In response to the violation of NCAA rules, Marquette has dismissed assistant coach Scott Monarch and suspended head coach Buzz Williams for one Big East game, as first reported by Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com.
The violations came in the recruiting of a prospective student-athlete, who Monarch was found to have provided with team-issued apparel and transportation.
What made the situation worse for Monarch, and ultimately led to his being fired, was the fact that he was found to have been dishonest when questioned on multiple occasions before finally coming clean.
Monarch was a part of the Marquette program for the last four years, beginning as the director of basketball operations in 2008-09 and being promoted the following season.
Williams was suspended for Marquette’s Big East opener “in recognition of his duty to monitor the compliance of his staff”.
“When I was allowed to review the report earlier this week, I was deeply saddened to learn of an error in judgment of one of my assistants and closest friends,” said Coach Williams in a statement released by the school.
“I take personal responsibility for what happens in this program and realize we must be role models to both our team and the entire University. Our commitment has always been and will always be to operate this program at the highest level of integrity in the Marquette and Jesuit tradition.”
Marquette retained the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck and King to help with the investigation and communicate with the NCAA.
In addition to the punishments dealt to Monarch and Williams the number of official visits the program can have in the next calendar year have been cut.
It’s been an eventful off-season in Milwaukee in regards to Williams’ staff, with Tony Benford becoming the head coach at North Texas and Aki Collins joining Josh Pastner’s staff at Memphis.
Brad Autry and Isaac Chew joined Williams’ staff as assistants with the experienced Jerry Wainright coming on as director of basketball operations.
Photo credit: Marquette University
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.