Following the sanctions levied by the NCAA this morning -- including a variation of the show cause penalty for coach Larry Brown and a 2016 postseason ban for the team -- SMU has responded.
In a press conference this afternoon, SMU president R. Gerald Turner and athletic director Rick Hart backed Larry Brown and said they want him to continue as head coach at the university.
"Coach Brown has my full support moving forward," Turner said. "Obviously, you can see from some of the things in the report there's adjustments we're going to have to make; there are adjustments we've made, and he's very much involved in those too. We intend for him to be our basketball coach in the future."
For his part, Brown in his later press conference noted that he also has no plans to resign any time soon.
"I got a lot of kids in that locker room that are counting on me," Brown said. "I got people that are working for me that need me to be around. I got a student body that's been unbelievably supportive and faculty as well. And you heard the president, so I have no reason to think about (resignation)."
Brown also went into a bit more detail regarding the accusation within the NCAA's report that he lied to the investigation.
"I didn't lie to the investigators," Brown said. "During the course of the investigation, I was being interviewed by the NCAA and they blindsided me with a question. I answered it. After thinking about it a little while, I asked to be excused. I left the room for 60 seconds, came back and fully cooperated with the NCAA."
"I'm not exactly sure (what the question was that they asked). I think it had to do with someone coming to tell me about what happened. The reason I was blindsided, when I found out what happened I told the parties involved to do the right thing. If I look back on it, in hindsight, I wish I would have done more."
Turner also noted that there are "a couple of things that we know we are going to consider, very seriously, appealing." One part that both he and Hart continually discussed was their disappointment with the 2016 postseason ban. While not outwardly confirming that there will be an appeal, the two alluded to the fact that the ban would be the most likely portion of the sanctions they would appeal.
"Most of our student athletes had no involvement whatsoever, so we're troubled by the lack of postseason opportunity," Turner said.
By the looks of it, the SMU saga doesn't seem to be over yet.
