Frank Haith Expected to Receive NCAA Notice of Allegation for Unethical Conduct

Missouri head coach is not having a good week. The Tigers have some talent but are not playing well, particularly without forward Lawrence Bowers, and just got drilled at Florida on Saturday. Now, Jeff Goodman is reporting that the NCAA is expected to release a notice of allegations to Haith alleging unethical conduct and failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Almost eighteen months ago, Haith’s name came up in Yahoo’s story about the University of Miami and Nevin Shapiro. Among those were allegations that Haith had paid 10k to recruit DeQuan Jones.

From Goodman’s report, the NCAA was unable to prove the allegations regarding the Jones payment, but:

"Haith will be charged with unethical conduct because the NCAA did not believe his story that payments to his assistants intended for camp money did not wind up going to repay Shapiro, who made the allegations to Yahoo Sports back in August of 2011. A source said that the money was delivered to Shapiro’s mother — who verified the payment to the NCAA."

Haith was a surprise hire by Missouri before these allegations first emerged. He produced a pretty good first year as the veteran team surged to a Big XII tournament title and a #2 seed before being stunned by Norfolk State. The team was still ranked (undeservedly) in the top 15 heading into the Florida debacle, and we’ll have to see just how far these allegations go, and whether Missouri will be looking for another coach soon.

[photo via USA Today Sports Images]