The NCAA had a chance to do the right thing on Friday and, in a stunning turn of events, completely missed the mark.

Who saw that one coming?

The punishment that the Committee on Infractions handed down to Oklahoma State on Friday, a one-year postseason ban to go along with scholarship reductions and myriad recruiting sanctions, was wrong and should be utterly terrifying for the other programs that found themselves caught up in the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption.

Oklahoma State faced a single Level I violation. It was an unethical conduct charge levied at former assistant coach Lamont Evans, who accepted at least $18,150 in bribes from financial advisors in exchange for peddling influence over one player from Oklahoma State and one player from South Carolina, where Evans was coaching before accepting a job on Brad Underwood’s staff in the spring of 2016. Evans was also accused of giving Jeffery Carroll $300.

That’s it.

Evans provided no competitive advantage for Oklahoma State, unless you consider the $300 he paid to Carroll — who was already on the roster and suspended for three games as a result — a competitive advantage. Evans was lining his pockets. He was not doing this to benefit the basketball program. Technically speaking, the players Evans claimed to have the power of persuasion over were the victims of the crimes that got him sentenced to three months in prison on federal bribery charges. He steered them to financial advisors that were willing to shell out bribe money. He knew nothing about the people that he was telling these players to invest their money with. One of the men Evans accepted bribes from was Marty Blazer, who sparked this entire investigation to try and avoid prison when he was caught by the SEC embezzling millions of dollars from clients.

That’s where Evans was guiding players who trusted him.

The players were the victims.

Despite that, Oklahoma State was still hit with a one-year postseason ban. Evans has been gone for three years. Carroll has been gone for two. Neither the current head coach — Mike Boynton — or the head coach the violations were committed under — Brad Underwood — were mentioned in the Notice of Allegations.

“There were no recruiting or other major violations on the part of the institution,” Oklahoma State said in a statement in November. “There are no allegations involving current student-athletes or coaching staff.”

None of that mattered to the Committee on Infractions.

They dropped the hammer on Oklahoma State, effectively neutering what was the most anticipated OSU season since Marcus Smart returned for his sophomore year. So much for seeing Cade Cunningham play in the NCAA tournament. Hell, we may not see Cunningham play for Oklahoma State, period. He was offered the chance to join the G League prospect pathway program, reportedly for as much money as Jalen Green. If he’s not going to play meaningful games at Oklahoma State, maybe he reconsiders the offer.

“Whatever the best option is for him we’re going to support 100 percent without any reservations,” Boynton said.

This gets to the core of the problem when it comes to NCAA enforcement: They far too often punish players and coaches for violations that they took no part in. What did Cunningham, or anyone else on Oklahoma State’s roster, have to do with Lamont Evans accepting bribes from a white collar felon that had been flipped by the FBI? How was anyone associated with the Oklahoma State athletic department supposed to prevent one assistant coach from accepting those bribes?

“A postseason ban for a bunch of kids that were 15, 16 years old when a lot of this was going on? It’s completely, completely out of bounds,” Boynton said.

He’s not wrong.

A postseason ban is total overkill.

That is the most infuriating part is that the NCAA was actually able to punish the man responsible. That’s not usually the case. Evans received a 10-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA in addition to a three month jail sentence for pleading guilty. His coaching career is effectively over. He’ll never be a Division I head coach. He’ll never coach at a level where he is able to earn a couple hundred grand as an assistant. The person entirely at fault for this situation had his life blown up.

And Oklahoma State still got a postseason ban despite the fact that, as Larry Parkinson of the Committee on Infractions said, “the institution fully cooperated from the moment they learned about the circumstances.”

That should be a major red flag for everyone else caught up in this investigation.

USC, Arizona and Auburn all had an assistant coach plead guilty to similar charges as Evans. Louisville committed their violations while they were on probation from the last scandal the program was embroiled in. Oklahoma State faced one Level I violation. Kansas faces five, and they’ve made quite clear they aren’t going to be as cooperative.

If the Committee on Infractions has set the bar here, everyone else better be ready to catch the book that gets thrown at them.

 

This story has been updated. 

Decatur, GA — City Schools of Decatur is investigating a video that shows the son of a Decatur High administrator making racist threats.

It is the latest incident involving a video of a Decatur High student using a racial slur, but this video also includes a threat to the African American community.

The video shows the student holding a toy gun while saying he will use it to “kill n******.”

