TAMPA, Fla.- The University of South Florida men’s basketball program is under NCAA investigation for academic fraud issues, according to ESPN. USF then confirmed in a separate statement that one of its sports programs were under investigation by the NCAA.
Less than two hours after ESPN broke the news Wednesday USF announced in a two-paragraph statement that assistant coach, Oliver Antigua, had resigned, but did give explanation as to why.
Oliver Antigua, brother to head coach Orlando Antigua, came to USF after being hired by his brother in 2014. Oliver Antigua was previously an assistant for one season at Seton Hall and spent a decade before that as the head coach at St. Raymond High in the Bronx.
Orlando Antigua became the head coach of USF in 2014 after coaching under John Calipari for six previous seasons- one at Memphis and five at Kentucky.
Per ESPN, Oliver Antigua had not been allowed to go out on the road recruiting this month. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the investigation is believed to involve players on the current roster.
In the statement released by USF Wednesday afternoon, they school advised that they were working with the NCAA enforcement staff to investigate “potential violations of NCAA bylaws and university standard.”
“Because the University of South Florida is committed to protecting the integrity of the investigation and ensuring those involved receive fair treatment, we cannot provide any details about the investigation at this time,” the school’s statement said.
The investigation comes at a bad time for the Bulls as they continue their pursuit of joining the Big 12. The conference’s board voted on Tuesday to allow conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby to explore expansion candidates according to the Tampa Bay Times.
In this offseason USF has dismissed point guard Roddy Peters and power forward Chris Perry due to repeated violations of school policy.
