Bet on college basketball games
The NCAA has determined that Brody Curry, the former head women’s basketball coach at the University of the South (also know as Sewanee), violated both the NCAA’s sports betting and ethical conduct rules for wagering on sports between 2021 and 2023.
According to the NCAA’s Tuesday announcement, Curry placed more than $93,000 worth of bets on both professional and college sports across a 26-month period. $28,000 of that was on 407 college sports wagers and 20 of those bets were on women’s college basketball. None of those 20 bets, however, were on Sewanee games.
The NCAA did not name Curry in its press release, but CBS Sports filled in the details. Apparently, the Tennessee Sports Wagering Advisory Council notified the school of Curry’s betting exploits in March 2023. He was placed on administrative leave in late April and resigned that summer.
Sewanee announced his resignation at the time, but only said that he was stepping down to take the girls’ head coaching position at the Webb School, a private college prep boarding school for grades 6-12 in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. The school’s announcement lauded Curry and made no mention of any betting-related investigation.
De facto two-year ban
The NCAA’s Division III Committee on Infractions imposed two penalties on Curry: one-year probation and a two-year show-cause order with a five-game suspension if he is rehired somewhere.
Thus, Curry has not been banned from college coaching, but the show-cause order almost serves as a suspension without actually being one. With a show-cause penalty, any punishment imposed on a coach stays with that coach and can transfer to a school that decides to hire them. The school and coach must follow very strict administrative rules for the duration of the order.
Show-cause, in effect, prevents all but the most in-demand coaches from being rehired during the duration of the order because schools don’t want to risk punishment. To avoid penalties, school representatives must go in front of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions and “show cause” as to why the institution should not be penalized for the hire.
Thus, if a school doesn’t want to risk penalties just for the simple act of hiring a coach on a show-cause order, they will avoid that coach. Hence, a de facto suspension. In Brody Curry’s case, he is clearly not a big enough name to warrant the risk for the two-year period.
The University of the South also self-imposed a $1,500 fine and will voluntarily send a member of its athletic department to the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars.
