FBI rounding up NCAA Coaches

[JustRalph]

https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/26/breaking-fbi-rounds-ncaa-assistant-coaches-corruption-probe/

Corruption probe

[cj]

About time!

[JustRalph]

Press conference at noon.....should be interesting.

Think it’s "under armor" ?

[barahona44]

Press conference at noon.....should be interesting.

Think it’s "under armor" ?

It's Adidas, one of the others charged besides the coaches was one James Gatto, director of sports marketing for that company.

[cj]

Press conference at noon.....should be interesting.

Think it’s "under armor" ?

Nah, Maryland stinks. :)

[Jess Hawsen Arown]

https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/26/breaking-fbi-rounds-ncaa-assistant-coaches-corruption-probe/

Corruption probe

You know the assistant coaches would do nothing without direction from the head coach. I hope the threat of jail time is sufficient so that the assistants would be willing to turn in their head coaches to get their sentences reduced or eliminated entirely.

[Zydeco]

Nah, Maryland stinks. :)

Good one!!

[JustRalph]

Nah, Maryland stinks. :)

I figured that would bring you out :lol:

[Dahoss9698]

IMO the most corrupt sport there is is men's college basketball. Lots of coaches and officials LOVE to gamble. This could get interesting.

[cj]

I figured that would bring you out :lol:

Lets not forget they spanked Texas, in Austin, with a backup true freshman QB leading the way the entire 4Q.

[JustRalph]

Lets not forget they spanked Texas, in Austin, with a backup true freshman QB leading the way the entire 4Q.

Yep....lots of teeth grinding locally after that.....

[ElKabong]

Yep....lots of teeth grinding locally after that.....

Of course there was! It was stinking Maryland :lol: ;)

[Jess Hawsen Arown]

I ran into politics in high school football. Turns out the high school basketball coach could not select the best players. First, he had to take the football players that the football coach wanted to play on the team.

[stuball]

Do these guys have golden parachutes or collect unemployment?
HMMMMM I wonder

[reckless]

On Mike Francesca's WFAN show in NYC yesterday, he said ...

when the story broke on radio/tv earier in the day Francesca said he called a few top head coaches that he knew asking what's what. He said that 1-2 of them told him that law enforecment was originally going after some financial guy on Wall Street which was unrelated to sports.

When this Wall Street guy got arrested, he asked for a plea deal, saying he had a blockbuster type of story to tell, hoping for a break in his sentencing.

The financial guy then laid out this entire college basketball scandal that we heard about yesterday... schools, coaches, agents, Adidas, kick backs, money laundering, the works.

One of the insiders told Francesca that coaches throughout the country knew something big was happening over a year ago and they knew their phones were being tapped as well.

[JustRalph]

Pitino gets fired

About time

[Inner Dirt]

I ran into politics in high school football. Turns out the high school basketball coach could not select the best players. First, he had to take the football players that the football coach wanted to play on the team.

I have a story. Our quarterback's dad was a wealthy business man who bought a lot of things for the team. This was the 70's we had the latest and greatest new equipment, we had water helmets, air helmets, all equipped with all variations of face masks, brand new uniforms and shoes. The rest of our league opponents were wearing two barred suspension helmets that were 10+ years old and had beat up uniforms that had been stitched and patched 100 times. We had a great running game and a great defensive front seven. Our secondary was leaky, we got knocked out in round 3 of the CIF playoffs all 3 years I played. By the way our QB who started for 3 years I think never even had a 100 passing game. Pretty sure there was no one better and his dad had nothing to do with him starting.:lol::lol::lol:

[barahona44]

Pitino gets fired

About time

Pitino can always get a job writing restaurant reviews.

[JustRalph]

Pitino can always get a job writing restaurant reviews.

After hours reviews.......

[reckless]

Not sure how good a reviewer Pitino will be because he likes to conduct business under the table.

