Binghamton University basketball scandal
Encyclopedia
The Binghamton University basketball scandal was an incident that arose out of concerns that Binghamton University
had compromised its integrity in order to make the Bearcats
men's basketball program
more competitive in Division I. Following a series of incidents in the fall of 2009, an investigation by the State University of New York
, Binghamton's parent institution, found that Binghamton's administration had significantly lowered its admissions standards for prospective recruits under pressure from basketball coach Kevin Broadus
and his staff. It also detailed several potential NCAA violations by Broadus and his staff.
The scandal resulted in Broadus resigning in October 2010, though he had been relieved of coaching duties before then. It also resulted in the resignation of the school's athletic director, the firing of two assistant coaches, and the dismissal of six players from the team. Due to the fallout from the scandal, Binghamton elected to sit out postseason play in 2010. The SUNY investigation was forwarded to the NCAA. However, due to a lack of cooperation, the NCAA was unable to find any major violations.
, and the school's first conference tournament title in 63 years of play. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats played powerful Duke
fairly close in the first half before losing 86-62. Broadus was named the America East coach of the year.
However, many were concerned that Binghamton had cut too many corners in its bid for basketball glory, and sacrificed its reputation as SUNY's strongest academic institution in the process. Management professor Dennis Lasser, the school's former faculty athletics representative, helped lead the effort to move Binghamton from Division III to Division I in 2001 (after a transition period in Division II from 1998 to 2001), but lost interest in the basketball team due to what he called a change in culture. He claimed that Binghamton had lowered its standards for admitting prospective basketball players to the bare minimum required by the NCAA. Additionally, ESPN
analyst Tom Brennan
, former coach at longtime America East member Vermont
, suggested that given the risks Broadus was taking, it was possible that a conference championship might not have been worth the effort. One major reason for Lasser and Brennan's concerns was that at least three players on the 2008-09 team had transferred to Binghamton from other schools due to academic problems. One of the transfers, guard Malik Alvin, was arrested for stealing condoms from a local Walmart. While being chased by security officers, Alvin ran over a 66-year-old woman, giving her a concussion. Alvin was suspended three games, but charges were subsequently dropped and he was back in the lineup for the rest of the season. Earlier, forward Miladin Kovacevic beat a fellow student into a coma and fled to his native Serbia
with the help of two Serbian diplomats. Former player Devon McBride told The New York Times
that many of his teammates frequently drank alcohol and smoked marijuana, but Broadus didn't seem to make any effort to keep a rein on their off-the-court behavior.
These concerns led America East commissioner Patrick Nero to talk with school president Lois DeFleur and athletic director Joel Thirer about the team's behavior. The America East's other coaches reportedly voiced their displeasure with the way Broadus ran the program by bumping D.J. Rivera, the conference's leading scorer and by most accounts the league's best NBA prospect, to the conference's second team.
Additionally, it emerged shortly after Broadus' 2007 hiring that while an assistant coach and recruiter at George Washington
and Georgetown
, he'd signed players from Lutheran Christian Academy, a school in Philadelphia widely accused of being a diploma mill
. One of those players, Marc Egerson, transferred to Lutheran Christian after earning only a 1.33 grade point average at his Delaware
high school and garnering an SAT
score in the 600s. Shortly before Broadus was hired at Binghamton, the NCAA announced it would no longer accept coursework from Lutheran Christian and several other suspected diploma mills.
. Broadus, saying he'd "done all I could" to help Mayben, kicked him off the team the next day.
