Subscribe to the NCSA BlogThe Recruiting Wire 5.13
May 13th, 2008 - byScandal has once again hit the college basketball world this weekend when ESPN broke a story linking former USC guard OJ Mayo and sport agent Bill Duffy. Specifically it alleges that Mayo received payments from Duffy’s agency, BDA, that were filtered through a “runner” named Ronald Guillory.
The story broke when a former member of Mayo’s inner circle, Louis Johnson, revealed that he had paid for a variety of improper benefits including clothing, hotel rooms and a flat screen TV.
True Hoops’ Henry Abbott on the story:
In short, this is not a story about O.J. Mayo, his confidante Ronald Guillory, the agent Calvin Andrews, or the friend of Mayo and Guillory’s — Louis Johnson — who spilled the beans to Outside the Lines.
That well-worn road Mayo is on to stardom? It often looks a lot like this.
From what everyone has been telling me, for years, this is a story about common practices in recruiting. If you get in trouble for doing what people around Mayo did — a lawyer who read the report mentioned a number of relevant codes of professional conduct, state laws about agents, and federal laws about charities and transferring funds that could apply — then who else might get in trouble?
As Naqi quotes Johnson: “This is way bigger than some ‘brand’ and money and all of this stuff,” Johnson said. “He played within the rules of the game, and this is the game. Runners, agents, shoe companies, other elements — this is the game.”
Bingo.
This is what David Falk was talking about a few days ago when he told me that in the agent business: “It’s not competition based on merit. It’s competition based on improper inducements. I think it’s an abomination.”
ESPN’s Pat Forde believes that USC should have known better
Despite that, the USC coach apparently never got around to wondering how the poor child from Huntington, W.Va., could afford the expensive clothes on his back or the expensive shoes on his feet. How about the flat-screen TV in his dorm? That never set off an alarm? If the answer is that USC coaches or compliance workers never set foot in Mayo’s dorm room … why the heck not?
You have to assume USC simply didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to know the extent to which runners already had set their hooks into their highest-profile basketball recruit ever. The Trojans knew they were in this deal for one year before Mayo turned pro, and they probably just averted their gaze, hoping nothing blew up and the victories would pile up.
It’s a scenario playing out right now on many other campuses nationwide, guaranteed. Agents and their runners are identifying who can play as early as college scouts are, and they’re commencing the jockeying for position. And we all know what wins most of those turf wars: money and favors. Most topflight young basketball players have at least been offered plenty before college, even if they haven’t accepted it.
It’s a problem the NCAA desperately needs to get a grip on if college basketball is going to maintain even a hint of a legitimate relationship to higher education. The sport’s repeatedly pilloried reputation took another big hit with this revelation, but perhaps it will spur other Louis Johnsons to tell the truth about what’s going on in college hoops and youth basketball.
The NCAA has responded to the allegations swiftly and has stepped up enforcement immediately. The association, in an unparalleled move, is assigning 3 members of its 20 person investigative staff to monitor recruiting and other problem areas, develop contacts and leads gain an understanding on an out of control environment. President Myles Brand spoke to USA Today:
“We have to have enough knowledge and sufficient networks … to successfully investigate these cases,” Brand told USA TODAY on Monday. “That’s why we think it’s better to have a few people, some of our leading investigators, who are focused in their efforts.”
Never before has the NCAA devoted investigators to one sport. The three, led by current associate enforcement director LuAnn Humphrey, also will attend summer camps and other events to familiarize players and others with NCAA rules.
The move could lead initially to a spike in the number of basketball infractions cases, “and hopefully that will create some kind of deterrence in the long run,” said David Price, the NCAA’s vice president for enforcement services.
So the NCAA, responds to allegations that insiders realize has been playing out for years with more investigators? This seems to me like another cat and mouse game that is bound to leave the NCAA clawing at thin air.
I would hope that the agency explores some radical alternatives. Perhaps they should take a cue from the baseball world and demand a prospect either turn pro out of high school or attend a university for at least 3 years.
Maybe they should look into some way to actually pay players. After all, this is America, home of the free market. Even Olympic athletes are now paid.
An idea like that has about as much a chance as Myles Brand hiring Bob Knight as his ethics investigator but it is an example of the type of bold thinking that will need to happen to rid the college game of the corruption currently plaguing the sport.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
When are the kids that accept these kick-backs ever going to be held accountable for their own actions? Yes there needs to be a “checks and balances” in place within the NCAA and coaching staffs, but if were not for kids illegally accepting these kick-backs, then the trend to entice would slow to a minimum.
Our son was recruited to play for the Naval Academy this fall. He is very aware of the NCAA Eligibility Center’s amateurism certification questionnaire that all athletes are required to complete and accept. OJ knew full well that what he was doing was not acceptable. Which in turn speaks of his character, ethics and morals.
Any student athlete that accepts, then gets caught participating in these unethical activities should absolutely be made to pay back the full scholarship monies as well as be fined!!! Why should the schools, administration, programs and coaching staff be made to suffer while the kids just ride off into the NBA sunset with their millions??
It’s high time to make sure that everyone involved is held accountable for their actions! Since money and monetary things inticed him, then he should hit him where he will take notice…in his wallet!
There has to be concequences for everyone.