STILLWATER, Okla. —

An NCAA infractions committee on Friday announced penalties against Oklahoma State men’s basketball team stemming from the corruption case involving the team’s former assistant basketball coach, Lamont Evans.

The committee ruled that Evans violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when he accepted between $18,150 and $22,000 in bribes from two financial advisors to influence student-athletes, according to a decision released by the Division I Committee on Infractions.

Evans is one of four coaches charged across the country in 2017, accused of accepting bribes from consultants and agents in exchange for access to the best players. Ten people have been charged across the country.

KOCO 5 reported in 2019 that a lawyer said Evans would plead guilty to a conspiracy bribery charge in New York Federal court.

Click here to read the full news release from NCAA regarding the case.

The committee also announced a list of penalties against the university’s men’s basketball program, including a one-year postseason ban for the team next season. Here’s a full list of penalties:

• Three years of probation.
• A 2020-21 postseason ban for the men’s basketball team.
• A $10,000 fine plus 1% of the men’s basketball program budget (self-imposed by the university).
• A reduction of men’s basketball scholarships by a total of three during the 2020-21 through 2022-23 academic years.
• A reduction of men’s basketball official visits to 25 during the 2018-19/2019-20 rolling two-year period and to 18 during the 2019-20/2020-21 rolling two-year period (self-imposed by the university).
• A prohibition of men’s basketball unofficial visits for two weeks during the fall of 2020 and two weeks during the fall of 2021 (self-imposed by the university). The university also must prohibit unofficial visits for three additional weeks during the fall of 2020, 2021 and/or 2022.
• A prohibition of men’s basketball telephone recruiting for a one-week period during the 2020-21 academic year (self-imposed by the university). The university also must prohibit telephone recruiting for six additional weeks during the probation period.
• A reduction in the number of men’s basketball recruiting person days by 12 during the 2019-20 academic year (self-imposed by the university). The university also must reduce the number of recruiting person days by five during the 2020-21 academic year.
• A 10-year show-cause order for the former associate head coach. During that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply.
• A prohibition of the men’s basketball staff from participating in off-campus evaluations for three consecutive days during the summer evaluation periods in 2020 (self-imposed by the university).

The Oklahoma State University Department of Athletics has since released a statement, saying it will file an immediate appeal of the NCAA penalties assessed to the men’s basketball program on Friday.

The deadline for filing the appeal is June 20. It will be heard by the Infractions Appeal Committee, the final step in the NCAA infractions process, according to OSU:

“The University is stunned by the severity of the penalties and strongly disagrees with them. The penalties do not align with the facts and are unfair and unjust.

“The NCAA agreed with OSU that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own personal gain. Evans was terminated by OSU on Sept. 28, 2017, within 72 hours of learning of allegations against him.

“The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player, and did not display a lack of institutional control. As the report documents, OSU cooperated throughout the process, which lasted two years.

“The NCAA appears to have made an arbitrary decision in the sanctions applied to the institution for the egregious actions committed by a former coach that did not result in any benefit for the University.”

ATLANTA — Starting June 1, college football and basketball players will return to campus and get back to work as COVID-19 continues to spread (the SEC will allow it on June 8). The NCAA says the workouts are “voluntary” and must be initiated by athletes. But those words don’t mean much when there’s a power imbalance between players (who have little) and coaches (who have a lot).

It’s clear what’s happening. College sports programs are facing enormous pressure to make money. They especially need football games in the fall for that goal. The NCAA’s decision to end the moratorium on athletic activity is the first step in getting unpaid, revenue-producing athletes back on the job during a global pandemic.

Given the track record of college sports, there is good reason to believe that the health and safety of athletes will be a low priority in this pursuit of money. That’s the case during normal times. The shameful outcomes of that mistreatment include the mismanagement of concussions suffered by athletes, covering up the sexual abuse of athletes and football players dying from heat strokes during workouts.