Octavia Bowman, who is black and who has a son attending Decatur High in August, said she is concerned for her son’s safety after seeing the video.

“My son is scared,” she said. “I’m scared for him. The black city of Decatur community is hurting.”

Decaturish received a copy of the video on May 27.

The student is the son of Cheryl Nahmias, a Decatur High Instructional Coach/International Baccalaureate Coordinator. He is also the nephew of Georgia Supreme Court Presiding Justice David Nahmias.

In a statement, Cheryl and her husband Eddy apologized for their son’s actions. He was 14 when he was filmed and is currently a student at Decatur High.

“We are embarrassed and saddened by the video of our son that we first saw last night as it started spreading through social media,” they said. “The video was made about a year ago. There is no excuse for his actions, and he will face the consequences from the school system and us. He was not making a threat but was inexcusably trying to make a joke about people who make such threats. We will do our best to ensure that he never forgets the harm and pain his actions have caused. We hope we can eventually regain the trust of our community, especially our black neighbors and colleagues. We will work to do so with no expectation that it should be easy for us.  We are so sorry that our son’s actions have contributed to the racial discord and unfairness that continue to plague our country. We love our son and hope his thoughtless action does not define his life.”

Decaturish left a message with David Nahmias seeking comment.

It is unclear whether Cheryl Nahmias will face any consequences for her son’s actions. So far, the student hasn’t been charged with a crime.

A spokesperson for the school district said the Police Department has been contacted.

“City Schools of Decatur is aware of the disturbing video circulating of a young man displaying a weapon while making a racist, threatening statement,” the spokesperson said. “We can confirm this is a Decatur High School student. Due to privacy laws, we are unable to identify the student or his family. We are actively investigating this incident, collaborating with the Decatur Police Department, and will be taking appropriate action at the conclusion of our investigation.”

Superintendent David Dude did not immediately respond to a question about how the district has dealt with the other videos of Decatur High students that have surfaced in recent weeks.

The superintendent did make a statement on Facebook about the latest video.

“I am at a loss for words, so I am going to share my unvarnished thoughts tonight,” Dude said. “I am angry, disgusted, heartbroken, and so many other things. Again tonight many of us have now seen yet another racist display by a Decatur High School student. As if the racist language is not enough, this time it’s accompanied by a display of a weapon and a statement about killing people of color. What is the excuse going to be this time? He didn’t know he was being filmed? He didn’t know someone was going to post it? He was drunk? High? It happened a long time ago? The gun wasn’t real? I’m tired of excuses and I know so many in our community are as well.”

The video is the latest incident that has inflamed racial tensions within the school district. In April, videos emerged of other CSD students using racial slurs. The school district said at the time that it would investigate those videos and there would be consequences for the students involved. In another high profile incident, a home security camera captured video of a white Decatur High lacrosse player knocking on the door of a black Oakhurst resident for eight minutes while his white friend, a fellow lacrosse player, watched the confrontation. Both of the young men were arrested. The young man who knocked on the door was arrested on a charge of simple assault and the other young man was arrested on a charge of being a party to the alleged crime.

Mawuli Davis is noted local civil rights attorney and co-chair of Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, an organization that has worked for years to improve racial equity in the school system.

He called the latest video “disturbing.”

“It’s alarming, and it requires some action,” Davis said. “We’re having an emergency meeting for Beacon Hill to discuss what our action will be. White supremacy and the disregard for black life and the black community are at an all-time high, and it’s not just in America but it’s in Decatur. These videos, this behavior, these teens, all just further undergird why we have to continue to engage in addressing white supremacy because that’s at the root of all of this.”

This is a developing story and it will be updated when more information becomes available.

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A former Super Bowl champion defensive lineman accused JPMorgan Chase workers in Arizona of using racially charged remarks against him when he tried to secure and invest his earnings.

Jimmy Kennedy, who won a Super Bowl ring in 2011 as a member of the New York Giants, recorded interactions with one JPMorgan worker who suggested that he was “intimidating” because “they don’t see people like you a lot.” The recording was published in The New York Times on Wednesday.

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“You’re bigger than the average person, period. And you’re also an African-American,” Charles Belton, who is also black, told Kennedy in the recording. “We’re in Arizona. I don’t have to tell you about what the demographics are in Arizona. They don’t see people like you a lot.”

