The Scandal that rocked College Basketball

By: Alec Jessie

During the fateful morning on Tuesday, September 26th, the FBI dropped a bomb on college basketball. Assistant coaches from Auburn, Arizona, USC, and Oklahoma State were arrested on charges of fraud and bribery. These coaches — Chuck Persons, Emanuel Richardson, Tony Blend, and Lamont Evans — took bribes from Adidas to sway players to sign with the shoe company after they went pro. Each coach stole the money for themselves, directly profiting off of the players. All of these coaches have been suspended for now. These are not the only programs under investigation — Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, and most notably Louisville. Of all the teams involved, Louisville is by far the most implicated university in the current findings. 5 star Brian Bowen unexpectedly committed to the Cardinals on June 3rd. Louisville spent almost no time recruiting him before he committed, and he didn’t list them as a finalist on a his list. The FBI found that “coach 2” (which is reportedly Rick Pitino) took a bribe from Adidas to keep him with them and paid Bowen’s family $100k in exchange for his commitment. Since, both head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich have been placed on administrative leave and Bowen has been suspended from all NCAA activities. While it appears no coach broke the law, accord to the report, Pitino violated a major NCAA rule with paying a recruit. With this happening while on probation, the NCAA figures to hammer the basketball program. Pitino and Jurich are almost certain to be let go, the beginning of a full scale house clean. This has caused massive shockwaves in the recruiting. Louisville was on pace for a great class prior to the findings. Guards Anfernee Simons and Courtney Ramey — both top 40 players in the class — both decommitted from Louisville. Top 5 guard Romeo Langford — thought to be a Louisville lean — is no longer considering a Cards. 5 star forward E.J. Montgomery decommitted from Auburn. Guards Antwann Jones decommitted from Oklahoma State. Arizona could lose guard Jahvon Quinerly and is probably out of the inning from forward Nassir Little. This will continue to alter recruitments of many players. This is only to tip off the iceberg, as U.S. Attorney Joon Kim claimed the FBI has many other coach’s playbook on this scandal and if a coach is involved, calling the FBI is much better than the FBI calling the coaches. Plus, the FBI raided agent Andy Miller — who is tied to many players in the NBA, former Kansas players in particular — and confiscated his computer. The FBI is also starting an investigation on the Nike EYBL circuit. Even though this is a dark and uncharted waters for college basketball, this can be a positive for the sport. Corruption with the shoe companies controlled the sport for way too long, and finally it can be ousted. The corrupt and greedy coaches will be gone from the game as well. Louisville finally will clean house, and rid the program of all the corruption that has crippled them the past couple years. Ratings will still be high, as people still appreciate the awesome product that is college basketball. Even in unstable times, college basketball can benefit from the biggest scandal in its history.