Now college sports programs are charged with looking out for player health and safety during a global pandemic. That’s because the NCAA (predictably) punted on creating real rules to do it. There’s no one without conflicts within the NCAA power structure advocating for athlete health, and no independent authority forcing the organization to do it.

Ramogi Huma advocates for athletes as executive director of the National College Players Association. Huma started doing it while still a football player at UCLA because he saw that athletes have few basic protections.

Huma said he’s not opposed to college sports staging competition this year so long as there are real health protections for athletes, they are fully informed of the potential risks and they don’t feel pressured to play.

“Rules need to be enforced and safety standards should be set by public health experts, not sports administrators with conflicts of interest,” Huma said. “Everyone should agree with that.”

That should include people who believe college athletes should be denied their basic economic rights. If they aren’t getting paid, they should at least have health protections.

The leaders of college sports programs say that the safety of athletes and staff are their top priority. While lifting the moratorium, the NCAA’s Division I council said it “emphasized the importance” of protecting player safety. It said access to facilities “should be provided in compliance with” state and local regulations.

But notice that those are suggestions, not mandates with penalties for failure to comply. This is standard procedure for the NCAA.

When it purportedly is looking out for the welfare of athletes, it issues “recommendations” to member schools with no oversight or consequences for violations. Meanwhile, the NCAA goes to court and “denies that it has a legal duty to protect student-athletes.”

It’s a different story when the NCAA wants to protect its exploitative “amateur” model. Then it creates a labyrinth of detailed rules to prevent athletes from earning their true market value with stiff penalties for players and programs who violate them.

The NCAA’s lack of oversight on player safety and the financial motives of sports programs have always been a detriment to real reform. COVID-19 raises the stakes for player health. Unlike concussions, it’s a contagious virus that’s difficult to control.

Public health experts expect additional waves of COVID-19 in the fall (just in time for football). With no mandatory NCAA protocols, player safety is in the hands of coaches, medical staff and administrators who are desperate to generate revenue. It’s not a good situation for athletes.

Huma offered the hypothetical of a quarterback at a big-time program waking up on game day with a cough and fever, two symptoms of COVID-19.

“We already know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We’ve seen players suffer concussions on national TV and being kept in the game while staggering around. There’s no accountability. It is unreasonable to think coaches and athletic programs will do right by players.”

The NCAA’s toothless efforts to improve player safety haven’t worked. It adopted “recommendations and best practices” for an independent model of medical care in 2017. The goal was for physicians and athletic training staff to provide care for athletes “free of pressure or influence from nonmedical factors.”

As usual, those guidelines for athlete welfare came with no NCAA oversight or penalties for failure to comply. The results were predictable for anyone familiar with how college sports works.

Only 53% of respondents to a National Athletic Trainers’ Association survey last year said their programs complied with the independent medical care model. About 19% of respondents said a coach allowed an athlete to participate after the athlete had been declared medically ineligible.

If so many programs ignored NCAA guidelines on player health before the pandemic, there’s little reason to think they’ll do it now when there’s even more pressure to play games to make money.

“Self-policing doesn’t work,” Huma said.

Not when people in power view labor as expendable. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said that quiet part out loud in April. He called for the quick return of players to campus because they are healthy young athletes who can fight off the virus and, anyway, OSU needs “to continue to budget and run money through the state of Oklahoma.”

It dehumanizes athletes to say they should play because COVID-19 isn’t a big threat to them. It’s disgusting when it’s said by a coach who’s become a multimillionaire by extracting the value of his players’ labor. It would be easier to dismiss Gundy’s comments as an outlier in college sports if the NCAA model weren’t built on a foundation of that exploitation.

Another problem with the view that COVID-19 isn’t much of a risk for players: the possible long-term health effects is one of many unknowns about the virus. And anyone who thinks athletes who get sick won’t have it so bad should read Florida State football player Andrew Boselli’s essay on his experience with COVID-19.