[PressThePace]

AAU basketball, specifically men's basketball, is one of the darkest places in all of sports. Once these college programs figured out that the AAU programs were exerting so much influence on kids, the money all moved in that direction. And, soon after, shoe and apparel companies took notice as well. We're not talking about a little pocket change. The dollar amounts will be staggering. If you take a look at the pool of assistant coaches in college basketball today, more and more of them started in the AAU ranks, which to me is a problem. I believe one of two things should happen: Either, (1) Let high school seniors declare for the draft, or (2) Make them go to college longer than a year. Neither suggestion would completely clean it up, but I think it would be a start.

[cj]

AAU basketball, specifically men's basketball, is one of the darkest places in all of sports. Once these college programs figured out that the AAU programs were exerting so much influence on kids, the money all moved in that direction. And, soon after, shoe and apparel companies took notice as well. We're not talking about a little pocket change. The dollar amounts will be staggering. If you take a look at the pool of assistant coaches in college basketball today, more and more of them started in the AAU ranks, which to me is a problem. I believe one of two things should happen: Either, (1) Let high school seniors declare for the draft, or (2) Make them go to college longer than a year. Neither suggestion would completely clean it up, but I think it would be a start.

The D-League is the best alternative. Salaries have been increased to a decent level. Players can play there for a year or two and make a better living than your average Joe. It would be good for the NBA too. They'd draw more people to see these guys play than the current crop of fringe players and has beens. It would also be better for the players because they are facing much better competition than college basketball.

[PressThePace]

The D-League is the best alternative. Salaries have been increased to a decent level. Players can play there for a year or two and make a better living than your average Joe. It would be good for the NBA too. They'd draw more people to see these guys play than the current crop of fringe players and has beens. It would also be better for the players because they are facing much better competition than college basketball.

That's actually a very good idea. Sadly, I think whatever the situation, the NBA and the NCAA's motives clash. It's not an easy fix, that is for sure.

[Inner Dirt]

They need to eliminate the one and dones. That would eliminate a lot of the cheating. A lot of these colleges are nothing but NBA farm teams. There is no reason to have a college athlete who isn't interested in an education. In basketball you can't make the argument playing all 4 years is risking a traumatic injury like football.

[Robert Fischer]

BLUE CHIPS are hot commodities, and anyone who thinks 'rules' will keep the game clean, is naive
anytime the FBI (or gov't agency in general) does one of these investigations, it's hard to know how much was 'pure discovery' vs. 'orchestrated discovery'

[JustRalph]

Heard on the radio this morning that 24 more coaches are under investigation.

[MutuelClerk]

Dick Vitale is a laughable joke. Claiming all these guys are his friends. Yet he knows nothing and breaking into tears. PHONY!!!!

[PressThePace]

As a high school coach, I have repeatedly witnessed AAU coaches exploit kids for personal gain, both for money and gear. These college coaches know this too and have figured out ways to exploit the amateur coaches. All the while, the real victims are the kids. I heard Seth Greenburg's rant on ESPN the other day about the kids not being innocent in this deal...seriously? If you offer a kid free shoes and money, what do you expect them to do? It makes me sick.

[ElKabong]

I heard Seth Greenburg's rant on ESPN the other day about the kids not being innocent in this deal...seriously? If you offer a kid free shoes and money, what do you expect them to do? It makes me sick.

Honest answer... Turn down money and shoes because my dad and brother would have set me straight on the subject when I was that age.

I know this is a widespread problem now, but it always has been. Just more money nowadays than in the early 70s. IN my Jr yr of high school we had eight seniors sign D1 football letters. All were offered cash and cars, some didn't accept. Big 8 schools were completely out of control at the time, esp Neb OU OSu Colorado and Missouri. The cash and cars offered was impressive

I agree and appreciate your comments on aau. Have heard about how it's jacking with HS basketball.

[Inner Dirt]

Honest answer... Turn down money and shoes because my dad and brother would have set me straight on the subject when I was that age.

I know this is a widespread problem now, but it always has been. Just more money nowadays than in the early 70s. IN my Jr yr of high school we had eight seniors sign D1 football letters. All were offered cash and cars, some didn't accept. Big 8 schools were completely out of control at the time, esp Neb OU OSu Colorado and Missouri. The cash and cars offered was impressive

I agree and appreciate your comments on aau. Have heard about how it's jacking with HS basketball.

