TheSouseFamily said:
BearGreg said:
Several points to consider:
- Miller is not a rogue bad guy. This is an endemic issue for college basketball. Many more coaches will be brought down before this is over
- The bigger th programs recruiting profile, the more likely they will be guilty. This is a systemic issue around many of the elite recruits
- Joe Pasternak is not YET guilty of anything. Read the full article Here. Joe talked to the agent that's it. Every college staff talks to ALL the handlers of a player they are recruiting from Vermont to San Jose State to Cal to Kentucky. And Millers transcript of the call about Ayton makes clear he was the money guy. This is far from over and Joe may be guilty of something bad or nothing more than association with Miller much as Wyking is with Pitino. Let's save our sharp knives until there's something much more definitive
- I think this is great news for college basketball and Cal in the long run. More on that to come
We'll see. You may very well be right but I'm expecting a much more modest outcome. For one thing, I'd be shocked if we learn that head coaches orchestrating 6 figure payouts for recruits is "endemic" to college basketball. There will surely be evidence of payouts to players and some schools will be involved in those payouts but I suspect that there will be very few examples quite like what we're seeing with Miller and Ayton.
A lot of top schools don't even offer or recruit guys like Ayton (or Bol Bol or Brian Bowen) where there are serious red flags like there was in this instance. Like Bol, Ayton had very few offers for a #3 recruit in the class. Schools like Arizona, Auburn, Oregon, Louisville, maybe Kansas and others) don't care about red flags, but many steer clear of these guys entirely and certainly wouldn't pay them. Not surprisingly, it's these same schools that have already been fingered by the FBI. But pervasive and endemic? I guess we'll see. Will be an interesting ride.
Bear Greg is spot on for all points. Very close friend of mine who was the family friend / advisor to Jabari Parker accompanied him on his final 5 college visits (MSU, Duke, Kansas, Florida and actually Stanford - which was merely a favor to Mark Madsen) Only Stanford did not offer money. It is common place for elite players to be offered $50k and much more for committing to schools. Many ways to hide it - including having alums provide high paying jobs for family members etc. This method of paying players thru a variety of avenues has been prevalent for the past 25 years though increasing over the past 10 years.
Joe P is not guilty of anything yet despite several people on the string ready to convict and set an sentence. He has as reported, just talked to an agent. Joe is an good man and extremely hard working coach - He loves Cal and still has Cal in his sights. Possibly more specific info will come out to alter my feelings, but for now I am not making an snap decision on his guilt. BTW UCSB under his leadership is 20-7 currently and in line for the top 5 single season turnarounds in D-1 history.
This will help Cal in the long run, as Wyking is highly ethical, family man and trustworthy - some recruits/families will bond with him and will want to avoid known dirty programs. Our achilles heal is the admission's office, which restricts the program from admitting the 2.5gpa+- student athlete and lack of an practice facility.