NCAA Scandal

[wantonebad]

Hard to see how these programs aren't going to be severely punished and a few death-sentences passed out to those programs who systemically broke the law. This will change college sports, and alter rankings for sure! Not to mention the many people who are about to lose their jobs and reputations. I have a close friend on Rick Patino's staff, things are not looking good for him or many other people who count on the leaders of these programs to run clean programs.

CBS NEWS Reports

NEW YORK -- Four NCAA Division 1 assistant and associate coaches, and an Adidas executive, are among 10 suspects indicted Tuesday on federal corruption and fraud charges.

The coaches, Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, Chuck Person of Auburn University, Emanuel Richardson of the University of Arizona and Tony Bland the University of Southern California, are accused of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to steer players toward particular financial advisers, and in Person's case, also a suit retailer.

"By allegedly accepting bribes, the four coaches not only breached their obligations to their schools, violated NCAA rules and betrayed the trust of their players," Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said at a Tuesday press conference. "They also committed serious federal crimes, as did the managers and advisers who paid them."

lamon-evans.jpg
Lamont Evans, associate head coach at Oklahoma State University, one of 10 defendants charged on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 in a federal corruption case revolving around NCAA basketball recruiting. OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
Evans, Richardson and Bland are accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to advise players to use the services of Munish Sood, chief executive of financial advisory company Princeton Capital, and Christian Dawkins, a business manager, for services after the players turned pro.

"We were shocked to learn this morning through news reports about the FBI investigation and arrests related to NCAA basketball programs, including the arrest of USC assistant coach Tony Bland," the University of Southern California said in a statement released to media Tuesday."USC Athletics maintains the highest standards in athletic compliance across all of our programs and does not tolerate misconduct in any way. We will cooperate fully with the investigation and will assist authorities as needed, and if these allegations are true, will take the needed actions."

The deals were allegedly brokered by Jonathan Brand Augustine, who runs an Adidas-sponsored AAU basketball team, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

"For these men, bribing coaches was a business investment," Kim said. "They knew the corrupt coaches, in return for bribes, would pressure players to use their own services.…they also knew that if and when those players turned pro, that would mean big bucks for them."

In a statement, NCAA president Mark Emmert said the charges are "deeply disturbing" and he vowed to support the investigation.

"We have no tolerance whatsoever for this alleged behavior," Emmert said. "Coaches hold a unique position of trust with student-athletes and their families and these bribery allegations, if true, suggest an extraordinary and despicable broach of that trust."

Jim Gatto, the head of global sports marketing at Adidas, and Merl Code, another Adidas employee, are accused of paying high school students money to play basketball at particular schools sponsored by Adidas — identified in charging documents only as a "global athletic apparel company" — and later to obtain the services of Sood and Dawkins. Prosecutors say high school players were paid as much $100,000 as part of this scheme.

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"Today, we became aware that federal investigators arrested an Adidas employee. We are learning more about the situation. We're unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more," the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The complaint against Gatto does not identify the specific schools to which players were allegedly steered, but it does cite a public university in Kentucky with 22,640 students, the exact number of students enrolled in the University of Louisville, according to the school's website, and a school in Florida with 16,000 students, approximately matching the University of Miami, according to the Miami Herald.

A separate complaint filed against Person lays out an apparent bribery scheme to steer basketball players at Auburn University to a particular financial adviser and to an Atlanta-based suit company called Thompson Bespoke Clothiers, operated by suspect and former NBA referee Rashan Michel. Person is alleged to have taken multiple bribes of as much as $50,000 to advise particular players and their families to secretly obtain the services of a financial adviser who was operating as a cooperating witness for federal investigators.

In addition, Person, Auburn's all-time leading scorer and the NBA's 1987 Rookie of the Year, is accused of taking bribes from Michel in exchange for pushing potential NBA players in his program to wear Thompson Bespoke Clothiers suits.

Person was allegedly recorded telling a player he would provide the player with monthly payments, but not to tell anyone. He then allegedly said, "Rashan (Michel) can get you suits and stuff....you'll start looking like an NBA ballplayer."

Michel was allegedly recorded by federal agents telling the cooperating witness he had access to "all the college coaches right now, because, guess what, I'm the one that's with them...I make all their suits."

