Self-imposed postseason ban? Not from NC State, AD Boo Corrigan says
Posted November 27, 2020 3:00 p.m. EST
Updated November 27, 2020 3:04 p.m. EST
Auburn, involved in an NCAA investigation over bribery charges against a former assistant coach, self-imposed a postseason ban for this college basketball season earlier this week.
NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan said in an interview with “The OG” on 99.9 The Fan on Friday that the Wolfpack will not follow Auburn’s example.
“We are committed to seeing this through,” Corrigan said of NC State's ongoing case with the NCAA related to the recruitment of former star guard Dennis Smith Jr.
“Rest assured, to all of the NC State fans out there: We are on top this on a daily basis. We are on top of it , and we talk about it all of the time and have a number of people engaged from outside counsel, as well, that are guiding us through this.”
Former Auburn assistant Chuck Person was caught up in the Christian Dawkins/bribery portion of the wide-ranging college basketball fraud scandal that first made headlines before the 2017-18 season. Person was sentenced by a federal court in New York to 200 hours of community service in July 2019 for his role in helping steer players to a financial adviser.
NC State has been involved in an NCAA case related to the recruitment of Smith since January 2018. The school received its original Notice of Allegations from the NCAA in July 2019, and the case was referred to the NCAA’s new independent special case unit, the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, this past April.
Auburn’s decision announced by the SEC school on Sunday, Corrigan said, is not related to what NC State will do because the NCAA treats each case differently.
“Everyone is trying to do the best thing they can in what their situation is,” Corrigan said. “... on these things, everything is an individual case and individual circumstance.”
The Smith case, which centers on a $40,000 payment from a former Adidas grassroots coach to Smith’s family in October 2015, has been at a standstill since the IARP accepted the case on April 8.
The IARP is made up of investigators, lawyers, advocates and decision-makers with no direct ties to NCAA member schools. Five members (from a panel of 15) will work on the case and issue a decision.
Corrigan said he doesn’t expect a resolution in the case before 2021.
“It’s kind of in a series of 90-day periods right now with the NCAA,” Corrigan said.
“So it’s not something that’s going to come to a head in the next month or two. It just kind of continues to be out there and roll out there.”
Corrigan, who was traveling with the NC State football team to Syracuse on Friday, said he was encouraged by how current basketball coach Kevin Keatts has handled the program during the investigation.
Keatts, who was hired to replace Mark Gottfried in March 2017, has no connection to Smith or the NCAA case.
“All you can do is control what is right in front of you, and I think they’ve done a really, really good job with that,” Corrigan said of Keatts and the current coaching staff.
