30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

8. Minnesota commits a ton of academic fraud

There is always a joke that college basketball players don’t really attend class, but the University of Minnesota took it to a whole new level in the 1990s. The Golden Gophers, led by head coach Clem Haskins, became a consistent Big Ten contender and even reached the Final Four in 1997, but it all came crashing down in 1999.

Prior to Minnesota’s first round matchup against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament, the St. Paul Pioneer Press published an explosive article containing serious allegations from Jan Gangelhoff, an office manager at the school’s academic counseling unit. Gangelhoff claimed that she had done coursework for at least 20 basketball players over the past several years.

The school started its own investigation, suspending four players who allegedly had coursework done for them, and Minnesota lost to Gonzaga in the first round. A follow-up article heavily implicated Haskins as being involved in academic fraud.

The NCAA launched its own investigation and discovered that Haskins enabled the academic fraud, providing benefits to staffers who completed coursework for student-athletes. To make matters worse, professors and academic staff who weren’t involved in the scheme were intimidated into altering grades to help keep players eligible.

Minnesota self-imposed a few penalties, including a one-year postseason ban and scholarship reductions, while Haskins, the athletic director, and university Vice President all departed. The NCAA took things further, putting the school on probation until 2004 and vacating all of Minnesota basketball’s records from 1993-1999.