On September 25, Broadus announced that five other players had been kicked off the team for unspecified violations of team rules. They included Rivera, Alvin, transfer Corey Chandler (recently arrived from Rutgers
), junior college transfer Paul Crosby, and walk-on David Fine. Within 48 hours, Binghamton had lost its three top scorers from the previous season. With only seven scholarship players and no experienced guards, it was widely believed that the Bearcats' 2009-10 season was over before it even started. Indeed, Lasser said that these dismissals amounted to an "implosion" of the Bearcat program. Although Broadus claimed the decision was his alone, the dismissals came on the same day that SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher demanded that DeFleur give her a full accounting of what being done to address Mayben's arrest and other unspecified incidents. Zimpher was known for having little tolerance for athletic misconduct. While president of the University of Cincinnati
, she'd forced longtime basketball coach Bob Huggins
to resign in 2005. Although Huggins had taken Cincinnati to heights it hadn't seen since the 1960s, Zimpher had been displeased with the team's poor academic performance and misbehavior off the court.
On September 29, Sally Dear, a lecturer in the department of human development, was told she was being let go as part of a cost-cutting measure. However, Dear alleged the real reason was that she'd gone public in February with accusations that she was being pressured to give preferential treatment to basketball players. She also said that others in her department had been pressured to change players' grades. Back in February, Dear told the Times that several players in her class had been so disruptive she'd frequently had to stop teaching. She'd said that she didn't think some of the players were taking their studies seriously. She also claimed the pressure she'd been under to cut a break for basketball players amounted to harassment.
On September 30, Thirer resigned as athletic director, a post he'd held since 1989.
, the former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals
.
, a former star at Temple
, was named interim head coach. The announcement came a week after Broadus publicly apologized to several of his athletic department colleagues for bringing "shame" to Binghamton by not properly controlling his program. Earlier, Broadus had admitted to contacting recruits on the first day of the period when coaches aren't allowed to speak with prospects that they're scouting.
According to the report, the mass dismissal of September 25 had not been Broadus' decision, but was ordered by Thirer. The dismissed players had been involved in several incidents reported to BU police earlier in the month. Fine had been suspected of smoking marijuana in his dorm, but wasn't charged even though he appeared to be high. Mayben had been cited for speeding and possession of marijuana that he said belonged to Fine. Most seriously, Rivera, Alvin, Crosby and Chandler were suspected of stealing another student's check card and using it to buy several items. The last incident was forwarded to the Broome County district attorney; the investigation is still pending as of October 2010. School officials had been willing to let Broadus handle the raft of discipline problems at first. However, after Mayben's September 23 arrest, Thirer called Broadus into his office and told him that Rivera, Alvin, Chandler, Crosby and Fine all had to go.
The Kaye report found evidence of potential academic fraud by Broadus and his staff. The most damning evidence was in text message exchanges between Alvin and assistant coach Mark Hsu. In one, Alvin asked Hsu to help rewrite a paper for him because Alvin had copied it off the Internet. In another, Alvin copied another paper off the Internet, but added a conclusion in his own words on advice from Hsu. Broadus was also accused of having professors change players' grades.
Almost as disturbing was a text message exchange between Broadus and Hsu in which they appeared to discuss coaching the players on what to tell school police during the investigation of the stolen check card. Indeed, school police believed that Rivera was taking the fall for the check card incident to cover for his teammates.
The report revealed that many of the America East's coaches and athletic directors were also concerned that Broadus was recruiting players with a history of behavior problems. The America East has long believed that one member's perception can directly affect that of the whole conference. For instance, Mayben had previously been recruited by Syracuse, but the Orange lost interest due to Mayben's academic problems and frequent suspensions from high school. Another recruit, Theus Davis, had been kicked out of Gonzaga
for drug problems. By the fall of 2009, several of the conference's athletic directors and presidents were making noises about throwing Binghamton out of the league if things didn't improve. Reportedly, this prompted DeFleur to promise her fellow conference presidents that Thirer's contract wouldn't be renewed.
Kaye recommended, among other things, that SUNY appoint an "athletic oversight officer" for the entire SUNY system, reporting directly to the chancellor.
In a conference call with reporters, Zimpher said, "I am disappointed that a great institution like Binghamton University would, in any way, because of its athletic program, compromise its terrific academic reputation." She also promised sweeping changes.