Boselli was infected in March along with his father, mother and brother. Boselli wrote on the team’s website that he didn’t initially take the coronavirus seriously. Now he offers a warning.

“I promise, even if you’re young and healthy, you do not want this virus,” Boselli wrote. “Although I had what doctors consider to be a ‘mild’ case of it, my experience was anything but mild.”

Boselli’s father — former NFL All-Pro offensive tackle Tony Boselli — ended up in intensive care when his condition worsened. That’s a reminder that the issue isn’t just about young athletes. It’s also about the older people they might interact with. The list includes coaches, staff, administrators, professors and family members.

Nor can it be assumed that all college athletes are mostly immune to the harshest effects of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists underlying conditions that may place people at higher risk of severe illness. Among them are heart disease, obesity and hypertension.

Ted Tatos, writing for The American Prospect, notes that multiple studies show football players, especially larger linemen, are at higher risk for those conditions.

Said Huma: “I’ve not heard one word about what programs’ plan will be with players that fall into those categories.”

Huma believes schools should be required to fully inform players about the risks of participating in sports now. That includes information about their susceptibility to those underlying health conditions. For players to have a real choice in the matter, they must be assured that they will keep their scholarship if they aren’t comfortable participating in sports during the pandemic.

Huma’s hope is that legislators eventually intervene to create rules for player safety based on guidance from public health experts. He’s calling for that effort to be financed by NCAA schools and enforced by an independent third party.

Pressure from lawmakers eventually forced the NCAA to give athletes (incrementally) more rights to their name, image and likeness (NLI). I’m skeptical the same can happen with player safety. Huma said he’s optimistic after talking with lawmakers while in Washington for a U.S. Senate hearing in February.

“Both sides of the (political) aisle understand that the NCAA is taking advantage of athletes in many ways, not just NLI,” Huma said.

Lifting its ban on sports activities is the latest way the NCAA is doing that. Now member schools will bring unpaid athletes back to campus during a pandemic so they can prepare to play and make money for those schools.

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They may not want it, but Nebraska football is part of a larger legal drama that will play out in the coming months.

According to ESPN.com, “[s]even women, including three female athletes, are suing the NCAA, alleging the organization failed to protect them from alleged sexual assaults by male college athletes despite having an obligation to do so.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Wednesday.

From the report:

The lawsuit accuses the NCAA of negligence, fraud and breach of contract. It argues that the NCAA, as a regulatory body for college athletics, had a duty to the women “to supervise, regulate, monitor and provide reasonable and appropriate rules to minimize the risk of injury or danger to student-athletes and by student-athletes.”

The NCAA “knew or should have known that their actions or inaction in light of the rate and extent of sexual assaults reported and made known to [the NCAA] by male student-athletes … would cause harm to female student-athletes and non-student-athletes at NCAA member institution campuses in both the short- and long-term,” the lawsuit states.

A former Nebraska volleyball player, Capri Davis, is one of the seven plaintiffs in the suit.  It’s alleged that Davis and another unnamed female student-athlete were groped without consent by two members of the Nebraska football team in the spring of 2019.  While not specifically named in the suit, ESPN.com identified the two Nebraska football players as Katerian LeGrone and Andre Hunt.  The unidentified female has also claimed that she was raped by LeGrone and a different teammate in the fall of 2018.

In late August of last year, Nebraska confirmed that two football players, Hunt, a wide receiver, and LeGrone, a tight end, had been indefinitely suspended by the program for unspecified reasons.  A little over three months later, it was reported that both of the players have been “found to have violated the school’s sexual misconduct policies and face a 2½-year suspension from the university.”

The extended suspension stemmed from an alleged rape of an NU student on Aug. 25 and, even as a police investigation remained open, no criminal charges had been filed.  There was a development on the legal front in mid-December, though, as LeGrone and Hunt were arrested on one count of suspicion of first-degree sexual assault and one count of suspicion of aiding and abetting first-degree sexual assault, respectively, even as neither had been formally charged at the time.

