Kansas basketball coach Bill Self. Photo via Associated Press /David J. Phillip.
We know about Louisville and N.C. State, but what about Kansas?
A federal court in New York convicting two Adidas employees and one sports agent’s representative gives credence to the firing of Rick Pitino and the open-book rumors about N.C. State. Pitino was caught on an FBI wiretap talking about a payment to Louisville recruit Bruce Bowen, and Dennis Smith Jr. had been linked for years to Adidas payments to go to State.
This is a significant step because while the NCAA has taken some punitive measures in this area, no one has gone to jail in the play-for-pay scheme. That will likely end on March 5 with the sentencing of the three men found guilty, Adidas employee James Gatto, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and Christian Dawkins, a runner for NBA agent Andy Miller.
The biggest new news in this scandal is at Kansas, where two recruits have been implicated along with bullet-proof coach Bill Self. During closing arguments last week, Gatto’s attorney said his defendant approved the payments to players’ families at the request of coaches, including Self. Gatto, the sneaker company’s director of global sports marketing for basketball, was accused of conspiring to pay $90,000 to former Kansas prospect Billy Preston’s mother and $20,000 to current Jayhawks player Silvio De Sousa’s guardian.
Self on Wednesday said De Sousa, a sophomore forward, would be withheld from competing until “we can evaluate and understand the new information some of which we knew, some of which we didn’t”. But Self is no bigger than Pitino, so the ball is in KU’s court to protect, penalize or fire its perennial Big 12 champion coach.
Another Adidas employee testified that he also gave former N.C. State assistant Orlando Early $40,000 to secure the commitment of Smith, the former Wolfpack star. That story had been going around for years, since State suddenly turned down Nike’s much-bigger bid to take over the school’s athletic shoe and apparel contract.
For now, State is acting like it is no big deal because Smith is in the NBA and his former coach, Mark Gottfried, now works at a college in California. And, so far, the News & Observer has done diddly with the story.
Photo via Associated Press / David J. Phillip
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