NC State Basketball: Wolfpack respond to NCAA Notice of Allegations

NC State has released a response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations. Their 66-page response includes three penalties proposed by NC State.

Many Wolfpack faithful were hoping that NC State would fight every piece of information from the original Notice of Allegations. That is not the case however, as it seems like the Wolfpack is meeting the NCAA in the middle by accepting some punishment while still fighting many of the major allegations from July’s Notice of Allegations.

NC State accepts punishment for the minor violations reported by offering three penalties which include: $5,000 fine to NCAA, 1 scholarship reduction for 2021-2022 season, and recruiting restrictions. NC State gave a very brief description as to why they see these punishments are appropriate for the violations on page G-4 of their response which states,

"”The athletics department staff members named in the allegations are no longer employed the University”"

$5,000 Fine

NC State’s officials have offered up a very small $5,000 fine/donation to the NCAA, which is definitely pocket change for a University who has been spending an average of $8,244,347.33 per year on the Men’s basketball program since 2016.

Scholarship Reduction

NC State has decided to reduce the number of scholarships for the 2021-2022 season from 13 to 12. The University would offer this punishment for next season but NC State already has 5 players who have signed their NLI’s for next season meaning all 13 scholarships for the 2020-2021 season are accounted for barring any departures from the program.

Recruiting Restrictions

NC State’s Basketball staff will have to make adjustments to how they recruit over the next two seasons in regards to visits. Part of the proposed penalties includes the reduction 1 official visit for both this season and the following season, along with this Kevin Keatts and company will not be able to host unofficial visits for two additional weeks this season. This is yet another minor punishment as NC State doesn’t need to host anymore visitors this season since they have a full recruiting class.

While many of the punishments that NC State has decided to impose seem very minor it will be interesting to see how the NCAA decides to respond and if they feel as is if these punishments are enough for the actions of the previous coaching staff. As an NC State fan, I am all for the NCAA deciding to vacate 17 losses from the 2016-2017 if they decide more punishment is necessary.