FBI arrrests several NCAA asst Basketball Coaches
Press conference at Noon.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/press-conference-advisory-2
September 26th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
Like goddamn man, can we please keep politics out of just one thread?!?
September 26th, 2017 at 9:59 AM ^
http://www.businessinsider.com/college-basketball-bribery-scandal-arres…
Arizona, Auburn, San Diego State, and OK State are named. As is Adidas.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
San Diego State... Isn't that where Steve Fisher is? Hmmm...
Nope, now Brian Dutcher - I guess Fisher retired, who knew?. But wasn't Dutcher an assistant for Beilien for a while?
September 26th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
He was an assistant here under Fisher.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:28 AM ^
Dutcher was always with Fisher. He may have been under Frieder as well but he has been an assistant to Fisher at Michigan and San Diego State.
September 26th, 2017 at 12:08 PM ^
I'm pretty sure Dutcher was Fisher's first hire at Michigan, and then again at SDSU. He'd had a couple of GA and assistant jobs out of college but since '89 I think he's only had one year apart from Fisher--he stayed for that first Ellerbe season.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:03 AM ^
Two of these guys are going down for payments of $10,000 and $5,000. Just wow....I don't think this is right of them to be doing, but this can't possibly be at the higher end of what is going down in college athletics. Just feels like there is worse stuff going on than this.....
September 26th, 2017 at 10:31 AM ^
to their schools or Adidas doing it and paying coaches to look the other way? I vote for Adidas.
It will be interesting to see where this leads. With the FBI involved, witnesses and some of the targets are going to talk. That's what happened with the Ed Martin case.
None of the schools I've seen named are Adidas schools, but they signed new contracts recently. I assume Adidas was involved in the bidding. It's very curious.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
that Adidas doing it and the coaches being able to deny involvement is probably for the better, not that it's right. My whole complaint isn't that this is happening, it just seems that a lot of government resources or state resources are being spent on one dude taking a $10,000 dollar handshake and the other taking a $5,000 handshake. That's the best that anyone can do with regard to shady business being done in the NCAA? North Carolina and fake classes....no big deal. Ole Miss and everything wrong with their program (still under investigation), but at this time, most people have forgot about it. Michigan and extra stretching.....BIG DEAL
September 26th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^
a bigger case. The FBI isn't involved to get them. It's way too early to know, but it looks like Adidas was spending money under the table in an attempt to win 8 and 9 figure contracts at public institutions. Those coaches are going to end up as witnesses.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:21 AM ^
Correct. This isn't about 5 or 10k. This is about the companies and programs like Kentucky, North Carolina, etc. These will just be witnesses to flip for a bigger payoff.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
I don't think those contracts are their primary interest. What they want is the player. It's a futures investment in the possibility that a particular high school player will blow up, and do for them what Jordan did for Nike. It's why they're so heavily invested in the summer/AAU circuit.
And it's not going to just be Adidas; they just happen to be the first into the dock.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
Thing is it's pretty difficult to imagine that this goes on and coaches are just looking the other way. It's the same thing with the booster/bagman. Without at least some coordination with a coaching staff, how does anyone know who needs to be paid?
Everyone thinks they know who teams are targetting, and who teams really want, but there isn't enough money floating around to just go and spend willy nilly on anyone you think your team has interest in. There has to be some coordination to know who is going to commit no matter what and may need just a few thousand dollars for team unity, and who has a tough decision and needs a bigger enticement. Maybe there is enough information out there that this could be deduced in the basketball recruiting world without a conversation with a member of the coaching staff, but I have my doubts. On the football bagman side, I don't think there's a scenario where there isn't significant coordination involved.
September 26th, 2017 at 12:44 PM ^
I'm sure there is as well. These folks are the ones that have been caught though and they'll be used as examples to scare some people straight.
