Auburn University’s athletics department on Sunday announced that its men’s basketball program will forgo postseason competition for the upcoming 2020-2021 season.
According to a release, both the NCAA and the SEC have been notified of the self-imposed postseason ban.
The athletics department and university administration, in conjunction with head coach Bruce Pearl, reportedly came to the decision in light of the ongoing matter that first surfaced with the arrest of then-Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person in fall 2017.
Person, who was fired by Auburn shortly after being arrested, last year was sentenced to probation and community service hours after pleading guilty to one bribery conspiracy charge.
Person was charged with accepting approximately $91,500 in bribes from a financial adviser to steer NBA-bound players to him.
“Auburn has cooperated with the NCAA and will continue to do so,” the Auburn Athletics release said on Sunday. “We regret the impact this decision has on our student-athletes, yet it was made in the best long-term interest of the program. Because of the ongoing matter, we will not comment further but hope for swift consideration and resolution of the matter.”
Auburn is not ranked in preseason rankings ahead of the quickly approaching season; Pearl’s squad in 2019-2020 finished 25-6 after the coronavirus pandemic halted the season amid the SEC tournament and before the annual NCAA Tournament. The season before that, Auburn reached its first-ever Final Four.
“This was a difficult decision but the right decision,” Pearl said in a Sunday statement. “I hate it for our current players. They lost the opportunity for the postseason last year because of COVID, and now they will miss the postseason again. It’s a two-year postseason penalty for them. However, we need to take this penalty now to put it behind us.”
Auburn will open its season against Saint Joseph’s at the Fort Myers Tip-Off event on Thanksgiving.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