Yet another disturbing development surfaced around that same time as local media reported that an additional six sexual assault reports have been filed with the Lincoln Police Department that “are connected to either one or both of the former Husker players accused of sexual misconduct.” Four of the new reports involved non-consensual sexual penetration, three of which were designated as rape, while two included allegations of inappropriate touching of private parts.

In early December, Hunt and LeGrone entered the NCAA transfer database.

The twin portal entries also play a role in the suit.  Again, from ESPN.com‘s report:

… One of the complaints in the lawsuit filed Wednesday pertains to how the NCAA allows athletes who have been “accused or convicted of sexual assault or sexual violence to evade responsibility by transferring to other schools.”

The NCAA “routinely issue[s] harsh punishments against student-athletes who accept payments in exchange for use of their likenesses, or who accept free meals, but they have no specific penalty for student-athletes who commit sexual assault,” the lawsuit states.

“[University of Nebraska-Lincoln] has fostered a culture in which female victims are discouraged from reporting sexual assaults, sexual harassment, stalking, and other forms of general discrimination when those acts are perpetrated by male student-athletes in order to protect UNL, the male athletics program, male student-athletes, and the NCAA, at the expense of female victims,” the lawsuit further stated, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star.

Twice, Davis, who has since transferred to Texas, and the unidentified female student-athlete went to the school’s Title IX office regarding the groping incident.  Neither time, the suit states, was the incident investigated as required by law.  After learning that Hunt and LeGrone were accused of raping a student, the pair went to the Title IX Office a third time.  This time, an investigation was launched.  That investigation ultimately led to the two Nebraska football players being expelled from the university.

The NCAA enforcement staff said Kansas’ basketball program committed “egregious” and “severe” rules violations that “significantly undermine and threaten the NCAA Collegiate Model,” and alleged that Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend “embraced, welcomed and encouraged” Adidas employees and consultants to influence high-profile recruits to sign with Kansas.

That was the NCAA enforcement staff’s position in its 92-page reply to Kansas, which the university released on Thursday. The Jayhawks are charged with five Level I rules violations, the most serious, including lack of institutional control. Self is charged with head coach responsibility violations.

Under NCAA rules, a head coach could be hit with a show-cause order and be suspended up to an entire season for Level I violations.

Kansas is also charged with two Level II violations and one Level III violation related to the football program under coach David Beaty.

Because of the complexity and severity of the allegations, and Kansas’ position regarding Adidas’ role, the case might be processed through the Independent Accountability Resolutions Process (IARP). An Independent Resolution Panel (IRP), consisting of five independent members with legal, higher education and/or sports backgrounds, would hear the case and decide what penalties the Jayhawks would face. The IRP’s decision is final and there are no appeals.

“While the football allegations involve alleged Level II and III violations, which are serious alleged violations, there can be no doubt the men’s basketball allegations are egregious, severe and are the kind that significantly undermine and threaten the NCAA Collegiate Model,” the NCAA enforcement staff wrote in its reply. “The institution secured significant recruiting and competitive advantages by committing alleged Level I men’s basketball violations. The institution, in taking its defiant posture in the case, is indifferent to how its alleged violations may have adversely impacted other NCAA institutions who acted in compliance with NCAA legislation.”

Kansas officials, along with Self and Townsend, are disputing each of the five Level I violations regarding the men’s basketball program, as well as each of the nine aggravating factors cited by the NCAA.

“The NCAA enforcement staff’s reply does not in any way change the University of Kansas’ position that the allegations brought against our men’s basketball program are simply baseless and littered with false representations,” Kansas officials wrote in a statement on Thursday. “As the federal trial proved, Adidas employees intentionally concealed impermissible payments from the University and its coaching staff. The University has never denied these impermissible payments were made. For the NCAA enforcement staff to allege that the University should be held responsible for these payments is a distortion of the facts and a gross misapplication of NCAA Bylaws and case precedent.

