Memphis Basketball and Softball Placed on NCAA Probation

Memphis has two teams under NCAA probation for pushing the definition of teamwork. 

The NCAA placed the Tigers men’s basketball and softball teams on probation for two years after it found an academic counselor paid two softball players to do classwork for a men’s basketball player they shared classes with during the 2023–24 season. 

Additionally, the school’s athletic department was fined $30,000, and the NCAA took 1% of both programs’ budgets. The basketball program also had three wins vacated from the season. The penalty was negotiated between Memphis and the NCAA after softball players completed multiple assignments and gave test and quiz answers for classes they shared with a basketball player from January to February 2024. 

The NCAA did not name the athletes involved, but The Commercial Appeal previously reported the violations stem from Malcolm Dandridge, a forward who was held out for the final five games of the 2023–24 season, when the infractions occurred. 

Text records show Leslie Brooks, a former academic advisor at Memphis, paid the softball players a combined $550 from her personal account to do the player’s schoolwork. Memphis fired Brooks in February 2024 and she was given a 10-year show-cause from the NCAA. Brooks’s show-cause means she has to show the NCAA why she shouldn’t face more penalties and prevents athletics employees from avoiding punishment by changing schools. 

Memphis became aware of the violations after a softball trainer overheard multiple players discussing the situation, the NCAA said. A softball player later reported the matter to both the trainer and head coach, who then informed the administration. 

Memphis basketball coach and NBA veteran Penny Hardaway was not named in the case. But the incident is the latest issue the Tigers basketball program has faced since hiring Hardaway—arguably the school’s greatest player—as its coach in 2018. 

The violations will keep Memphis on probation for five consecutive years after it was previously on it for three in 2022 over its handling of James Wiseman’s eligibility during Hardway’s first season as coach. Hardaway was also suspended for three games during the 2023–24 season, after two improper home visits with a recruit during his junior year of high school.