Former University of Louisville players serving four-year ban

Tim Sullivan | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption NCAA infractions ruling for University of Louisville: what's next Courier Journal's Jeff Greer breaks down the process of what happens going forward now that the NCAA infractions appeals committee has ruled in the Katina Powell escort scandal.

Montrezl Harrell and Chane Behanan are scheduled to appear at a downtown reunion Friday for the University of Louisville basketball team whose 2013 NCAA championship has been vacated because of rules violations.

They cannot be made welcome by the basketball program until 2021.

In letters dated April 7, 2017 — one day short of the fourth anniversary of a title game that has since been struck from the record book — former U of L athletic director Tom Jurich informed Harrell, Behanan and Chris Jones that they would be formally disassociated from all aspects of the athletic department for a period of four years.

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The letters were identical and included no allegations of NCAA infractions. Yet in refusing to be interviewed by investigators probing the tawdry tales of Katina Powell, the three players came in conflict with the level of cooperation expected by the university and may have complicated U of L’s case for leniency from the Committee on Infractions.

The letters were released Thursday afternoon in response to a Courier Journal public records request submitted on May 17. (Andre McGee, the former director of basketball operations alleged to have arranged sex parties in the basketball dormitory, was permanently disassociated from the program in an earlier letter.)

“The institution is disappointed that you elected not to be interviewed in this process,” Jurich wrote to Behanan, Harrell and Jones. “As a former member of the men’s basketball team, you are a valued member of the athletics department community. Such membership requires certain responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities is consenting to an interview regarding potential violations of NCAA legislation, if requested to do so by the university.”

Both Harrell and Behanan made their disassociations public in August of 2017; Harrell complaining on social media that he had been denied access to the U of L practice gym “and they wasn’t even men enough to explain it to me. They sent a manager.”

Behanan subsequently confirmed that he, too, was not allowed in the U of L facilities. He told a Courier Journal reporter he did not know why he had been banned, this despite the rationale and the penalties that had been detailed in writing four months earlier.

According to Jurich’s letter, the university will refrain from accepting any assistance from the three players in recruiting or in the support of enrolled athletes; will refuse financial assistance or donations from the players to U of L’s athletic program; and will ensure that no athletic benefits or privileges are provided to the players that are not available to the general public.

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Contact between the players and athletic department employees is prohibited during the four-year period that began on March 29, 2017. Additionally, the university has asserted the right to implement other, unspecified sanctions “to eliminate any possible involvement by you in the institution’s athletics program.”

In attempting to anticipate possible penalties from the Committee on Infractions, individual schools commonly lean on the same sanctions and phrases outlined in the NCAA Manual. Jurich's disassociation letters, in fact, are drawn virtually word-for-word from Section 19.9.7 of the NCAA Manual.

Similar measures have been taken against numerous athletes who have been implicated in NCAA infractions cases, notably former University of Southern California running back Reggie Bush and former Michigan basketball star Chris Webber. Bush's ban is permanent; Webber's expired after 10 years.

Behanan, Harrell and Jones will be unable to participate in the U of L program until late March of 2021. It may not be much consolation at this point, but the players are not prohibited from enrolling in classes or pursuing a degree.