NCAA denies BYU basketball's appeal of sanctions from Nick Emery case

PROVO — The NCAA has made its decision in the case of former BYU basketball guard Nick Emery and a slew of improper benefits during his time in Provo.

And it has upheld that decision, too.

The Indianapolis-based organization denied the Cougars' appeal of sanctions that included vacating two years' worth of wins under former coach Dave Rose during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 season — all games in which Emery played — while the recently departed guard received improper benefits, according to an investigation.

The NCAA found that four BYU boosters provided more than $12,000 in complimentary trips, cash, meals, golf and a car rental to the former student-athlete.

While BYU argued that the NCAA's committee on infractions applied "an incorrect standard and misconstrued relevant case precedent" to the investigation, it did not overturn any of the disclosed penalties.

In addition to the program sanctions, which include fines, probation, recruiting restrictions and the loss of a scholarship, Emery was required to sit out nine games of his junior season — what turned out to be his final year at BYU — in 2018-19. He fulfilled that requirement a year ago, rejoining the team prior to a win over Utah State in December.

The decision is "unprecedented and unfair to BYU and other institutions committed to compliance," the university said in a statement.

"We are disappointed with the decision announced today by the NCAA infractions appeals committee, upholding the decision to impose a penalty vacating two seasons of BYU men's basketball records," the statement read. "This penalty is truly unprecedented for a case in which the institution had no knowledge of or involvement in the infractions.

"The NCAA wrongly suggests that case precedent supports this decision, but the undisputed fact is that this is the first time ever that the NCAA committee on infractions has vacated team records where the institution itself was not aware of and had no involvement in the violations."

Emery refuted the roles of Rose and the university in his receiving improper benefits with a Twitter post Wednesday evening.

"Coach Rose and BYU have nothing to do with any of this," he tweeted. "I didn’t make some right decisions, but a lot of these things were blown way out of proportion after my divorce by people who wanted to ruin me and my name."

The NCAA refuted each of BYU's claims in its appeal via a lengthy statement on the organization's media portal, including the university's long-held belief that vacating 47 wins from a school's record constitutes a severe penalty for a program that complied with the NCAA in its investigation and was found to not have received the dreaded "failure to monitor" penalty that larger programs have incurred in recent years.

"The committee on infractions responded that university involvement in or knowledge of a violation is not required for the vacation of records penalty," the statement read, in part.

The NCAA's committee on infraction is comprised entirely by the organization's membership, led by James Madison president Jonathan Alger; American Athletic Conference associate commissioner Ellen M. Ferris; NCAA chair and attorney W. Anthony Jenkins; Princeton senior women administrator Allison Rich; and Georgia law professor and faculty athletics representative David Shipley.

Rose retired following the 2018-19 season, and Emery joined him in retirement from basketball shortly thereafter. Former Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope, a former BYU assistant, will enter his first season in charge of the Cougars in 2019-20.

"It doesn’t surprise me. I just feel bad for the university," Rose told the Deseret News on Wednesday. "I think the university explained it pretty well in their response. I feel bad that the university had to deal with something like that.

"We’ve got 700 athletes at BYU and every one of them are under pretty strict rules of what they need to do to keep themselves eligible. Hopefully ... the athletic program can move on and the athletes can learn from this."

The ruling drops Rose's overall coaching record at BYU to 301-135 all-time, though it does not require the Cougars to vacate losses that came during the two seasons. BYU was 48-23 in the two sanctioned seasons, with double-digit losses in both years.

"Despite undisputed findings that BYU and former head coach Dave Rose properly monitored and controlled the program and promoted an atmosphere of compliance, the NCAA still determined to punish the university, coach Rose and the entire men’s basketball team, who did not participate in or know about the violations of one student-athlete," BYU's statement adds.

"BYU is concerned about the harmful precedent that this case sets and the message it sends to NCAA membership, who may now be punished with a vacation of records, regardless of whether the institution knew about or participated in the violations. BYU strongly disagrees with the NCAA imposing this penalty in a case that included clear findings that there was no lack of institutional control, no failure to monitor and no head coach responsibility for the violations."

BYU basketball declined further comment other than the university's statement.

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