“In addition, the enforcement staff’s assertion that KU refuses to accept responsibility is wrong. The University absolutely would accept responsibility if it believed that violations had occurred, as we have demonstrated with other self-reported infractions. Chancellor [Doug] Girod, [athletic director] Jeff Long and KU stand firmly behind Coach Self, his staff and our men’s basketball program, as well as our robust compliance program.”

Adidas and its employees and consultants were at the center of a federal investigation into bribes and other corruption in college basketball. The Jayhawks are the company’s flagship program and signed a 14-year, $196 million apparel and sponsorship extension in April 2019.

During a federal trial in October 2018, Adidas executive James Gatto, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins were found guilty on felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They are appealing their convictions.

In September 2019, former Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola was sentenced to probation and fined for his role in pay-for-play schemes to steer recruits to Kansas and other Adidas-sponsored programs.

Gatto was accused of working with Gassnola to facilitate $90,000 from Adidas to former Jayhawks recruit Billy Preston’s mother and agreeing to pay $20,000 to Fenny Falmagne, current Kansas player Silvio De Sousa’s guardian, to help him “get out from under” a pay-for-play scheme to attend Maryland, which is sponsored by Under Armour.

The NCAA also included allegations that Gassnola provided $15,000 to an unidentified individual to give to the mother of recruit Deandre Ayton, who signed with Arizona, and that Gassnola “communicated in a text message to Self that he had let Self down” when Ayton signed with the Wildcats.

“Regarding the men’s basketball allegations, very few facts are in dispute,” the NCAA reply said. “The institution does not dispute that Adidas and its employee and consultant provided at least $100,000 to families of three men’s basketball student-athletes the institution was recruiting. Bill Self (Self), head men’s basketball coach, and Kurtis Townsend (Townsend), assistant men’s basketball coach, also do not dispute many of the facts related to Adidas and its representatives having contact with prospects, and that they regularly communicated with Adidas representatives about their recruitment of prospects.

“However, where the parties diverge from the NCAA enforcement staff is on the key issue of responsibility for this conduct. They assert that Adidas and four of its employees or consultants are not representatives of the institution’s athletics interests, arguing the enforcement staff’s analysis is novel, unprecedented and never previously contemplated by the NCAA membership.”

The NCAA enforcement staff contends NCAA membership “feared shoe apparel company involvement and influence in the recruitment of elite student-athletes and then put safeguards into place in an attempt to prevent what occurred in this case.”

“The institution failed to control and monitor the relationship between Adidas’ representatives with its storied men’s basketball program,” the NCAA reply said. “This failure led to TJ Gassnola (Gassnola), a convicted criminal and then Adidas outside counsel, having unfiltered access to the men’s basketball program and allowed for Gassnola and Adidas to profoundly influence the institution’s recruitment of elite men’s basketball student-athletes.

“In fact, Self and Townsend embraced, welcomed and encouraged Gassnola and Adidas’ other representatives’ impermissible involvement. When boosters commit violations, the membership has clearly spoken through its legislative authority and infractions case precedent that the institutions should be held responsible.”

Louisville received a notice of allegations from the NCAA on Monday, including one Level I allegation involving improper recruiting offers for former signee Brian Bowen II and the coach of another prospect and three Level II allegations, including one against former basketball coach Rick Pitino.

Louisville also is accused of failing to adequately monitor the recruitment of an incoming, high-profile student-athlete.

The NCAA alleges that Pitino, who recently was hired at Iona, did not satisfy his head coach responsibility when he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Former assistant coaches Kenny Johnson and Jordan Fair are accused of providing impermissible benefits and transportation and having impermissible contact with a recruit.

