To steal Pumpkinhead's comparison, I'd consider Louisville to be the Enron of the situation. If they were dumb enough to get caught with the stripper thing, it's no surprise they're getting caught here. The only other investigation close to that in recent years was the UNC academic scandal, but that pales in comparison to any of this.

I think duke, unc, Kentucky, and KU might be insulated from this a bit. When you can sell kids on being a lottery pick, you probably don't need to pony up much cash. And those one and done kids at those schools have had runners, agents, and shoe deals since 8th grade--so the coaches at those schools don't have the opportunity (or incentive) to take bribes.






Maybe.

Pumpkinhead said:

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JJxvi said:

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Louisville is a blue blood. Unless you think there are like only 3 blue bloods.

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And Arizona? When we've used the term 'blue blood basketball school', I've usually considered them in that mix.

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I think Louisville has a much better argument, but yeah I might consider Arizona one too. Argument against them is the lack of multiple national titles.

So far 2 sec schools, that suck in mbb, 2 PAC schools that are some of the better teams in their conference, and 2 acc schools. There's gotta be more, especially from b12...

Merl Code, who was one of the guys from Adidas who was indicted, played at Clemson for Rick Barnes. I will assume, without any proof whatsoever, that somehow explains how he signed Kevin Durant and Myles Turner.

Just kidding. Don't want to get sued here.

Rick Pitino is shocked! Shocked, I tells ya...

LawHall88 said:

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Rick Pitino is shocked! Shocked, I tells ya...

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The playbook of denying he knew anything and letting somebody else take the fall has worked for him so many times, he is probably thinking 'oh well, might as well see if this strategy works one more time.'

And presumably he is concerned about getting fired with a big buyout vs losing his buyout, so he needs to maintain innocence as part of trying to negotiate with Louisville.

cjo03 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Pretty sure the FBI said Air is inferior to Boost.

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FBI makes mistakes too.

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"rival athletic company was coming with a higher number"

Was VCU a Nike school? What staff did Smart bring with him

We still have that big Adidas contract right?




uh....not that I'm nervous or anything

Guitarsoup said:

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cjo03 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Pretty sure the FBI said Air is inferior to Boost.

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FBI makes mistakes too.

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"rival athletic company was coming with a higher number"

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sounds like an amateur negotiation tactic.

I don't think any of these coaches could be smart enough to avoid these schemes because this seems like a new application of laws. I've never seen conspiracy and bribery and wire fraud applied to these kinds of activities. Is it because these were corporations making the payments? Because the asst coaches were recommending agents or financial advisors? I recognize these activities as unethical? But felonies? This seems like uncharted territory.

Quote:

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And presumably he is concerned about getting fired with a big buyout vs losing his buyout, so he needs to maintain innocence as part of trying to negotiate with Louisville.

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Probably more worried about becoming acquainted with Bubba in the Slammer.

Quote:

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So now the lid is off the jar and where this ends is anyone's guess.

Tuesday, college coaches were calling emergency staff meetings and coaches at all levels were consulting attorneys. This is an entirely different level than anyone has seen before, not a mostly toothless NCAA, but a motivated FBI and U.S. Attorney in New York looking to make a big media splash.

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uneedastraw said:

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It's about these federal agents making a name for themselves. The reason it has never happened is probably more to the fact that they've never had an opportunity to look where it was so obvious. It sounds like they stumbled across it and then followed the trail which was left wide open. I'm sure if a fed agent had previously discovered something like this, they'd be all over it. The government loves high profile cases in the corporate world where they can make these kind of statements.

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It's also about the way it was done. Is there an actual crime committed when a booster is alleged to have given money to a recruit or star athlete on a football team? The player isn't held to any contract and could technically **** over the school or team at any time and leave or not sign.

However, when major corporations are committing acts of fraud and using regulated financial advisers to funnel money to players and coaches in the attempt to pressure them into securing future contracts, all kinds of major illegal activities are occurring.

We all know this has been going on for a while in various ways, but federal authorities were never able to get access to it at the major legal level, or most ncaa cases centered around rogue boosters like the dbag who hung around Miami, etc.

Hell I heard 2nd hand accounts of what was going on at ole miss under freeze that have never come to light that were incredibly damning from an ncaa perspective, but I'm not sure anything was illegal in the eyes of the law.

I will be honest with you. I burst out laughing when Pitino said he was shocked.

In other news, I'm shocked that the water is wet.

Aginnebraska said:

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I don't think any of these coaches could be smart enough to avoid these schemes because this seems like a new application of laws. I've never seen conspiracy and bribery and wire fraud applied to these kinds of activities. Is it because these were corporations making the payments? Because the asst coaches were recommending agents or financial advisors? I recognize these activities as unethical? But felonies? This seems like uncharted territory.

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You have Adidas secretly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash payments to recruit's families through third parties, so that they commit to a school that uses & promotes their brand. Louisville for example recently inked a $160 million dollar extension deal with Adidas.

Plus under the table cash bribes/'kick backs' also being paid to coaches to steer their players to sign endorsement deals with them, etc.

That Gatto guy at Adidas per the indictment was creating sham purchase orders to the third parties actually handling the cash transactions, so that the expenses were not recognizable on Adidas' books.

'Money laundering' Felonies jackpot.

Bunk Moreland said:

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/998751/download

Complaint against Adidas executive Jim Gatto

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I'm SHOCKED that Adidas is involved.

amercer said:

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I think duke, unc, Kentucky, and KU might be insulated from this a bit. When you can sell kids on being a lottery pick, you probably don't need to pony up much cash. And those one and done kids at those schools have had runners, agents, and shoe deals since 8th grade--so the coaches at those schools don't have the opportunity (or incentive) to take bribes.






Maybe.

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Kentucky paid Unibrow well into the 6 figures.


Roy convinces his one and downs to spend another year or two at UNC. Hell, they don't have to go to class!!

Guitarsoup said:

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cjo03 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Pretty sure the FBI said Air is inferior to Boost.

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FBI makes mistakes too.

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"rival athletic company was coming with a higher number"

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Yao - AAU coaches getting a cut.


They'll need to go more of an MLB model hybrid: NBA, G-League, Euroball, or a 3 year commitment to a college program.

Wizard said:

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Everyone who is anyone has been paying players for commitments in NCAA basketball for awhile now. It's no secret.

Glad Stansbury isn't here anymore or this could have ended up badly for us as well.

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It was a 3 yr investigation

JJxvi said:

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Again, there are two different scams. Auburn is not accused of paying players or recruits. Chuck Person is accused of taking money from a representative in exchange for convincing Auburn or other players to sign with that rep. Its not about recruiting.

The Louisville, Miami one is definitely about recruiting and involves the shoe companies paying recruits.

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There's a text allegedly from Chuck Person confirming $5k to a player/recruit

Pumpkinhead said:

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Ryno01 said:

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How much is a good player worth to an assistant coach?!?!?

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We no longer have to guess answers to such questions. 50K if you are Auburn assistant Chuck Person. 100K if a 5-star will go to Louisville.

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$200K for KY