Makes me wonder if the assistant coaches are the fall guys or really the only guilty parties at these schools.

duq81 wrote:

president wrote:

Makes me wonder if the assistant coaches are the fall guys or really the only guilty parties at these schools.

Both. Especially when you see a guy like Bruce Pearl on the list. The AAU system is a cesspool, and you need slimy people to navigate it. I know you guys hate Pitt, but Jamie Dixon refused to jump in the pool, which is why he rarely landed high ranking recruits, and why he was pushed out the door. Gary Williams was another who refused to play the game, which was why Maryland declined late in his tenure. Sure, college sports has been filthy since the 1880s (People who talk about the good old days are either lying, or fools), but at least there was some structure in the past. Coaches would build relationships with high school coaches over a period of years, which added some stability to the system. Now there are all sorts of shady figures involved, including folks involved in illegal activities.
 

Dixon had Barry Rohrssen as his top recruiter for several years.  Say no more!  So much for him taking the high ground in recruiting!  He got some pretty highly rated players out of the NYC AAU ranks during that time.  Those guys weren't playing for meal money. 
Plus how did Pitt rise from nowhere in basketball to suddenly attract guys like Charles Smith, Jerome Lane and Demetrious Gore?  I'll tell you how, they were all highly paid recruits.  That is why Chipman had to disappear quickly.
So, in the end Dixon may have been a cut above some of the low life's in the coaching profession, Pitt did benefit greatly from playing the big money game in recruiting.  Like a some other businesses, you try to become legitimate after you cheat your way to big profits.

levon1975 wrote:

duq81 wrote:

president wrote:

Makes me wonder if the assistant coaches are the fall guys or really the only guilty parties at these schools.

Both. Especially when you see a guy like Bruce Pearl on the list. The AAU system is a cesspool, and you need slimy people to navigate it. I know you guys hate Pitt, but Jamie Dixon refused to jump in the pool, which is why he rarely landed high ranking recruits, and why he was pushed out the door. Gary Williams was another who refused to play the game, which was why Maryland declined late in his tenure. Sure, college sports has been filthy since the 1880s (People who talk about the good old days are either lying, or fools), but at least there was some structure in the past. Coaches would build relationships with high school coaches over a period of years, which added some stability to the system. Now there are all sorts of shady figures involved, including folks involved in illegal activities.
 

Dixon had Barry Rohrssen as his top recruiter for several years.  Say no more!  So much for him taking the high ground in recruiting!  He got some pretty highly rated players out of the NYC AAU ranks during that time.  Those guys weren't playing for meal money. 
Plus how did Pitt rise from nowhere in basketball to suddenly attract guys like Charles Smith, Jerome Lane and Demetrious Gore?  I'll tell you how, they were all highly paid recruits.  That is why Chipman had to disappear quickly.
So, in the end Dixon may have been a cut above some of the low life's in the coaching profession, Pitt did benefit greatly from playing the big money game in recruiting.  Like a some other businesses, you try to become legitimate after you cheat your way to big profits.

Pitt was quite dirty during the Charles Smith era. They were dirty during the Grg era as well. Of course the Dukes weren't exactly clean during that era either. I used to wonder about Point Park under Jerry Conboy, and Bobby Mo under Gus Krop as well. Small schools, but as we know now, they cheat at the lower level as well as in the non revenue sports.
Of course, todays cheaters will never approach the things that were done between 1880, and 1920. Today's cheaters are mere pikers compared to what was going on back then.

I don't want to be too smug about this scandal though. You can be sure that these coaches will be trying to save their A** by giving the Feds all the information they can about other schools. There will be some smaller fish that get caught in this net, and I surely hope that Jim Ferry didn't do anything to cause us to be one of them.

All over social media that Pitino getting canned by Louisville.

And I wonder, still I wonder: No mention of John Calipari?

duq81 wrote:

. There will be some smaller fish that get caught in this net, and I surely hope that Jim Ferry didn't do anything to cause us to be one of them.

I thought the same thing.  We do indeed live in a glass house.
 

fjhryn wrote:

I love to see that Miller's assistant at Arizona is one of those accused in this scandal. I will never get over the McConnells (all of them) abandoning the Dukes for more lucrative options. Now if it can be proven that money exchanged hands with certain recruits, my suspicions will be satisfied.

You mean you think there's something weird about the fact that Miller had likely never seen McConnell play, and then Duquesne plays Arizona in Arizona, and TJ transfers there at the end of the same year?!?!

Nah, that deal had to be SQUEAKY clean. 😂

Especially now that the FBI is involved and assistant coaches have been arrested.
Hopefully, the Dukes will come out clean.
 

PJ Dozier of South Carolina is on the hit list. Frank Martin anyone? Duane Notice?

Is it too early to think about poaching a top player from one of these disgraced schools, Lville for starters?  Or is every clean program doing that already.  Or does KD focus on a Lville recruit for next year since our roster is so transfers in waiting heavy now.

rittersdiner wrote:

Suppose our head coach is involved in this? Just wondering. I am suspicious of everyone now.

Never say never, but it seems that, given his relationship and sponsorship with Lebron, he doesn't have a normal college coach relationship with shoe companies that most do. Therefore, it seems less likely that they would be accepting bribes.

I don't know if it's fair to call Akron an out-of-the way school.  The school has over 20,000 students and the city of Akron has a population of nearly 200,000.  Ohio is also surprisingly strong recruiting territory for basketball talent.  I'm more suspicious of Penn State's recent recruiting success. 

ElDuque wrote:

rittersdiner wrote:

Dukes2012 wrote:

Never say never, but it seems that, given his relationship and sponsorship with Lebron, he doesn't have a normal college coach relationship with shoe companies that most do. Therefore, it seems less likely that they would be accepting bribes.

You're probably right. But having such success at an out-of-the-way school makes me wonder what the great attraction was.

It couldn't just be that he's a good basketball coach. Because that would contradict everything we've seen him do since he arrived.

Yeah, the rattling sound is indeed me shaking my head.

John Wooden was a great coach. He was still as crooked as the Monongahela River. That said, I'm much more worried about Ferry than Keith.