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Mark Schlabach
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ESPN Senior Writer- University Football Writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate from the University of Georgia
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Jeff Borzello
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ESPN Editor- Basketball insider recruitment.
- Joined ESPN in 2014
- Graduate from the University of Delaware.
NEW YORK – Brian Bowen Sr., accused of agreeing to pay Adidas 100,000 US dollars to his son at the University of Louisville, failed in his testimony Thursday in a federal criminal lawsuit involving bribes wine and other forms of corruption in college basketball
In the first 10 minutes following Bowen's testimony, US lawyer Edward Diskant asked him about his son, Brian Bowen II, also known as "Tugs".
"Is Tugs currently in college?" Diskant asked.
"Uh, no, he's not," replied Bowen.
"Why is not he in college?" Diskant asked.
At that time, Bowen was overwhelmed with emotion and started to cry while sitting on the witness stand. He cried for a few minutes and breathed deeply into the microphone until Diskant asked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the US District Court to take a break. As the jurors left the courtroom, Bowen turned away from them and wiped his face with a tissue.
The government alleges that the defendants defrauded some NCAA Division 1 schools by encouraging them to provide financial assistance to non-eligible players, their families having received improper payments to sign with teams sponsored by Adidas.
While the basketball corruption trial was entering its second day of testimony, a former financial advisor told a jury that he had been working to provide money to people associated with NBA players. Kyle Kuzma and Markelle Fultz while they were still at the university.
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Brian Bowen II currently plays in Australia.
Shortly after Bowen Sr. returned to the witness stand approximately 20 minutes later, he quickly charged a handful of colleges, including Arizona, Creighton, Oklahoma State, and Texas, with offering him tens of thousands of dollars. cash and other inappropriate benefits for his son to play basketball in these schools.
"Schools would give me money for a better player, like my son, to go to school," said Bowen Sr.
Bowen said that Christian Dawkins, one of three defendants in the criminal trial for judicial fraud and conspiracy to commit such fraud, relayed the so-called offers of assistant coaches. Dawkins and Bowen grew up together in Saginaw, Michigan, and have a long friendship.
Adidas executives, James Gatto, and former Adidas consultant, Merl Code, are also charged and, along with Dawkins, are accused of conspiring to entice players to sign with schools sponsored by Adidas, Kansas, Louisville, Miami and NC State. All three men pleaded not guilty.
According to Bowen Sr., Dawkins reportedly told him that Arizona assistant coach Joe Pasternack had offered $ 50,000; The Oklahoma State's assistant coach, Lamont Evans, offered $ 150,000 in cash, $ 8,000 for a car and extra money to buy a house. Texas assistant coach Mike Morrell offered to "help find housing"; and Creighton's assistant coach, Preston Murphy, offered $ 100,000 and a "good job, a lucrative job".
Pasternack is now the head coach of UC Santa Barbara; Evans is one of three former assistant coaches charged in a separate federal case and charged with accepting bribes from Dawkins and others to encourage players to sign with certain agents and financial advisors; Morrell is now the head coach of UNC-Asheville; Murphy, from Saginaw, is still employed in Creighton.
UCSB track and field spokesman Bill Mahoney said school officials "were unaware" of statements made in court about Pasternack before Thursday and that they had not been contacted by federal investigators involved in the trial.
The Creighton and Texas spokespersons have refused to answer questions for the moment, and officials from the state of Oklahoma and Arizona still have to respond to messages left by ESPN.
Acting from Oregon, which, according to defense lawyers, had offered in an "astronomical amount" statement to Bowen, Bowen Sr. said: "I do not remember . "
Bowen said he spoke to a few coaches when recruiting his son, but not to financial bids, which violate the NCAA rules.
Bowen Sr., a former Saginaw police officer, who appeared in court after the government offered him a non-suit agreement in exchange for his testimony, also detailed various payments to him that go back to his career. high school of his son.
Bowen Sr. told the jury that he was receiving $ 2,000 a month from Shane Heirman so that Bowen Jr. could attend La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana. At the time, Heirman was the head coach of The Light and is now an assistant coach at DePaul.
Bowen Jr. started his career in high school playing for Dawns' Dorian's Pride AAU program, but then joined the Michigan Mustangs on the Adidas circuit after the Adidas program director, TJ Gassnola offered to Bowen Sr. $ 25,000 for her son to play for the Mustangs.
Gassnola, a young Massachusetts basketball director, pleaded guilty in May to a wire fraud conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of the federal government 's investigation. He should testify at the trial next week.
Diskant posted transaction records showing two separate payments totaling $ 4,000 from Dawkins to Bowen Sr., as well as a $ 2,000 check from Adidas Chris Rivers' executive at Bowen Sr. Rivers noted on the check that the payment to Bowen Sr. was for consulting fees, but Bowen Sr. testified that he had never done any consulting work for the sports shoe company.
Bowen Sr. also said that he had received money from Dawkins and Rivers in cash.
Bowen Jr. left the Mustangs for the Nike circuit, choosing to play for the Mean Streets program in Chicago. Mean Streets offered Bowen Sr. $ 5,000- $ 8,000 for Bowen Jr. to play for them, said Bowen Sr. to the jury, and rejected an offer of $ 18,000 from Spiece, another AAU funded by Nike and funded by the AUA.
By the spring of 2017, Louisville was not involved in Bowen's recruitment and it had never been on campus. His son was in favor of Arizona, he said, but they feared that more experienced players would be in front of him.
"Louisville offered him a scholarship as a freshman, but they had been overshadowed," said Bowen Sr. "We did not really talk to them."
After Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins returned to Arizona for the 2017-18 season and Donovan Mitchell left Louisville for the NBA, Bowen Sr. stated that Dawkins had approached him about the possibility that Bowen Jr. plays for the Cardinals.
Diskant showed the Jury SMS between Bowen Sr. and former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino on May 24, 2017, Bowen Sr. asking Pitino to speak to Bowen Jr.
The government also issued a voice message that Gatto left for Pitino on May 27, 2017.
"I just got a call about a player I want to talk to you about," Gatto said.
On May 29, 2017, Bowen Jr., his mother and father, his friend and Dawkins made an unofficial visit to Louisville.
Bowen Sr. told the jury that Dawkins had paid for the visit.
On June 1, 2017, Bowen Jr. is committed to Louisville and has signed a financial aid agreement with the school.
Shortly after, Gatto left another voice message to Pitino, according to the government.
"Coach, Gatto," he says. "I hope everything is fine." Recorded. Hearing the good news, um, and it's going to be good, and I'm excited for you guys. "
According to Dawkins, after Adidas officials made an initial bid of $ 60,000 to $ 80,000, Bowen Sr. said the proposal to attend the Louisville meeting reached $ 100,000 because Dawkins had claimed that Billy Preston, who had chosen to play Kansas, had commitment.
The money had to be paid in four installments of $ 25,000.
Earlier Thursday, the government said Louisville's former deputy head coach, Kenny Johnson, had paid Bowen Sr. $ 1,300 and that former Louisville assistant coach Jordan Fair had hired another $ 900 rookie. Johnson is now attending La Salle.
John Carns, deputy director of sports for compliance at Louisville, told the jury that he was not aware of any payments at that time.
Paula Lavigne of ESPN contributed to this report.
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