Rick Pitino is now out at Louisville, and the massive bribery scandal in college basketball is just beginning. Here is everything we know about the FBI investigation so far.
A massive scandal is currently gripping the world of college basketball, involving Adidas, assistant coaches, and now a big-name firing.
Everything we know so far
The FBI investigation that has turned the college basketball world upside down began with the arrests of 10 people, including four assistant coaches and the director of global sports marketing for Adidas.
These five “big names” are as follows:
Lamont Evans, an assistant coach at Oklahoma State who you can read about here.
Chuck Person, an assistant coach at Auburn who you can read about here.
Emmanuel “Boom” Richardson, an assistant coach at Arizona who you can read about here.
Tony Bland, an assistant coach at USC who you can read about here.
Jim Gatto, the director of global sports marketing for Adidas who you can read about here.
The FBI used undercover agents as a way to obtain evidence that the four assistant coaches were accepting bribes and used this to justify their charges.
Some of this surrounds highly-touted Class of 2017 recruit Brian Bowen, a 6’7, 194-pound small forward who was rated as a five-star recruit across the board and a top 20 player by 247 Sports. He surprisingly chose the Louisville Cardinals extremely late in the recruiting process.
It is alleged that Bowen and his family received $100,000 in order for him to choose Louisville, an Adidas school, which we have highlighted further for you here.
These allegations have yet to have far-reaching impacts, but they have had some massive consequences.
Impact so far
The biggest impact of the FBI investigation so far is clearly the firing of longtime Louisville Cardinals’ coach Rick Pitino.
One of the biggest stories coming out of the FBI investigation involves $100,000 being received by a five-star Louisville recruit, and Pitino could not afford another scandal so quickly after the escort scandal and suspension he received a short time ago.
You can only be given so much leeway and, if Louisville did not show that they were proactive, it could have ended horribly for the university.
Unfortunately, it still might.
Pitino was not the only one said to be fired, as Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich was reportedly fired for refusing to fire Pitino, an odd thing to lose your job over.
It makes me wonder if he was involved at all and would rather go out in this way and seen as “defending his guy” instead of in disgrace – but that is clearly speculation.
Apart from these two big-name firings and those arrested on the initial charges, there has yet to really be any other impacts from this scandal.
It’s early, however, and I expect there to be many more schools, coaches, and players linked back to the people in this investigation and subsequently looked at for their association.
Potential impact
Not only do we have the firing of Pitino in addition to the earlier arrests, but the potential impact of this scandal is far-reaching.
Pitino is only the first in a long line of coaches who could be impacted by the FBI investigation.
The second will likely be the Auburn Tigers’ Bruce Pearl who has been in trouble with the NCAA before. His assistant Chuck Person was one of those arrested, meaning that he will be looked at next. Unfortunately, Pearl has lied to the NCAA before, and that makes me think that, no matter what he says, they will not believe him.
Not to mention that Lamont Evans, who was the assistant coach from Oklahoma State, worked with Frank Martin, the current head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, for multiple years, meaning that South Carolina could be in for a call from the NCAA (or even the FBI) sooner rather than later.
Anyone who has ever been associated with any of these coaches is going to be looked at by the NCAA, even if they have been cleared by the FBI. The NCAA is reactive, not proactive, and I think we still have
And this is just what we have heard so far. The FBI is still investigating and has even set up a hotline for coaches and players to call in tips.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for a scandal that could rock college basketball to its core.
Negative Takeaways
A book could be written on the negatives of this scandal – and we have yet to really see much fallout.
College basketball could be devastated as a whole. The popularity of the sport is already a bit shaky, and a scandal like this could mean that people stop trusting it.
The players who are on the teams that are involved could have their lives and careers ruined due to sanctions imposed by the NCAA. Do you know what $100,000 or even $50,000 would have done to my family in high school? We shouldn’t blame any of those kids for taking that money, but they could find themselves ineligible to play because of the actions of others.
Recruits who were a part of the recruiting process the right way might be steered wrong, as greedy parents could decide to ask for money because now we know that others received it.
The reputation of brands and the way in which they interact with young players is going to drop dramatically. Those brands who may have done things legally may feel that they need to take a step outside of the law in order to get a leg up on the competition.
Oh, and don’t forget, the “everybody cheats” mentality in college sports is now going to be at an all-time high.
The negatives go on and on, but surprisingly, there are some positives.
Positive Takeaways
How can there be positives from a scandal like this that is affecting all of college basketball, you say?
Well, there actually are, and, although the full impact of the FBI investigation has yet to be felt, it’s pretty easy to find a silver lining.
Players who are and have been manipulated by brands will either be dealt with legally and truthfully or know that they have the law on their side.
The coaches who cheat will realize that they can be caught and charged with more than a slap on the wrist by the NCAA. The coaches who feel like they have to cheat to keep up no longer will have to do so because they understand the consequences as well.
I mean, I know that we think all of college basketball is dirty, but I think that is just because the dirty laundry is what gets talked about the most.
That’s all I’ve got in terms of positives so far from this horrible situation, but college basketball has recovered from scandals before and it will do so once again.
Hopefully, this time, much better for it.
Next: 2017-18 ACC basketball power rankings
And who knows, maybe if all the top programs in college basketball get in trouble, we’ll get a really fun mid-major matchup in the National Championship game. Wichita State vs. St. Mary’s anyone?