By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY

Once a year for the last decade, several Division I men's basketball coaches have mingled with NBA and Hollywood stars at the Harold Pump Foundation celebrity golf tournament and dinner.

On Aug. 12 in Los Angeles, the foundation will honor baseball great Hank Aaron, boxing legend Muhammad Ali and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington. A dinner ticket costs $500 and a round of golf $500, according to a brochure on the foundation's website, which says proceeds go to cancer treatment.

But in the last week, the National Association of Basketball Coaches issued an advisory to its members telling them this could be the last year they attend.

The charitable endeavor is tainted in the eyes of the NCAA because of the foundation's ties to youth basketball. The foundation is operated by David and Dana Pump, two influential figures in youth and college basketball.

The brothers operate youth basketball camps and Double Pump elite travel teams in California. Famous alumni include NBA players Paul Pierce and Gilbert Arenas.

When it comes to charitable foundations and youth basketball, a donation by a coach could be viewed as a way to gain access to a prospect, and last fall the NCAA ruled coaches could not donate to nonprofits that are linked to prospects.

The NCAA said then it was addressing growing concerns over the funneling of money in recruiting to third parties, such as youth coaches and their foundations that were increasingly sprouting in basketball.

"There does seem to be a conflict, according to the NCAA," between the Pumps' event and the recruitment of their youth players, said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, president of the NABC.

According to NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn and the NABC's advisory, this year the NCAA rule will be waived for the Pumps because commitments were made before the rule was in place. The Pumps agreed to let NCAA administrators and coaches attend without the obligation of a donation.

Izzo said he occasionally attends the event but does not feel obligated to be there.

Then, too, he doesn't recruit the West Coast.

If it's within the NCAA rules for coaches to go, "then it's important for (coaches who recruit the West Coast) to be there," he said.

David Pump said coaches who attend do so because they knew his late father, Harold, for whom the foundation is named, or because their lives have been affected by cancer.

"It's not like we need coaches to support this event," he said.

He compared the Pump Foundation with other charitable endeavors in college basketball, such as the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Pump pointed to the support the V Foundation receives from ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, who every spring hosts a gala attended by many coaches.

But in that instance, there are no recruits tied to the charity. The Pumps started their business operations in 1989 and "have forged a strong network of relationships in the intercollegiate, high school, and grassroots basketball communities," according to their website. Those kinds of relationships worry the NCAA.

The Pumps want the NCAA to issue waivers in coming years so coaches can continue attending their event. Osburn said the NCAA doesn't have enough information to make a decision.

"We would love to sit with them and talk to them," David Pump said. "But, at the end of the day, it's not that big of a deal."

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