Big penalties could finally cause change

College basketball coaches have been caught paying players before. Handing out extra benefits have cost some their jobs. The result, at worst, is punishment from the NCAA. Which makes Tuesday’s blockbuster news, that four assistant coaches and six others connected to grass-roots basketball were arrested on bribery and fraud charges in a pay-for-play scheme that involved players being pushed towards agents, financial advisors and sneaker companies, so groundbreaking. “Without a doubt, it’s going to change recruiting dramatically,” one Division I head coach said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This is a game-changer in college basketball.” The coach’s basis for this opinion was simple: If the FBI is involved, the stakes are now greater. Losing a job is one thing, but serving prison time is another. And clearly this isn’t the end of it. “We have your playbook,” New York FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney said during a news conference on Tuesday. “Our investigation is ongoing and we are conducting additional interviews as we speak.” Assistants from Arizona (Emmanuel “Book” Richardson), Oklahoma State (Lamont Evans), Auburn (Chuck Person) and USC (Tony Bland) were arrested. So was Adidas director of global marketing James Gatto, charged in one instance with paying an athlete’s family $100,000 so the player would attend a school sponsored by Adidas. Louisville and Miami, both sponsored by Adidas, were also implicated. It is alleged that the coaches accepted bribes ranging from $13,000 to almost $100,000 each to direct athletes to business managers, agents, sneaker companies and financial advisers. “I don’t know how anybody in their right mind would think about doing it [after this],” the head coach said. “All of a sudden you’re going to have to worry about getting arrested. This isn’t the NCAA where you get a show-cause [penalty]. This is real. This is the FBI.” The head coach said everyone cheats a little, whether it’s meeting with recruits during a dead period or seeing a player one more time than is allowed. But the report depicted college coaches, sneaker companies and agents working together, using big money to push recruits to certain schools. “Hopefully, this sets things up to get cleaned up,” a highmajor assistant coach said. “It [could be] huge for the game.”