LITTLE ROCK
The University of Arkansas has appeared before the NCAA infractions committee to answer allegations levied against its storied track and field program after a former assistant coach was convicted last year of embezzlement, the university said Tuesday.
Scott Varady, associate general counsel to the school, said the half-a-day hearing Saturday in Indianapolis focused on former assistant Lance Brauman, who resigned last year after his convictions.
Varady declined to discuss specifics of what transpired at the hearing, citing NCAA rules, but said the university remained confident the NCAA would view the school’s self-imposed penalties as sufficient.
“We believe this case is limited in scope,” Varady said. “It involved one assistant coach and one student athlete over a very short period of time. I think that’s important to note.”
Brauman was convicted in a federal case that stemmed from his tenure at Barton County Community College in Kansas. The case was part of a scandal that spawned charges against seven Barton County coaches and the athletic director, and led to the firing of the school’s president. Brauman was coaching at Arkansas when he was convicted. He resigned afterward.
Brauman received a year in prison for fraudulently using the federal work-study program to get around a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference ban on giving athletes full-ride scholarships. He also sent false academic credentials to the University of Arkansas on an athlete’s behalf.