Kennedy played in the NFL from 2003 to 2011. The St. Louis Rams took him with the No. 12 pick of the 2003 NFL Draft from Penn State. He was with the Rams from 2003 to 2006. He then played for the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and the Giants.

He earned about $13 million in his career but when he tried to invest about $800,000 of his money and attempted to become a “private client” with JPMorgan to receive some additional perks the average client wouldn’t receive, the Times reported he was getting the runaround.

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Kennedy was initially paired with financial adviser Ricardo Peters, who had also complained about racial discrimination and felt like he had a target on his back by his superiors. Peters filed a complaint with the bank that he alerted his then-boss, Frank Venniro, he was being treated differently because he was black and was suggested that he work for a less-wealthy bank, according to the Times.

Two months after the complaint was filed, Venniro told Peters he was being fired. There was reportedly no reason behind the dismissal and that he was just given “marching orders.” JPMorgan, after a lawsuit was filed by Peters against the company, said the adviser was terminated for “improperly assigning credit for a new client to an employee who managers didn’t think deserved it.”

Kennedy was then left out in the open with no new adviser while some of his money was being held up. The former player said Belton became his new adviser but felt like he was inexperienced and was only assigned to him because he was black.

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According to the Times, Kennedy was not given the “private client” status when he was working with Peters and he complained to his new adviser and Venniro. Belton urged Kennedy not to talk to Venniro again. In the recordings published by the newspaper, Belton told Kennedy that he was a big black man in Arizona and that Venniro was afraid to tell Kennedy his “private status” was deleted after Peters was fired.

When Kennedy came back to raise questions about his private client status, Belton reportedly told the former NFL player that banks were scared of dealing with him and that he was better off only dealing with Belton.

“They’re not going to say this, but I don’t have the same level of intimidation that they have — you know what I’m saying? — not only being a former athlete but also being two black men,” Belton said, referring to Venniro, according to the Times. “You sit in front of him, you’re like three times his size — you feel what I’m saying? — he already probably has his perception of how these interactions could go.”

Belton added: “We’ve seen people that are not of your stature get irate, and it’s like, ‘Well, if this dude gets upset, like what’s going to happen to me?’”

Kennedy has since pulled out most of his money from the bank and filed a grievance with a watchdog group.

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A JPMorgan spokeswoman defended the treatment of Kennedy and Peters and wasn’t aware of the recordings until they were published in the newspaper. The spokeswoman said one of its executive directors was placed on administrative leave as the bank investigates the incidents.

They tell you not to make bomb jokes in airports or on planes. Turns out that they mean it.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Trevor Davis has discovered that it’s a really awful idea to test the sense of humour of airline staff after his joke about explosives resulted in an arrest.

Davis has been charged with making “criminal threats” at the Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday and has been granted bail, pending a May 3 court appearance.

“Yesterday, Trevor Davis checked in at the Hawaiian Airlines ticket counter and was asked the usual questions about whether he was carrying any aerosol cans, knives, weapons or explosives,” public information officer Rob Pedregon told ESPN.

“Davis turned to his female companion and asked if she remembered to pack the explosives. He was then taken into custody and booked.”

The 24-year-old, who was drafted by the Packers in 2016, is likely to get an earful from coach Mike McCarthy when he returns to the team on Monday.

“The Packers are aware of the matter involving Trevor Davis,” Green Bay said in a statement. “We are in the process of gathering more information and will refrain from making any further comment as it is an ongoing legal matter.”

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Former Arizona State cornerback Edward “Robbie” Robinson was arrested on the ASU campus Friday after making violent threats against members of the Sun Devils athletics community, according to a report by Phoenix’s 3TV on Saturday.

The campus authorities claim Robinson, 20, made threats around noon on Friday, which set off a campuswide alert.

The cornerback, who hasn’t been enrolled at the university in more than a year, was arrested in connection to the threat around 8 p.m. on Friday and charged with “making terrorist threats, disruption of an educational institution and possession of marijuana,” according to the report.

Robinson’s bond is set at $50,000.

The 5-foot-8, 172-pound corner was a three-star prospect who received playing time early in his true freshman season at the nickel cornerback and boundary corner positions in 2016.

However, he saw a decrease in appearances as the season progressed, while Arizona State finished with the worst pass defense in college football for the second straight season.

Robinson officially left the Sun Devils’ football program last spring, according to multiple reports.