a fine, but declined to punish Coach Penny Hardaway or hand down an N.C.A.A. tournament ban. The N.C.A.A. had accused Memphis of four Level I and two Level II violations, considered the most serious infractions, and a total of seven alleged violations including lack of institutional control, head coach responsibility and failure to monitor.
Hardaway last month agreed to a six-year, $16.5 million contract extension.
Derrick Crawford, the N.C.A.A.’s vice president for hearing operations, said last month on a call with reporters that the remaining cases were on track to be resolved in “late spring, early summer of 2023.” The cases still pending involve Kansas, Arizona, Louisiana State and Louisville.
“Throughout this process, we have had ongoing conversations with all the involved parties,” the University of Kansas chancellor, Douglas A. Girod, said in a statement. “We believe the actions we are announcing today move us closer to resolving this matter. We look forward to commenting further when this process is fully resolved. Until then, I want to reiterate our unwavering support of Coach Self and our men’s basketball program.”