Having already waited three months for a resolution to the ongoing investigation surrounding Arizona Baseball, what exactly has the IARP aided in other than frustration?
It has been a long three-plus years since the Pay-for-Play scheme that rattled college basketball broke out, and subsequently engulfed the Arizona Basketball program in a fury of corruption and conjecture.
Since then, Arizona Basketball along with numerous other programs have at the mercy of the FBI and the NCAA, patiently awaiting their fate.
Arizona Wildcats
However, with the NCAA’s infractions process much maligned due to inconsistencies, the creation of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) was conceptualized to streamline the process and bring in line the infractions without the unintentional (I think) biases that the NCAA review panel had.
With some cases now reaching over a year in waiting without resolution, what exactly is the point of the IARP process? The one thing that is known, is that there is no appeal to the final IARP findings.
First Referred Case
Though Kansas is typically referenced as the first domino to fall, according to the IARP, the Memphis case surrounding the issues with James Wiseman’s recruitment amongst other things was referred to the IARP on March 3rd, 2019.
It appears that the process is moving along according to the Commercial Appeal’s story following an interview with Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway in January. Hardaway said that the interview process was finished up shortly before the end of the year, however, we are now past the year mark with no real announcement or timeline insight.
With others awaiting their fate as well, how are all these outside cases impacting Arizona Basketball?
With NC State, Kansas, and LSU all in front of the Wildcats, I would expect there to be quite a bit of silence as there is nothing short of unknowns at this point. One would hope that some clarity would be delivered to the University no later than the end of summer to the 2021-2022 seasons for both Men’s Basketball and the Swimming and Diving programs.
With Memphis still having an unknown resolution date, Arizona leadership will very likely need to make a concrete decision on Sean Miller’s fate before the case is resolved by the Complex Case Unit of IARP.
The lack of timelines are frustrating but understandable…
Despite the apparent lack of movement in the IARP process, the lack of rulings is almost certainly affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has severely impacted virtually every type of company you can think of, including the firms selected for enforcement. Layoffs and furloughs have run rampant since the Memphis case was first approved to go through the IARP process.
You can expect once conditions in the country improve and we are all back to just having to worry about why a basket wasn’t made, or how we did not score a touchdown on that drive, that the IARP process will likely become more streamlined.
With virtually every new system having bugs that need to be ironed out at the start, the IARP process has been doomed from the start due to something out of everyone’s control.
One thing I think we can all agree on is the hope that the panel brings much more fairness to the disciplinary process, and that the judgments come down soon so we can all just move on without the dark cloud hanging over the Basketball and Swimming and Diving programs. Bear Down, Arizona!