Under the circumstances, he kept the Bearcats fairly competitive. The Bearcats actually managed to finish with a .500 record in America East play, and 13-18 overall. Seven of their losses were by 10 points or less.
On March 1, DeFleur announced that the Bearcats would sit out the 2010 conference tournament
and were withdrawing from postseason consideration. She said that given the current turmoil in the program, "it is not appropriate that we play in this year's postseason." Although Nero said the decision was Binghamton's alone, two America East sources told the Times that the league's other members didn't want the Bearcats in the tournament and pressured them to withdraw. As mentioned above, some of the America East's other athletic directors and presidents were seriously considering expelling Binghamton from the league.
Zimpher eventually assigned SUNY’s interim provost, David K. Lavallee, to lead an overall effort for the SUNY system to ensure that academics remain the highest priority; and Charles R. Westgate, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Binghamton, as a special adviser for academics and athletics for the SUNY system: moves some critics of the over-emphasis on athletics decried as insufficient. Zimpher also announced that while Broadus will not return as coach, a permanent replacement won't be hired until the school has a permanent president and athletic director.
On March 26, Broadus filed a racial discrimination complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights
. Broadus claimed that he was being treated more harshly than other Binghamton coaches whose players had been arrested simply because he was the only minority coach at the school.
The Kaye report was forwarded to the NCAA, which could have issued its own sanctions in addition to Binghamton's own decision to pull out of postseason play. On October 18, the NCAA found that Hsu had committed two secondary violations by providing impermissible travel to two players. However, due to lack of cooperation from involved parties, the NCAA was unable to find any major violations. At the same time, Broadus was reinstated to the athletic department. Although Broadus' lawyer stated that he believed his client had been exonerated, Zimpher reiterated that he will not return as coach.
On October 28, Broadus announced he was filing a federal discrimination lawsuit against Binghamton and SUNY. Hours later, the three parties reached a settlement in which Broadus would resign and take a $1.2 million buyout in return for dropping all legal action against BU or SUNY.
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
had compromised its integrity in order to make the Bearcats
Binghamton Bearcats
The Binghamton Bearcats are an NCAA Division I athletics program at Binghamton University. They are one of four Division I programs in the SUNY system and a member of the America East Conference.-History:...
men's basketball program
Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball
The Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball team represents Binghamton University and is located in Vestal, NY. The team currently competes in the America East Conference and plays its home games at the Binghamton University Events Center. Since becoming an NCAA Division I basketball program in 2001,...
more competitive in Division I. Following a series of incidents in the fall of 2009, an investigation by the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
, Binghamton's parent institution, found that Binghamton's administration had significantly lowered its admissions standards for prospective recruits under pressure from basketball coach Kevin Broadus
Kevin Broadus
-External links:...
and his staff. It also detailed several potential NCAA violations by Broadus and his staff.
The scandal resulted in Broadus resigning in October 2010, though he had been relieved of coaching duties before then. It also resulted in the resignation of the school's athletic director, the firing of two assistant coaches, and the dismissal of six players from the team. Due to the fallout from the scandal, Binghamton elected to sit out postseason play in 2010. The SUNY investigation was forwarded to the NCAA. However, due to a lack of cooperation, the NCAA was unable to find any major violations.
Background
Binghamton had been one of the great stories of the 2008-09 basketball season. In the school's eighth season in Division I, Broadus led the Bearcats to a school record-tying 23 wins, a tie for first place in the America East ConferenceAmerica East Conference
The America East Conference is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located mainly in the northeastern United States. The conference was known as the ECAC North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from the fall semester of 1988 to the end of the spring...
, and the school's first conference tournament title in 63 years of play. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats played powerful Duke
Duke Blue Devils
Duke University's 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The name comes from the French "les Diables Bleus" or "the Blue Devils," which was the nickname given during World War I to the Chasseurs Alpins, the French Alpine light infantry...
fairly close in the first half before losing 86-62. Broadus was named the America East coach of the year.
