The local NPR station in Kansas City has reported that University of Kansas Athletics hired four law firms and spent approximately $10 million over six years defending itself against an NCAA investigation into rules violations within its men’s basketball program.
KCUR reported that KU hired Bond, Schoeneck & King, Pillsbury, Husch Blackwell, and Hogan Lovells helped navigate an investigation looking examining recruiting violations, which surfaced in 2017 during a federal trial in New York when a former Adidas executive was charged with distributing tens of thousands of dollars to high school players in an attempt to steer them to top tier programs.
The legal fees may have helped as evidenced by the NCAA-appointed Independent Accountability Resolution Panel ruling, which was relatively mild.
The panel placed the Jayhawks men’s basketball program on probation for three years and ordered KU to vacate 15 wins from its spring 2018 campaign, when the Jayhawks reached the Final Four, before losing to eventual champion, Villanova.
“We are hopeful these difficult self-imposed sanctions will assist in bringing the case to a conclusion,” KU Athletic Director Travis Goff told the media.
