On Friday, the NCAA announced a two-game ban for Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. The Auburn basketball program will also face four years on probation and a loss of two scholarships over that span.
Coach Pearl issued this statement after the news.
“I’m appreciative of Auburn University, our leadership, the AU family and our current and former student-athletes as we navigated through the challenges of the last four years. We respect the NCAA peer evaluation process and appreciate the panel recognized we took meaningful and contemporaneous penalties. It is time to put this behind us. As part of our penalty, I will begin my two-game suspension tomorrow against Nebraska.”
Auburn University provided the following statement.
“We are pleased that a conclusion has been reached in this case. For the last four years, Auburn has been proactive and cooperative with the NCAA enforcement staff and Committee on Infractions. We have been and will continue to be committed to NCAA rules compliance. As such, we accept all penalties and are ready to move forward.”
The university does not seem like it will pursue any type of appeal of the NCAA’s decision.