September 26th, 2017 at 2:34 PM ^
Point of clarification: $10,000 and $5,000 are not the actual amounts, they are the MINIMUM dollar values required to charge someone with the crime they are accused of. In the complaint it states that they received "benefits in excess of $10,000". We don't really know what the actual values are at this point, but it is possible (or likely) that they are much higher.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:06 AM ^
Hope that Coach B & Co. are making sure all of our stretching logs are up to date -- wouldn't want to ge caught up in the assured NCAA follow-up to this.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^
Daaaaaaayum. This could get interesting. When people starting pointing fingers and telling, it's going to get real.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
You know the Rifleman isn't going down without a fight!
September 26th, 2017 at 10:12 AM ^
This is crazy to read. $100,000 payment made to a top recruits family to get him to switch. "public University in Kentucky".
September 26th, 2017 at 10:15 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:18 AM ^
So probably Louisville and not UK.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
But that would mean that Rick Pitino runs a filthy program! That's unpossible!!
September 26th, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^
School is supposedly Louisville and the recruit is Brian Bowen
September 26th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^
Another school implicated appears to be Miami(YTM):
In another case, Gatto and other defendants allegedly agreed to make payments up to $150,000 from Adidas to convince the player to join another team sponsored by the apparel company, a private university in Florida, according to filings. The university is not named, but based on information provided is likely University of Miami, which entered into a 12-year partnership with Adidas in 2015.
September 26th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^
I am shocked!
September 26th, 2017 at 10:12 AM ^
Nice work - you scooped ESPN by at least half an hour.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:13 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:33 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
There's also no way it doesn't involve companies beyond Adidas, although they may very well be the worst of the lot.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:14 AM ^
No one talks quite like someone trying to save his own skin.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:18 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:18 AM ^
I love that word - "cahoots".
September 26th, 2017 at 10:22 AM ^
Izzo gonna start prepping for Minnesota today.. Brian Bowen was his to lose.. and for 100k?! Maaan listen
September 26th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
I bring it up every time Michigan loses out on a top recruit, but it seems anytime Beilein’s name comes up, it’s always in the sense of “he doesn’t get involved with that stuff”. There was a direct quote about him not getting kids out of Chicago because he didn’t want to deal with the AAU coaches and sneaker guys.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
In football Isaiah wil$on comes to mind.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^
yep.. $$$$$$
September 26th, 2017 at 10:34 AM ^
*insert Michael Jackson eating popcorn gif*
September 26th, 2017 at 10:36 AM ^
WOW!
Lousville swooped in last minute to swipe Brian Bowen, gave his family $100K. Addidas funnelled $100K paid in 4 installments to Bowen's family so he would go to an Addidas school.
This story is absolutely huge!
September 26th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^
Have to keep up with the Wildcats...
September 26th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
Allow me to preface this by saying that I have no first-hand or second-hand information on any Michigan player taking cash and I desperately hope none have, but I am not naive enough to believe that this is limited to basketball.
With that in mind, a hypothetical. You are a generational football talent who grew up in difficult financial circumstances. An athletic apparel company offers you 100k with to sign with a school with a great pedigree, poor athletic department leadership, and a desperation to get back to national prominence. That school has a current endorsement deal with Adidas and includes an agreement to sign with them once you enter the NFL.
I sincerely hope Adidas doesn't come back to bite us in the ass and Jabrill Peppers isn't part of this one bit. This could be me reading too much into this, but I always thought it was odd that Peppers would have signed with Michigan in the first place.
I'd like to reiterate that I don't have any concrete concern over this, but I would be weary. The precursors could be there and we have seen that Michigan is not immune from this behavior, especially pre-Harbaugh.
EDIT: Paramus Catholic was also an Adidas school when he was there. So is Cass Tech and Jourdan Lewis also has a deal with Adidas.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:43 AM ^
September 26th, 2017 at 10:44 AM ^
Currently and in 2013-14? I'm not worried about now, I'm worried about when JP signed.
September 26th, 2017 at 10:47 AM ^
DELETE