A Full 24 Hours Later: What Will The FBI Discover Next In College Hoops?
A Full 24 Hours Later: What Will The FBI Discover Next In College Hoops?
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have opened the doors to find out every secret in college basketball.
With the college basketball world on pins and needles, FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney stood behind a podium on Tuesday and emphatically spoke perhaps the scariest four words imaginable to some of the biggest names in the game:
"We have your playbook."
An ongoing investigation into fraud and corruption in two separate schemes made college basketball's worst nightmare become a reality. It was a three-year FBI probe literally nobody saw coming -- not even the NCAA -- and trying to find the words to accurately describe the collective pulse and magnitude of the situation was nothing short of impossible.
The news dropped by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicting 10 men, including four current Division I men's assistant coaches just days before the start of practice for the 2017-18 season, was not just a small, forgettable fender bender in a shopping mall parking lot. It was a life-changing collision with a semi truck driven by the FBI that has the game shook beyond measure.
Recruits and their families being paid to go to particular universities? Player advisers being paid to persuade certain prospects to sign with certain managers, agents, and financial advisers?
What many presumed to be happening for years, most notably since the moment the NBA changed its draft eligibility rules to essentially encourage future league-bound players to attend at least one year of college, is not just simply breaking the rules of the NCAA and grounds for probation. It is breaking the law.
Arizona's Emanuel "Book" Richardson, Auburn's Chuck Person, Oklahoma State's Lamont Evans, and USC's Tony Bland were all arrested in the scandal and charged with bribery conspiracy, among several other charges, that could result in significant jail time if found guilty.
Jim Gatto, the director of global sports at Adidas, is reportedly involved. So is Merl Code, who recently left Nike for Adidas; former NBA agent Christian Dawkins; Jonathan Brad Augustine, the president of the League Initiative Program and director of 1 Family AAU program; financial adviser Munish Sood; and former NBA official Rashan Michel, who founded a custom clothier for athletes.
Since the initial wave, and following a press conference featuring Sweeney and acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, more details have emerged in the investigation into the "dark underbelly" of college basketball that could change the entire landscape of the game as the world knows it in the days, months, and years to come.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have established a hotline to gather more information. The offices of ASM, where Dawkins previously worked, were raided and phone lines were shut off.
Additionally, the University of Louisville confirmed it was under investigation, while head coach Rick Pitino released a statement through his lawyer stating the "allegations come as a complete shock."
Imagine sitting in any sort of basketball office on a day of such historic significance. Any potential wrongdoing, whether minor or incredibly significant, could potentially be soon exposed publicly. Any number of colleagues, who many have known and have been associated with for decades, could be the next placed in handcuffs.
How many people had sleepless nights? How many of them called the hotline? Did 2017 Flo40 wing Brian Bowen receive $100,000 to attend Louisville? Will Pitino or other big-name coaches get fired? What happened with another program listed in investigation that several outlets report to be Miami? What will the 10 men indicted say now?
The list of questions might actually be longer than the investigation report itself.
It has been a full 24 hours since the entire situation got even more complicated, but the biggest question in the ongoing investigation is even scarier than the words said by Sweeney:
What will the FBI discover next in college basketball?
"We have your playbook."
An ongoing investigation into fraud and corruption in two separate schemes made college basketball's worst nightmare become a reality. It was a three-year FBI probe literally nobody saw coming -- not even the NCAA -- and trying to find the words to accurately describe the collective pulse and magnitude of the situation was nothing short of impossible.
The news dropped by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicting 10 men, including four current Division I men's assistant coaches just days before the start of practice for the 2017-18 season, was not just a small, forgettable fender bender in a shopping mall parking lot. It was a life-changing collision with a semi truck driven by the FBI that has the game shook beyond measure.
Recruits and their families being paid to go to particular universities? Player advisers being paid to persuade certain prospects to sign with certain managers, agents, and financial advisers?
What many presumed to be happening for years, most notably since the moment the NBA changed its draft eligibility rules to essentially encourage future league-bound players to attend at least one year of college, is not just simply breaking the rules of the NCAA and grounds for probation. It is breaking the law.
Arizona's Emanuel "Book" Richardson, Auburn's Chuck Person, Oklahoma State's Lamont Evans, and USC's Tony Bland were all arrested in the scandal and charged with bribery conspiracy, among several other charges, that could result in significant jail time if found guilty.
Jim Gatto, the director of global sports at Adidas, is reportedly involved. So is Merl Code, who recently left Nike for Adidas; former NBA agent Christian Dawkins; Jonathan Brad Augustine, the president of the League Initiative Program and director of 1 Family AAU program; financial adviser Munish Sood; and former NBA official Rashan Michel, who founded a custom clothier for athletes.
Since the initial wave, and following a press conference featuring Sweeney and acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, more details have emerged in the investigation into the "dark underbelly" of college basketball that could change the entire landscape of the game as the world knows it in the days, months, and years to come.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have established a hotline to gather more information. The offices of ASM, where Dawkins previously worked, were raided and phone lines were shut off.
Additionally, the University of Louisville confirmed it was under investigation, while head coach Rick Pitino released a statement through his lawyer stating the "allegations come as a complete shock."
Imagine sitting in any sort of basketball office on a day of such historic significance. Any potential wrongdoing, whether minor or incredibly significant, could potentially be soon exposed publicly. Any number of colleagues, who many have known and have been associated with for decades, could be the next placed in handcuffs.
How many people had sleepless nights? How many of them called the hotline? Did 2017 Flo40 wing Brian Bowen receive $100,000 to attend Louisville? Will Pitino or other big-name coaches get fired? What happened with another program listed in investigation that several outlets report to be Miami? What will the 10 men indicted say now?
The list of questions might actually be longer than the investigation report itself.
It has been a full 24 hours since the entire situation got even more complicated, but the biggest question in the ongoing investigation is even scarier than the words said by Sweeney:
What will the FBI discover next in college basketball?