Louisville is the seventh program to receive an NCAA Notice of Allegations stemming from the FBI investigation into college basketball. Kansas, NC State, Oklahoma State and South Carolina were all accused of Level I violations. USC and TCU did not publicly release their notices or the allegations they were facing.

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Sources previously told ESPN that NCAA enforcement staff members also were investigating Arizona, Auburn, Creighton, LSU and possibly other programs.

Louisville officials and the former coaches have 90 days to respond to the NCAA. Athletic director Vince Tyra said during a teleconference with reporters Monday that the university could elect to adjudicate the case through the NCAA’s newly created Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), which includes investigators and hearing officers with no direct ties to the NCAA or its member schools. The IARP is handling a similar case involving NC State. Its decisions are final, and there are no appeals.

In a joint statement from Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi and Tyra, the university said it is reviewing the notice of allegations and will begin formulating a response to the charges.

“It is important to remember that these are allegations — not facts — and the University will diligently prepare a full and comprehensive response and, absent an unforeseen development, submit it within the prescribed ninety-day period,” the Louisville statement said. “For those allegations that are proven to be factual, the University will take responsibility, as accountability is one of our core Cardinal Principles.

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Jeff Borzello reports on the latest round of allegations Louisville is facing from the NCAA.

“However, we will not hesitate to push back where the evidence does not support the NCAA’s interpretations or allegations of charges. U of L has a right and a responsibility to stand up for itself when faced with unfair or unfounded charges and will always act in the best interests of the institution. Our legal team has begun the process of reviewing the Notice and will prepare a thorough response on behalf of the University.”

Iona said it is “aware of the report.”

“Prior to hiring Coach Pitino, we conducted extensive due diligence. We support Coach Pitino and expect him to respond within the process,” the school said in a statement.

Pitino also responded to the allegation against him.

“I firmly disagree with this allegation and will follow the protocols in addressing this allegation through the administrative process. Due to NCAA bylaws on public disclosure on enforcement issues, I will have no further comment on this matter until it is resolved.”

Much like in the NCAA compliance cases involving Kansas and NC State, the NCAA enforcement staff has alleged that Adidas and Adidas employees and associates were boosters and agents of Louisville during the period of the alleged violations and therefore acting on its behalf when they allegedly engaged in violations of NCAA bylaws.

In the notice of allegations, the NCAA enforcement staff alleges that Fair “was knowingly involved” in providing between $11,800 and $13,500 in impermissible benefits to Brad Augustine, an Orlando, Florida-based grassroots director, to influence a player to sign with the Cardinals. Former Louisville recruit Balsa Koprivica, now at Florida State, was a player in Augustine’s program at the time.

Johnson, now an assistant coach at La Salle, is accused of “knowingly” providing a $1,300 extra benefit to Bowen. The NCAA alleges that Pitino, whom Louisville fired in October 2017, “violated head coach responsibility legislation when he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the men’s basketball program.”

“Specifically, the Adidas corporation (Adidas), a representative of the institution’s athletics interests, and its employee, James Gatto (Gatto), then director of global sports marketing for basketball, informed Pitino that he would assist in the recruitment of then men’s basketball student-athlete (Bowen),” the notice of allegations said. “Despite (Bowen’s) belated interest in the institution, Pitino’s knowledge of another institution’s alleged cash offer for (Bowen’s) commitment and Gatto possessing inside knowledge of the institution’s interest in and recruitment of (Bowen), Pitino failed to conduct an additional inquiry as to Gatto’s type or level of assistance, which included a $100,000 impermissible offer and $25,000 extra benefit.”

Under NCAA rules, Pitino can receive a show-cause order and be suspended for up to half a season for Level II violations. The length of the suspension is determined by the committee on infractions and depends on the “severity of the violation(s) committed, the level of the coach’s involvement and any other aggravating or mitigating factors.”

The NCAA enforcement staff noted in the notice of allegations that at the time Pitino allegedly failed to promote compliance in his program regarding Bowen’s recruitment, “he was awaiting a decision from the Committee on Infractions and subsequently subject to a show-cause order as a result of the decision, a Level I head coach responsibility infraction.”