Michel allegedly added that he had "access to the locker room" and "access to the kids and everything."

The company's Instagram account includes photos of multiple Auburn personnel, including Person, wearing suits from the company.

[AzPaul]

We were all expecting a really fun season in Tucson this year.

Now, not so much

Hard to imagine any of the programs involved in the 'money to players' part of this, surviving without serious sanctions and a devastating hit to their reputation.

[bdex75]

Forget the sanctions. These people are going to jail. For a long time.

I bet Pitino is out of a job by the end of the day. Being from indy I hate seeing Chuck Person involved.

Just wait until this spreads to college football. It will be a real bloodbath then.


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[uscmatt99]

Yep this is just the tip of the iceberg as more and more people will flip. If I recall, the genesis of this mess stemmed from a financial crime investigation, and the unnamed guy gave up the details that led to the current debacle.

[droptopman]

Wait until they get to football...we have not had a big football scandal for a few years now.

[uscmatt99]

Originally Posted by droptopman

Wait until they get to football...we have not had a big football scandal for a few years now.

Of course USC is just recovering from the football sanctions and we're already in this basketball mess.

Looking forward to a great Friday night game, by the way, in case you're a Cougars fan.

[droptopman]

Originally Posted by uscmatt99

Of course USC is just recovering from the football sanctions and we're already in this basketball mess.

Looking forward to a great Friday night game, by the way, in case you're a Cougars fan.

Should be fun game to watch. Cougars will throw the ball around. I am a Husky though and bleed purple and gold...Go Dawgs!

[uscmatt99]

Originally Posted by droptopman

Should be fun game to watch. Cougars will throw the ball around. I am a Husky though and bleed purple and gold...Go Dawgs!

Looking forward to the Pac-12 championship game then

[droptopman]

Originally Posted by uscmatt99

Looking forward to the Pac-12 championship game then

LOL, Indeed

[crew]

Originally Posted by bdex75

Forget the sanctions. These people are going to jail. For a long time.

I bet Pitino is out of a job by the end of the day. Being from indy I hate seeing Chuck Person involved.

Just wait until this spreads to college football. It will be a real bloodbath then.


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Good call. I just heard he was fired a short while ago.
Sad situation.

[dddrees]

Too much money involved and there's bound to be bad and sometimes illegal doings of some kind.

Long ago got tired of hearing this kind of stuff when it comes to sports. With all of the other stuff to include baseball and PEDs I think Penn State was kind of the jumping off point for me. You get a supposed well respected College Coach covering for a talented defensive coach who just happens to be a pedifile and I kind of determined that sports were no longer of interest to me.

[singe89]

Too much $$$ in big program college sports and no money being paid to players for stuff like this not to happen. Real Sports had a great segment on this. How poor HS players could get dozens a of pairs of shoes from sponsors but if they sold a pair to help pay the family bills they would violate NCAA rules.

With as much money is being made on these players backs I think they should get paid something but have that money tied to getting a real degree. Might hold some of them in school longer vs. turning pro, get them a degree for when sports are over and even make the programs stronger. Also make financial literacy classes mandatory so they dont go broke 2 years after the pros end.

[bdex75]

Originally Posted by crew

Good call. I just heard he was fired a short while ago.
Sad situation.

ESPN is now reporting he is on "unpaid leave". And his attorney stated he is "essentially fired". It is sad.

He won't be unemployed long if true.

Heard on a nationally syndicated radio show what the assistants are accused of could carry an 80 year prison sentence????? Crazy if that is accurate. You can do an armed robbery at a bank and not get that much time.


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[Runnin' Rebel]

It's about time.
As with UofL prostitution scandle a few years ago, possibly vacating the National Title Championship and paying players, you could see this from a mile away coming head on. The whole college sports departments need to be revamped as it's crooked to the bone.


This isn't a NCAA witch hunt investigation either with no due process. The FBI doesn't do a news conference without having a great deal of evidence without solid proof, statements and possibly audio/video.

And you better believe there're going to be a bunch of flipping going on to have less criminal charges. This could go a lot deeper... and might effect other sports perhaps. FBI doesn't make money from TV games like the NCAA does so hopefully they clean house.

