NCAA Basketball Scandal

Cougar Basketball
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Interesting article and one of the things I’ve seen a lot as the government will have a hard time proving that federal laws were violated.

The government says the universities were the victims of the alleged schemes. Because the universities were unaware of the alleged bribes, they gave financial aid to student athletes who were actually in violation of NCAA rules and therefore ineligible for scholarships. This, in turn, defrauded the universities because it hurt their “decision-making about the distribution of its limited athletic scholarships,” the criminal complaint said.

But the government may have a hard time showing how schools like Auburn University or University of Louisville suffered losses as a result of the scheme, some lawyers said.

“If Louisville’s a victim, what did they lose out on?” asked Bradley Henry, a criminal defense attorney in New York.

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I don’t believe Jarrett Allen got paid to go to UT. His mother, on the other hand…

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I think it probably exists in other sports, but I would be surprised if it isn’t more widespread in hoops than anywhere else. This is driven by the shoe companies, and other sports don’t drive shoe sales the way basketball does. Also, football, with 85 scholarships and 40+ recruits/year, would be vastly more expensive. Baseball has the minor league system, which probably limits corruption there. My guess is the dollar amounts are much lower if they exist outside of basketball…

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Great post Pray.

I am curious how the case that schools are the victims. It seems they are the criminals.

My guess is that the coaching world is hoping they can sacrifice a few assistants and get back to business as usual.

We have all heard the stories. None of us like it, I don’t. However, the mood on sports talk yesterday was that it is not a surprise and some of the worst kept secrets. There was even a hint of resentment at the FBI with comments of aren’t there better ways to use money and resources of investigative powers. It was almost as if the FBI is messing with how things are done and just leave it alone and go away. There was a tone of preferring to have the illusion of a toothless NCAA handle things.

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Seems like they should re-release the Nick Nolte movie Blue Chips in the theaters this week.

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Just thinking, if Puma wanted to get into the basketball business, this might be an opportunity. There might be some schools who would want somme company that wasn’t tainted by this scandal.

I think they are the only ones not doing basketball that isn’t also owned by one of the other companies. (Reebok is owned by Adidas and Converse by Nike)

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This is a long read but very detailed in how this all started:

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Is Under Armour owned by anyone else? They’ve got some schools too.

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No but I’m assuming that they had to play the game just to get in the door. I could be wrong. If they are clean, they could clean up.

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There’s also Umbro and Starter, among a lot of others. No clue if any of them would have any interest in getting into the college basketball uniform game, though.

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Umbro I think is owned by Nike. Not sure who owns Starter these days might be Walmart.

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Umbro and Starter actually have the same parent company – something called a “Iconix Brand Group,” whoever that is. Apparently they own all the terrible, terrible clothing stores in the mall that nobody’s shopped at in 10 years like Ed Hardy and Zoo York.

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https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/913506658244022272

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This is from a UNC POV and there’s a funny line about how UNC is a charter member with a “long history of integrity.” Still, I do wonder if the ACC will do something and I wonder how the ACC network will affect that decision making.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/teel-blog/dp-spt-louisville-scandal-acc-20170928-story.html

First, understand that this is not solely about the FBI’s seismic crackdown Tuesday on college basketball recruiting, a probe that implicates Louisville, ACC colleague Miami, Oklahoma State, Southern California, Arizona and Auburn among others.

This is about a mountain of corruption at Louisville that extends from the president’s office, to the university foundation to the athletic department. Since the Cardinals’ kumbaya moment with the ACC on Nov. 29, 2012:

- Jurich hired Bobby Petrino for a second tour as Louisville’s football coach. No matter that Petrino was disgraced by an extramarital affair — with a subordinate he hired! — that ended his tenure at Arkansas. No matter that Pitino’s 2003 adultery had embarrassed Louisville and included attempted extortion by the woman.

- When Petrino’s co-offensive coordinator Lonnie Galloway was ensnared in last season’s Wakeyleaks mess — a Wake Forest radio analyst provided Deacons game-plan information to Galloway prior to the teams’ game — Louisville did not discipline Galloway until coerced by Swofford.

- University president James Ramsey was forced to resign in 2016 after 14 years of turmoil, and Kentucky’s governor fired Louisville’s entire Board of Trustees. Ramsey’s tenure was, the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote, marked “by a string of scandals, allegations of financial mismanagement, embezzlement and various controversies.” Ramsey also enabled Jurich and the athletic department.

- Citing a “culture of secrecy and lack of transparency,” new trustees threatened to sue the university’s foundation for access to financial records.

- In June, an audit said the foundation squandered money on ill-advised real estate investments and startups, plus tickets to football games, and then attempted to conceal the transactions. The foundation was further entwined with Jurich and the athletic department.

- Also in June, the NCAA sanctioned Pitino and his program for providing hookers and strippers to 15 prospects and three enrolled athletes. A notorious micromanager, Pitino insisted he had no knowledge of the transgressions committed by a former staff member.

- Pitino is using the same defense in this latest scandal, saying he has no knowledge of his program, in concert with shoe manufacturer Adidas, paying a recruit about $100,000 to sign with the Cardinals. Louisville extended its apparel contract with Adidas this summer for 10 years and $160 million.

When interim president Gregory Postel summoned Pitino and Jurich on Wednesday, common decency dictated that both men resign voluntarily. But that is not their way, and their inevitable exits — Louisville placed them on administrative leave — will be messy, public and steered by a phalanx of lawyers.

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Adidas executives Merl Code and Jim Gatto were widely known in the basketball industry as benevolent dealmakers, behind-the-scenes shakers and confidants of the sport’s boldfaced names. Until this week, they were largely anonymous outside the tight-knit basketball scene. That changed when Code and Gatto became two of the 10 basketball industry figures arrested in a federal probe that’s shaken the sport to its core. Legal experts predict they’ll be of particular interest of federal investigators trying to unwind the complicated financial web around college basketball that’s led to charges that include bribery and conspiracy.

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How has Baylor skated by without being mentioned so far ?

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Baylor is an Under Armour school which, so far, hasn’t been targeted. Looks like it’s just Addidas and probably Nike.

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Baylor is Under Armour now, they were Nike. Just because they haven’t been mentioned so far, doesn’t mean they haven’t already shown up on the radar.

Just remember, this is not an NCAA investigation. This is an FBI investigation. You HAVE to answer their questions. You HAVE to answer them truthfully. If you don’t, you can go to jail.

This is going to take time. The NCAA doesn’t have to do anything, they can sit back and watch. The FBI can do all their work for them. The families involved will also be talking. The IRS will get people talking because if you don’t claim the payouts on your tax return, it’s tax evasion. Remember, Al Capone when to jail for that. Wesley Snipes went to jail for that.

Once the FBI and the justice system takes its crack at the schools, then the NCAA can.

This is the WORST possible nightmare for these schools.

Have patience.

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Did you just call Wesley Snipes a mob boss?

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Yep - $100k payments to players/middlemen in untaxed income will get the IRS interest.