Among the other aggravating factors cited by the enforcement staff in the notice of allegations are Louisville’s history of rules noncompliance (the Cardinals have been placed on NCAA probation three times since 1996); that the violations were premeditated, deliberate or committed after substantial planning; that one or more violations caused significant ineligibility to a student-athlete; and intentional, willful or blatant disregard for NCAA constitution and bylaws.

In September 2017, Louisville officials ruled Bowen ineligible after an FBI investigation uncovered that an Adidas employee and others conspired to pay his father $100,000 for him to sign with the Cardinals. After Bowen transferred to South Carolina, the NCAA ruled him ineligible for the 2018-19 season.

Bowen, 21, never played a game in college and wasn’t selected in the 2019 NBA draft. He signed a two-way contract with the Indiana Pacers in July 2019. He played in five games for the Pacers in the 2019-20 season.

Louisville’s recruitment of Bowen, a former five-star recruit from Saginaw, Michigan, was at the center of the federal government’s investigation into bribes and other corruption in the sport.

Gatto, former consultant Merl Code and aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins were convicted in October 2018 for their roles in pay-for-play schemes to steer recruits to Adidas-sponsored schools. The three men are appealing their convictions.

In the spring of 2017, Louisville was not involved in Bowen’s recruitment, and he had never been to campus. He favored Arizona, according to his father, Brian Bowen Sr., but they were worried about more experienced players being ahead of him.

“Louisville offered him a scholarship as a freshman, but they’d been off the radar,” Bowen Sr. testified during the federal criminal trial. “We hadn’t really talked to them.”

After Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins returned to Arizona for the 2017-18 season and Donovan Mitchell left Louisville for the NBA, Bowen Sr. said Dawkins approached him about the possibility of Bowen II playing for the Cardinals.

Federal prosecutor Ted Diskant showed the jury text messages between Bowen Sr. and Pitino on May 24, 2017, with Bowen Sr. asking Pitino to talk to his son.

The government also played a voicemail that Gatto left for Pitino on May 27, 2017.

“I just got a call about a player I want to discuss with you,” Gatto said.

On May 29, 2017, Bowen II, his mother, his father, a friend and Dawkins took an unofficial visit to Louisville. Bowen Sr. told the jury that Dawkins paid for the visit.

On June 1, 2017, Bowen II committed to Louisville and signed a financial aid agreement with the school. Shortly thereafter, Gatto left another voicemail for Pitino, according to the government.

“Coach, Gatto,” he said. “Hope all is well. Checking in. Heard the good news, um, and it’s going to be good, and I’m excited for you guys.”

After Adidas officials made an initial offer of $60,000 to $80,000, according to Dawkins, Bowen Sr. said the offer to attend Louisville went up to $100,000 because Dawkins alleged that Billy Preston, who had chosen to play at Kansas, received $100,000 from Adidas for his commitment. The money was to be paid in four installments of $25,000.

John Carns, Louisville’s senior associate athletic director for compliance, told the jury that he was unaware of the payments at the time.

In an interview with ESPN in 2017, Pitino reiterated that he had “no knowledge” of any payment to Bowen’s family, citing a lie detector test that he took in October of that year.

Pitino said of Bowen: “He fell into our lap in recruiting. Obviously, now with the circumstances behind it, there’s more to it than meets the eye. But I believe Brian Bowen chose the University of Louisville because he loved the visit, he loved his future teammates, and he wanted to play for me. I don’t think he’s involved in this in any way. Now, am I being naive? I don’t know. I just believe in that young man.”

The NCAA placed Louisville on probation for four years in June 2017, following a two-year investigation into allegations that a former Louisville staff member arranged for striptease dances and sex acts for players and recruits during parties at an on-campus dormitory from 2011 to 2015. The Cardinals were also forced to vacate their 2013 national championship and 2012 Final Four appearance, and they self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015-16 season.

