NCAA may get tougher after guilty verdicts
A federal jury last week found three men guilty of fraud charges for channeling secret payments to the families of top-tier recruits to influence their choices of schools, apparel companies and agents.
Wednesday’s verdicts place the blame firmly on the men for exposing the universities to NCAA sanctions, essentially portraying the schools as victims.
The NCAA may view the verdict differently.
In fact, the organization that oversees college athletics may now have a deeper reach when it goes after rogue programs. The decision essentially turns amateurism into federal law, possibly giving future NCAA bylaws more bite and ability to dole out punishment.
“I think anybody who breaks the rules in any aspect of our society, you’d like to see them held accountable,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “If the jury found them guilty of breaking rules, then they should be held accountable. But yeah, that’s why we have a jury system and that’s good. It’s always good when, if someone does something wrong, they’re found out, and they’re held accountable for it.”
Former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and amateur league director Merl Code were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for funneling money and recruits to Louisville and Kansas.
All three will be sentenced March 5, but the corruption case doesn’t end there. Former NBA star and Auburn assistant Chuck Person will stand trial in February. Former assistant coaches Emmanuel Richardson of Arizona, Tony Bland of Southern Cal and Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State go to trial in April.
All are accused of funneling apparel company money to recruits and their families.
They could be facing a difficult defense with Wednesday’s verdict now that a precedent of fraud has been set. So could the schools.
The first trial revealed text messages and recorded conversations between coaches and the fixers, though nothing to definitively connect them to paying recruits.
The prosecution argued the schools, which receive federal funds, were not aware of the secret payments, including $100,000 promised to top recruit Brian Bowen Jr.
When put on the stand and facing long prison sentences, the four assistant coaches may tell a different story. At minimum, they will certainly pull back the curtain even further on what had been college basketball’s worst-kept secret.
“I hope that the truth prevails and I mean that with all sincerity,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “There’s so much stuff being floated out there, I hope what’s true will be found out if there’s stuff going and in the long run it will make a difference and help the game.”
The game has already been blemished, first with the arrests of 10 people in September 2017 through the three-week trial that concluded Wednesday.
More than two dozen schools have been ensnared since the arrests a year ago, for everything from paying for meals to six-figure payments to recruits’ families.
AP sports writers Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Aaron Beard and Pete Iacobelli in Charlotte contributed to this story.