Larry Brown Busted Cheating for 3rd Time by the NCAA, SMU Hit with Penalties [UPDATE]

Larry Brown has been slapped with a major suspension and his SMU Mustangs were hit with a 2016 postseason ban for NCAA violations, ESPN is reporting.

This should not come as a surprise to anybody. Larry “Next Town” Brown has held three college basketball coaching gigs, and been busted by the NCAA three times.

After a successful run at Kansas in the 1980s – including a title with Danny Manning – the Jayhawks were hit with rules violations, the most embarrassing being banned from the 1989 NCAA Tournament just one year after winning the championship.

Brown also coached at UCLA in the late 70s/early 80s, where he led the Bruins to an NCAA title game. But that appearance was vacated after two of his players were found to have been ineligible.

UPDATE: There was babysitting and a relationship involved. From the NCAA report (via @MattNorlander):

"Sometime after the student-athlete’s enrollment in the course, the former administrative assistant in the men’s basketball office took an interest in his life and academic work. The head men’s basketball coach hired her upon the recommendation of a fellow collegiate head men’s basketball coach whom he respected. During the summer of 2013, the student-athlete regularly went to the institution’s basketball facilities where he worked out and played pick-up basketball games in the gym. Sometime during that summer, the student-athlete and the former administrative assistant struck up a relationship. They initially met during the student-athlete’s official visit to the institution when he was a prospect. When the student-athlete came to the basketball facilities to work out or play pick-up games, the former administrative assistant would babysit the student-athlete’s toddler son in the basketball offices. At some point during that summer, the former administrative assistant decided to directly involve herself in the studentathlete’s academic coursework. The former administrative assistant obtained the student-athlete’s username and password to his online summer course. She also obtained access to his personal email account. Sometime between June and July 2013, the former administrative assistant completed all of the student-athlete’s assignments and exams for the online course. It is not known if she was somehow instructed to complete the coursework or determined to do this on her own. What is known is that the student-athlete did not complete his coursework for his class. On July 1, 2014, the student-athlete sat for his first interview with the enforcement staff and answered questions about his online coursework."