However, many were concerned that Binghamton had cut too many corners in its bid for basketball glory, and sacrificed its reputation as SUNY's strongest academic institution in the process. Management professor Dennis Lasser, the school's former faculty athletics representative, helped lead the effort to move Binghamton from Division III to Division I in 2001 (after a transition period in Division II from 1998 to 2001), but lost interest in the basketball team due to what he called a change in culture. He claimed that Binghamton had lowered its standards for admitting prospective basketball players to the bare minimum required by the NCAA. Additionally, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
analyst Tom Brennan
Tom Brennan
Tom Brennan is a radio and television sportscaster and former men's basketball head coach, most notably at the University of Vermont from 1986 to 2005.- Coaching career :...
, former coach at longtime America East member Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
, suggested that given the risks Broadus was taking, it was possible that a conference championship might not have been worth the effort. One major reason for Lasser and Brennan's concerns was that at least three players on the 2008-09 team had transferred to Binghamton from other schools due to academic problems. One of the transfers, guard Malik Alvin, was arrested for stealing condoms from a local Walmart. While being chased by security officers, Alvin ran over a 66-year-old woman, giving her a concussion. Alvin was suspended three games, but charges were subsequently dropped and he was back in the lineup for the rest of the season. Earlier, forward Miladin Kovacevic beat a fellow student into a coma and fled to his native Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
with the help of two Serbian diplomats. Former player Devon McBride told The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that many of his teammates frequently drank alcohol and smoked marijuana, but Broadus didn't seem to make any effort to keep a rein on their off-the-court behavior.
These concerns led America East commissioner Patrick Nero to talk with school president Lois DeFleur and athletic director Joel Thirer about the team's behavior. The America East's other coaches reportedly voiced their displeasure with the way Broadus ran the program by bumping D.J. Rivera, the conference's leading scorer and by most accounts the league's best NBA prospect, to the conference's second team.
Additionally, it emerged shortly after Broadus' 2007 hiring that while an assistant coach and recruiter at George Washington
George Washington Colonials
The George Washington Colonials are the athletic teams of George Washington University. The school sponsors 21 varsity sports , the majority of which compete in the Division I Atlantic 10 Conference. The men's and women's water polo teams compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association and the...
and Georgetown
Georgetown Hoyas
Georgetown's nickname is The Hoyas, but its mascot is "Jack the Bulldog." Various breeds of dogs have been used by the sports teams as mascots since the early 1900s. Several notable bull terriers like Sergeant Stubby and "Hoya" were used at football games in the 1920s, as was a Great Dane in the...
, he'd signed players from Lutheran Christian Academy, a school in Philadelphia widely accused of being a diploma mill
Diploma mills in the United States
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
. One of those players, Marc Egerson, transferred to Lutheran Christian after earning only a 1.33 grade point average at his Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
high school and garnering an SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
score in the 600s. Shortly before Broadus was hired at Binghamton, the NCAA announced it would no longer accept coursework from Lutheran Christian and several other suspected diploma mills.
Arrests and dismissals
On September 23, 2009—just over a month before the start of the 2009-10 season—Binghamton's starting point guard and second-leading scorer, Emmanuel "Tiki" Mayben, was arrested and charged with possessing and selling crack cocaineCrack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
. Broadus, saying he'd "done all I could" to help Mayben, kicked him off the team the next day.
On September 25, Broadus announced that five other players had been kicked off the team for unspecified violations of team rules. They included Rivera, Alvin, transfer Corey Chandler (recently arrived from Rutgers
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey...
), junior college transfer Paul Crosby, and walk-on David Fine. Within 48 hours, Binghamton had lost its three top scorers from the previous season. With only seven scholarship players and no experienced guards, it was widely believed that the Bearcats' 2009-10 season was over before it even started. Indeed, Lasser said that these dismissals amounted to an "implosion" of the Bearcat program. Although Broadus claimed the decision was his alone, the dismissals came on the same day that SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher demanded that DeFleur give her a full accounting of what being done to address Mayben's arrest and other unspecified incidents. Zimpher was known for having little tolerance for athletic misconduct. While president of the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
, she'd forced longtime basketball coach Bob Huggins
Bob Huggins
Bob Huggins, nicknamed "Huggy Bear", is the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coaching positions at the University of Cincinnati and Kansas State University...
to resign in 2005. Although Huggins had taken Cincinnati to heights it hadn't seen since the 1960s, Zimpher had been displeased with the team's poor academic performance and misbehavior off the court.
