Memphis men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway was handed a three-game suspension by the NCAA on Wednesday for recruiting violations that occurred in 2021.

The issues stem from a pair of at-home visits to a person the NCAA described as a “highly rated men’s basketball prospect” in the high school class of 2023, first by an assistant coach and then by Hardaway himself, the NCAA said. 

The first visit came in September 2021 when the unnamed assistant coach stopped by the prospect’s home, which violates NCAA rules that state any in-person contact with high school juniors must be at the prospect’s school.

Two weeks later, Hardaway also made an in-person visit to the recruit. 

Hardaway was penalized due to his involvement in the violations and for his lack of oversight over his assistant, as well as his failure to notify the school’s compliance department before the visits, the NCAA said in a statement. 

“Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse,” the panel said in its decision. “The head coach’s inattentiveness to compliance — particularly at a time when his program was under scrutiny related to a different infractions case — resulted in careless violations.

“Head coaches must remain diligent in monitoring their staff and promoting compliance at all times and cannot delegate those responsibilities to compliance staff members and administrators.”

The 14-year NBA guard had told the NCAA that he was unaware of the rule.

College sports’ governing body labeled the infraction as “Level II-mitigated for the head coach.”

Hardaway’s lawyer, Don Jackson, told the Commercial Appeal that his client intends to appeal the NCAA’s decision. 

“Plain and simple this is an error — a reach,” Jackson told the outlet. “This is really troubling. When I’m involved in any case, I’m always looking three, four, five cases down the road.

“Other head coaches around the country should be concerned about this.”

Jackson added that it would be mid to late fall “at the earliest” that an infractions appeals committee would decide whether to uphold or overturn the suspension. 

The announcement of Hardaway’s suspension came months after the conclusion of an 18-month investigation by the NCAA over other alleged violations that involved James Wiseman and other recruits. 

It ended with three years of probation for the men’s basketball program and a $5,000 fine for the school, with Hardaway deciding to have his part of the case handled separately, which led to Wednesday’s decision.

“As was announced by the NCAA in December, the University of Memphis reached an agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on institutional penalties relating to a violation that occurred in our men’s basketball program during the 2021-22 academic year,” the school said in an announcement.

“As was also indicated in December, one individual, now identified as Coach Hardaway, exercised his right to work directly with the NCAA on his portion of the case, which was finalized today.”

Jackson said in a statement that the punishment stemmed from the decision last year. 

“This case was pursued for one reason (and one reason only): because of the Enforcement Staff’s dissatisfaction with the outcome of the (Independent Resolutions Panel) decision of last fall,” Jackson wrote in a statement to the Commercial Appeal.