Former Northern Colorado men's basketball coach B.J. Hill received a six-year show-cause order Friday following an NCAA investigation into academic fraud and recruiting violations.
The NCAA concluded that nine members of Hill's staff were involved in completing coursework for players, paying for prospects' classes and arranging off-campus practices with an academically ineligible student-athlete.
"The head coach took shortcuts to success, putting his own self-interest and ambitions ahead of student-athlete welfare," the NCAA's Committee on Infractions panel said in a statement. "He recruited talented but academically ineligible prospects and then violated foundational NCAA ethical conduct legislation to secure their eligibility."
According to the NCAA, Hill personally completed course work for a prospect and enlisted an athletic trainer to do the same.
The NCAA accepted the team's self-imposed penalties of a postseason ban for the 2016-17 season, recruiting restrictions and a reduction of three scholarships for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. Other penalties from the NCAA include three years of probation and a vacation of records.
Hill led Northern Colorado to the Big Sky title and an NCAA tournament appearance in his first season at the helm in 2010-11. Northern Colorado has been ordered to repay the money it received for appearing in the NCAA tournament.
Hill's show-cause order runs until Dec. 14, 2023. Five former assistant coaches and a graduate assistant also received show-cause orders ranging from three to five years.
The school fired Hill and his entire staff in 2016 upon learning of the violations, which occurred between 2010 and 2014.