On September 29, Sally Dear, a lecturer in the department of human development, was told she was being let go as part of a cost-cutting measure. However, Dear alleged the real reason was that she'd gone public in February with accusations that she was being pressured to give preferential treatment to basketball players. She also said that others in her department had been pressured to change players' grades. Back in February, Dear told the Times that several players in her class had been so disruptive she'd frequently had to stop teaching. She'd said that she didn't think some of the players were taking their studies seriously. She also claimed the pressure she'd been under to cut a break for basketball players amounted to harassment.
On September 30, Thirer resigned as athletic director, a post he'd held since 1989.
Audit announced
On October 2, Zimpher announced plans for a full audit of Binghamton's athletic department. Significantly, Zimpher stated that the audit would be overseen by the SUNY board of trustees, and not by Binghamton itself. On the same day, it was announced that Dear had been rehired. The probe was directed by Judith KayeJudith Kaye
Judith S. Kaye is a retired New York judge who served as Chief Judge of New York from March 23, 1993 until December 31, 2008. She was the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary's highest office.-Early life and education:...
, the former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
.
Broadus suspended
On October 14, Binghamton suspended Broadus indefinitely with pay. In announcing the suspension, acting athletic director Jim Norris cited numerous "incidents of concern." Assistant coach Mark MaconMark Macon
-External links:* @ basketballreference.com*...
, a former star at Temple
Temple Owls
Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a very long-running athletic program. The school's sports teams are called the Owls, originating from the university's early days as a night school. The current athletic director is Bill Bradshaw....
, was named interim head coach. The announcement came a week after Broadus publicly apologized to several of his athletic department colleagues for bringing "shame" to Binghamton by not properly controlling his program. Earlier, Broadus had admitted to contacting recruits on the first day of the period when coaches aren't allowed to speak with prospects that they're scouting.
Kaye report
On February 11, Kaye released her findings in a 99-page report. Kaye found that under pressure from Broadus, Binghamton had lowered its standards for admitting basketball players to the NCAA minimum. In bowing to this pressure, Kaye said, DeFleur (who'd announced her retirement a month earlier), Thirer and other officials had significantly compromised Binghamton's academic standards even though Binghamton wasn't prepared to take in so many academically marginal students.According to the report, the mass dismissal of September 25 had not been Broadus' decision, but was ordered by Thirer. The dismissed players had been involved in several incidents reported to BU police earlier in the month. Fine had been suspected of smoking marijuana in his dorm, but wasn't charged even though he appeared to be high. Mayben had been cited for speeding and possession of marijuana that he said belonged to Fine. Most seriously, Rivera, Alvin, Crosby and Chandler were suspected of stealing another student's check card and using it to buy several items. The last incident was forwarded to the Broome County district attorney; the investigation is still pending as of October 2010. School officials had been willing to let Broadus handle the raft of discipline problems at first. However, after Mayben's September 23 arrest, Thirer called Broadus into his office and told him that Rivera, Alvin, Chandler, Crosby and Fine all had to go.
The Kaye report found evidence of potential academic fraud by Broadus and his staff. The most damning evidence was in text message exchanges between Alvin and assistant coach Mark Hsu. In one, Alvin asked Hsu to help rewrite a paper for him because Alvin had copied it off the Internet. In another, Alvin copied another paper off the Internet, but added a conclusion in his own words on advice from Hsu. Broadus was also accused of having professors change players' grades.