I played D3 ball in the late 70's early 80's. Even at that level we had jobs where we worked a couple hours a week and were paid better than an entry level worker for 40 hours. Got 3 meals a day at school, shoes, enough other clothes to get by on. Football player had better pay and benefits than the typical job an unskilled college age kid had back then.

[onefast99]

If the NCAA says they have no idea this was going on then I would investigate the NCAA. Since they cant police themselves the FBI is now doing their work for them. NCAA=Cash Cow. They wont touch certain schools like North Carolina with its no attend class infractions, but will go after meaningless infractions like Majerus paying for his players airplane ticket so he could attend his fathers funeral. Investigate the NCAA that will lead to change in college sports.

[ElKabong]

If the NCAA says they have no idea this was going on then I would investigate the NCAA. Since they cant police themselves the FBI is now doing their work for them. NCAA=Cash Cow. They wont touch certain schools like North Carolina with its no attend class infractions, but will go after meaningless infractions like Majerus paying for his players airplane ticket so he could attend his fathers funeral. Investigate the NCAA that will lead to change in college sports.

The Alabama assistant that was busted by the FBI worked for the ncaa a couple of years ago, I read.

The NCAA is a joke. When smu got the death penalty there were a dozen programs in the SWC and big 8 that were just as bad, or in that same ballpark of corruption. The joke at the time was that the NCAA was so mad at Texas, OU and a&m for blatant cheating, they gave smu the death penalty.

The NCAA wouldn't have the balls to shut down Texas, a&m or OU or Nebraska. Smu was an easy target because it's a small, private university located in a city that was already saturated with other sports interests (Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks, high school football.) Texas, a&m, Tech have always had a much bigger following in Dallas than smu. No one really cares about smu.... Easy target for the NCAA to hit hard, then say "see, we really are tough on violators", then take no heat for the decision.

[cj]

The Alabama assistant that was busted by the FBI worked for the ncaa a couple of years ago, I read.

The NCAA is a joke. When smu got the death penalty there were a dozen programs in the SWC and big 8 that were just as bad, or in that same ballpark of corruption. The joke at the time was that the NCAA was so mad at Texas, OU and a&m for blatant cheating, they gave smu the death penalty.

The NCAA wouldn't have the balls to shut down Texas, a&m or OU or Nebraska. Smu was an easy target because it's a small, private university located in a city that was already saturated with other sports interests (Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks, high school football.) Texas, a&m, Tech have always had a much bigger following in Dallas than smu. No one really cares about smu.... Easy target for the NCAA to hit hard, then say "see, we really are tough on violators", then take no heat for the decision.

If Louisville doesn't get the death penalty no school will ever again get the death penalty. Penn State football should have as well.

[JustRalph]

If Louisville doesn't get the death penalty no school will ever again get the death penalty. Penn State football should have as well.

Amen!

[PressThePace]

Honest answer... Turn down money and shoes because my dad and brother would have set me straight on the subject when I was that age.

I know this is a widespread problem now, but it always has been. Just more money nowadays than in the early 70s. IN my Jr yr of high school we had eight seniors sign D1 football letters. All were offered cash and cars, some didn't accept. Big 8 schools were completely out of control at the time, esp Neb OU OSu Colorado and Missouri. The cash and cars offered was impressive

I agree and appreciate your comments on aau. Have heard about how it's jacking with HS basketball.

I appreciate your thoughts as well. This subject is near and dear to my heart as I've spent my career coaching and working with high school kids.

The vast majority of these kids come from the inner city. They have no parental guidance. They have not been taught the concept of integrity. But, on the flip-side you have adults, who are educated, taking advantage of these kids. And, it is really that simple. Blaming the student-athletes just doesn't jive with me after considering that the type of kids they prey on are the rule rather than the exception.

Sidenote:

Your account of guys getting cash and cars is absolutely true. I went to OU in the mid to late 80's. It was rampant..

[ronsmac]

College football and basketball are already the minor leagues for the NFL and NBA. Just pay the kids and put everything out into the open. It's not like any of this is surprising.Major College sports are for entertainment . I don't see what the big deal is.