WHAT WE KNOW
Tuesday, federal prosecutors revealed three separate, but related, cases alleging major corruption in men’s college basketball. The fallout will presumably continue for months but as of Thursday, this is what we know:
Louisille’s Rick PItinio, the highest-paid coach in college men’s basketball, has been effectively fired. Ditto for Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich. Clauses in Pitino’s and Jurich’s contracts prevent them from being officially terminated immediately, so they are currently on administrative leave. The expectation is that neither will work at Louisville again.
One Louisville player, believed to be star freshman Brian Bowen, has been suspended indefinitely as the FBI investigation continues.
Two schools, identified in documents as University-6 and University-7, and now confirmed as Louisville and Miami (Fla.), respectively, are accused of working with Adidas to funnel money to top-ranked players and their families in exchange for those players attending those schools. Miami coach Jim Larranaga said through an attorney that he had no involvement with the allegations or knowledge of what allegedly transpired.
Four assistants — Emanuel “Book” Richardson of Arizona, Chuck Person of Auburn, Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State and Tony Bland of Southern California — were arrested and accused of taking bribes to steer players to specific financial advisers. All of those assistants have been suspended by their respected schools.
Two executives for Adidas, including director of global sports marketing’s Jim Gatto,
are among those named in the cases.
Nike, the most influential shoe company in the world and has endorsement deals with dozens of schools across the country, is involved now, too. Employees of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League grass-roots division were subpoenaed by the FBI on Wednesday.
Late Wednesday, Alabama accepted the resignation of men’s basketball director of operations Kobie Baker, a former NCAA enforcement staffer. Baker’s resignation came after Alabama conducted an internal review of its men’s basketball program.
On Thursday, Oklahoma State fired Evans.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee issued a statement Thursday saying it wants a briefing on the scandal.