Almost as disturbing was a text message exchange between Broadus and Hsu in which they appeared to discuss coaching the players on what to tell school police during the investigation of the stolen check card. Indeed, school police believed that Rivera was taking the fall for the check card incident to cover for his teammates.
The report revealed that many of the America East's coaches and athletic directors were also concerned that Broadus was recruiting players with a history of behavior problems. The America East has long believed that one member's perception can directly affect that of the whole conference. For instance, Mayben had previously been recruited by Syracuse, but the Orange lost interest due to Mayben's academic problems and frequent suspensions from high school. Another recruit, Theus Davis, had been kicked out of Gonzaga
Gonzaga Bulldogs
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...
for drug problems. By the fall of 2009, several of the conference's athletic directors and presidents were making noises about throwing Binghamton out of the league if things didn't improve. Reportedly, this prompted DeFleur to promise her fellow conference presidents that Thirer's contract wouldn't be renewed.
Kaye recommended, among other things, that SUNY appoint an "athletic oversight officer" for the entire SUNY system, reporting directly to the chancellor.
In a conference call with reporters, Zimpher said, "I am disappointed that a great institution like Binghamton University would, in any way, because of its athletic program, compromise its terrific academic reputation." She also promised sweeping changes.
Fallout
Macon was forced to hold tryouts in October to replenish his decimated roster. He also had to deal with two of his assistants, Hsu and Julius Allen, being fired in midseason, leaving him with only one assistant coach.Under the circumstances, he kept the Bearcats fairly competitive. The Bearcats actually managed to finish with a .500 record in America East play, and 13-18 overall. Seven of their losses were by 10 points or less.
On March 1, DeFleur announced that the Bearcats would sit out the 2010 conference tournament
2010 America East Men's Basketball Tournament
-Trivia:*Binghamton was initially slated as the #5 seed in the tournament. However, due to a series of scandals surrounding the program, the Bearcats announced they would sit out the tournament. According to The New York Times, the conference's other members pressured Binghamton to sit out....
and were withdrawing from postseason consideration. She said that given the current turmoil in the program, "it is not appropriate that we play in this year's postseason." Although Nero said the decision was Binghamton's alone, two America East sources told the Times that the league's other members didn't want the Bearcats in the tournament and pressured them to withdraw. As mentioned above, some of the America East's other athletic directors and presidents were seriously considering expelling Binghamton from the league.
Zimpher eventually assigned SUNY’s interim provost, David K. Lavallee, to lead an overall effort for the SUNY system to ensure that academics remain the highest priority; and Charles R. Westgate, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Binghamton, as a special adviser for academics and athletics for the SUNY system: moves some critics of the over-emphasis on athletics decried as insufficient. Zimpher also announced that while Broadus will not return as coach, a permanent replacement won't be hired until the school has a permanent president and athletic director.
On March 26, Broadus filed a racial discrimination complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights
New York State Division of Human Rights
The New York State Division of Human Rights is a New York State agency created to enforce the state's Human Rights Law. The law prohibits discrimination in the provision of housing, employment, credit, and access to certain public places based on specified protected characteristics, which include...
. Broadus claimed that he was being treated more harshly than other Binghamton coaches whose players had been arrested simply because he was the only minority coach at the school.
The Kaye report was forwarded to the NCAA, which could have issued its own sanctions in addition to Binghamton's own decision to pull out of postseason play. On October 18, the NCAA found that Hsu had committed two secondary violations by providing impermissible travel to two players. However, due to lack of cooperation from involved parties, the NCAA was unable to find any major violations. At the same time, Broadus was reinstated to the athletic department. Although Broadus' lawyer stated that he believed his client had been exonerated, Zimpher reiterated that he will not return as coach.
On October 28, Broadus announced he was filing a federal discrimination lawsuit against Binghamton and SUNY. Hours later, the three parties reached a settlement in which Broadus would resign and take a $1.2 million buyout in return for dropping all legal action against BU or SUNY.
External links
- Kaye report (from SUNY Website)