[Maybelline]

I’m pretty much done with sports. I have better things to do with my time.

[RW16610]

Some crazy stuff happening (likely for a very long time). I read about this on TMZ earlier even though I'm not a sports fan.

[GB-man]

Honestly don't see how this is shocking in the least.

Not paying college athletes is ludicrous.

We have to figure out a way to fairly compensate those who are fueling the multi billion dollar industry that is college sports.

Anything else is not only unfair, but bound to result in this sort of behavior.

[Ferdelious]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Honestly don't see how this is shocking in the least.

Not paying college athletes is ludicrous.

We have to figure out a way to fairly compensate those who are fueling the multi billion dollar industry that is college sports.

Anything else is not only unfair, but bound to result in this sort of behavior.

Either that or let them go straight to professional sports if they chose.

[Star Ferry]

Tax-exempt educational institutions shouldn't be allowed to pay coaches and administrators 7 figure salaries.

Not sure why anyone would be surprised by this story. Higher education in the US is generally corrupt

Edit: point being, dollars from basketball and inflated tuition are going to the same place: administrative bloat (including countless desk jobs at the NCAA)

If the players were fairly compensated, then it wouldn't be possible for Adidas to sway a top recruit with a $100K bribe. I still don't get why they can't be paid...

[Pix]

Off topic, but wait until the Anti trust exempt status gets voted down for the NFL.

[Brenngun]

Whenever there is another NCAA scandal it always brings this to my mind.

https://youtu.be/SjbPi00k_ME

[Etschell]

everyone is involved. and i mean everyone. i have a hard inside line on this. not 1 of the top 100 programs isnt involved.

[Sunny Arizona]

Agree Paul, Grand Canyon Will be Arizona's Best Team soon

Originally Posted by AzPaul

We were all expecting a really fun season in Tucson this year.

Now, not so much

Hard to imagine any of the programs involved in the 'money to players' part of this, surviving without serious sanctions and a devastating hit to their reputation.

[Sunny Arizona]

It's because of fairness.
A full scholarship runs 20K even at an in-state school. They get incidental money and travel money too. I think that's more than compensation. However most importantly revenue from football and basketball often fuels non revenue sports. Such as tennis, cross country, wrestling, baseball.
Even with high dollar revenue many programs post large losses.

Originally Posted by GB-man

Honestly don't see how this is shocking in the least.

Not paying college athletes is ludicrous.

We have to figure out a way to fairly compensate those who are fueling the multi billion dollar industry that is college sports.

Anything else is not only unfair, but bound to result in this sort of behavior.

[Goin2drt]

My perception is they are all corrupt. Some more than others. Wait until the FBI gets started on football. Money is just so huge and that much money causes people to do stupid things.

Also money is so big in college sports that the punishments while greater than ever before won't be enough to shut things down because they would all get shut down and our society couldn't live without college athletics. Plenty of really hard hand slapping to come.

[THC]

NCAA went from policing a simple game 30 years ago, to a billion plus a year empire..this is not shocking

[Art 1]

Wait until someday when they get to football. That will make this look like child's play.

[GB-man]

Originally Posted by Sunny Arizona

It's because of fairness.
A full scholarship runs 20K even at an in-state school. They get incidental money and travel money too. I think that's more than compensation. However most importantly revenue from football and basketball often fuels non revenue sports. Such as tennis, cross country, wrestling, baseball.
Even with high dollar revenue many programs post large losses.

We will just have to agree to disagree. If I could make that kind of money and pay the employees 20-50k per year...I would be on the Forbes 400. Particularly with football.

[Etschell]

Originally Posted by GB-man

We will just have to agree to disagree. If I could make that kind of money and pay the employees 20-50k per year...I would be on the Forbes 400. Particularly with football.

players get used. its that simple.

[GB-man]

Originally Posted by Etschell

players get used. its that simple.

No kidding. I think a lot of people assume these guys are going to play in the pros and make millions so who cares if they get a free education and coaching for their work.

Few make the pros and get that big contract. Many are injured before they get the chance. All sacrifice their bodies.

Nobody scoffs at the 5+M per year some NCAA coaches get, yet in the pros, coaches are paid far less than the real talent because they are less valuable.