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NEW YORK – On June 15, 2017, the NCAA hammered the University of Louisville with major rules violations after players and recruits were hired by a men's basketball staff member.
Penalties included the vacating of 123 victories, including the 2013 national title, Rick Pitino and four years of probation.
On Aug. 23, 2017, just nine weeks later, louboutin pas cher, Louisville associate head coach That's where Brian Bowen Sr., the father of incoming Cardinal freshman five-star Brian "Tugs" Bowen, was staying in a $ 2,300-a-month apartment.
Manhattan, Bowen Sr. testified he climbed into Johnson's car and the assistant coach handed over $ 1,300 in cash.
With that alleged illegal transaction comes the obvious question: Will the NCAA investigate Bowen's claim as if it's true as it's being under oath implied, label Louisville men's basketball as a repeat violator of major rules and hit it with the death penalty?
The testimony of Adidas executives Jim Gatto and Merl Code, and runner and would-be agent Christian Dawkins this week in Louisville. FBI's investigation into the sport, one of the casualties was Pitino, who was fired by the Cardinals.
At the time, however, the allegations were that Gatto, Code and Dawkins arranged for $ 100,000 to Bowen Sr. in exchange for his playing for Louisville, an Adidas-sponsored school. Pitino and others noted they had no knowledge of the deal and thus they have not tried to do it.
"He does know something," Pitino with Dawkins. "He does not know everything … plausible deniability."
With Louisville and Pitino, Louisville and Pitino argue that they were even a victim of Gatto, et al., And they would have never agreed to such a breach, especially while on probation.
Now, though?
What happens if the second in command of the basketball team is given to an incoming freshman, all while he is staying at a hotel / apartment complex that would raise red flags train police officer living off disability.
This also seems to be a deception in the minds of many people. or player.
"Would you agree to this act associate head at the University of Louisville, Kenny Johnson, paying you cash [would have] affected Tugs' eligibility the exact same way [as] what Christian Dawkins did? "Dawkins attorney, Steve Haney, asked Bowen Sr. during cross examination.
"Yes," Bowen Sr. answered. "Both violations."
Johnson and the school have the right to refute Bowen's allegations, and it will be interesting to see if they do it. However, Bowen's full story sounds convincing.
Brian Bowen Sr. took the stand in federal court on the first day of college basketball corruption cases. Federal prosecutors argued that the signing of his report was a result of a payoff to Bowen Sr. (AP)
Text messages and FBI-intercepted phone calls between Bowen and Dawkins revealed that Dawkins told, and Bowen believed, that Johnson would provide $ 2,000 a month in cash to help pay for Bowen Sr.'s apartment in Louisville.
"Christian reality told me that Kenny was supposed to be getting some money," Bowen Sr. testified.
On June 26, Bowen and Johnson connected via text message and set up a meeting at Shell Gas Station in downtown Louisville.
Let's start there. Why would an associate head agree to such a meeting place if the intent was innocent? Johnson had a more important role in the Louisville basketball complex and would be considered a routine performer. The place of the Bader's Food Mart is attached to the gas station.
Bowen Sr. climbed into Johnson's car.
"I kind of eased into it," Bowen testified about bringing up the money. "[I said] 'I was told by Christian you were supposed to give me $ 2,000 for rent.' "
Johnson expressed shock at the request, according to Bowen Sr.
"He was flabbergasted," Bowen Sr. said. "He said he did not know anything about it. He could not do that [because] his wife would kill him. "
Bowen said he left empty-handed and called Dawkins, who told Bowen Sr., "[Johnson] should know about it "and" he will take care of it. "
Two months later, Bowen and Johnson texted again, this time with Bowen writing, "Hey Kenny, how's it going? Wanna get together to square up? "
Johnson wrote back: "OK, will call you later on."
Bowen owned a self-described "bat phone" that was called "cash schemes." He later that day puts Johnson in front of the Galt House, where the money was handed over before Johnson told Bowen that this would not be a monthly thing.
"He made it pretty clear this is a one-time deal for him," Bowen Sr. said. "[He said] Louisville did not need to pay players, they've got plenty of players. "
Perhaps, but if Bowen's account was true, they were certainly paying players, or at least the parents of players. That is a clear major violation. This is not in the gray area. And it occurred a little over two months after being drilled in a separate major violation case. More, just a couple of months ago, it would be a question of whether it would really be a questionable time.
We never got to find out, of course. By late September, when the scandal broke, Johnson was placed on administrative leave. He was fired in November and now works as an assistant at LaSalle. That school has offered no comment yet on the allegations Tuesday.
The NCAA's stated criteria for implementing the "repeat violator" legislation and enacting the so-called death penalty is straightforward.
"Following the announcement of a major case, a major violation occurs in the first case," NCAA documents read. "The second major case does not have the same sport as the previous box to affect the second sport."
In this case it's not just the same sport, men's basketball, it's the same coaching staff, Rick Pitino's. And forget five years, Louisville did not make it five months.
The first, with the strippers and the prostitutes, appeared because of the direct actions of director of basketball operations Andre McGee, who was gone by the time the sanctions hit. This one, if true, would be the associate head coach.
Perhaps even worse for Louisville, this trial is not even half over. The prosecution has already stated, without details, that another assistant coach, Jordan Fair, paid $ 900 to a separate student athlete at an undisclosed time. It is also possible that a secret recording of a meeting in Las Vegas may be introduced with Fair. That's one of the few members of Pitino's staff that would be implicated.
The NCAA has brought out the death penalty only once, barring the NCAA rules while on probation. The school decided to sit out 1988 also.
This is similar, sort of. Prostitutes, strippers and then alleged direct cash payments, only in the shadows via agents, but Pitino's own hand-picked staff members.
If the committee does not have the courage to implement the death penalty, then the NCAA should just give up and take it off the books.
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