That scandal stemmed from allegations made by former escort Katina Powell, who wrote in a book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” that former Louisville staffer Andre McGee paid her $10,000 for 22 shows at the Cardinals’ dormitory from 2010 to 2014.

Pitino denied knowledge of McGee’s actions, but the NCAA ruled that he violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules by failing to monitor McGee. Pitino received a five-game ACC suspension, and McGee was given a 10-year show cause.

“Since arriving at Louisville, I have seen up close the incredible changes that have taken place under the leadership of President Bendapudi and Director of Athletics Vince Tyra in our university and in our athletics department. The shared values and commitment to integrity is evident in their actions and has always been demanded in the programs that my staff and I have led,” current Louisville coach Chris Mack said in a statement.

“While I understand the allegations brought today, I am confident that the University will do what is right, which includes fighting back on those charges that we simply do not agree with, and for which the facts do not substantiate. The future is bright for Cardinal Basketball. Our focus will continue to be on our tremendous student-athletes.”

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

The NCAA says hearings and oral arguments in infractions cases have been suspended through May 31 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The NCAA announced the move in a statement on its website Friday. It applies to cases before the infractions committee, appeals and the new Independent Accountability Resolution Process created to handle complex cases in the wake of the federal corruption investigation into college basketball.

Deadlines for schools in pending cases to file briefs and other documentation remain in effect, including the release of rulings.

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The U.S. Tennis Association says its best not to play the sport right now because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a posting on its website on Friday, the USTA called it “in the best interest of society to take a collective pause” from tennis.

The statement from the organization that runs the U.S. Open Grand Slam tournament said there have not been specific studies about tennis and the COVID-19 illness.

But there is “the possibility” that germs could be transferred among people via sharing and touching of tennis balls, net posts, court surfaces, benches or gate handles.

So the USTA wants players “to be patient in our return to the courts.”

In the meantime, the group encouraged people to create what it termed “tennis-at-home” variations.

The U.S. Open is still scheduled to start Aug. 31 in New York.

The All England Club announced this week that it had canceled this year’s edition of Wimbledon. The French Open was postponed from May to September.

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Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is contributing $1 million to Penn Medicine to establish the COVID-19 Immunology Defense Fund.

Funds will support research program to test frontline health care workers for potential immunity to COVID-19 and for Penn Medicine’s researchers to develop real-time research protocols to battle the disease.

“We have reached a critical point in our fight against COVID-19 in which testing for antibodies is absolutely essential both to protect our front-line workers in the short term and to develop treatments and vaccines that will save lives and help defeat the virus,” Lurie said in a release.

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Calgary, Alberta’s ban on public events until June 30 includes National Hockey League and Canadian Football League games should those leagues resume before then.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi made the announcement Friday. Leagues, games and tournaments around the world have been suspended, canceled or postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The NHL suspended operations March 12 with 189 regular-season games remaining. The Calgary Flames were in playoff position sitting third in the Pacific Division. All CFL training camps have been postponed.

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Wyoming says football coach Craig Bohl and wife Leia have made a $100,000 gift to fund the scholarships of spring-sport senior athletes who plan to return to school next year after having their seasons canceled by the coronavirus outbreak.

The school said the estimated cost of the scholarships will be $70,000. The NCAA announced earlier this week that spring-sport athletes would be granted an extra year of eligibility and seniors could return next year without being counted against scholarship limits. But those athletes would not be guaranteed scholarship funds. How much athletes received would be up to each individual school.

Wyoming announced the remainder of the Bohls’ donation would go to supporting the athletic training table and nutritional needs.

Earlier this week, Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman announced he was taking a 10% salary cut through Dec. 31.

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The CONCACAF Nations League semifinals and final in June have been called off.

The U.S. had been scheduled to play Honduras on June 4 in Houston, with Mexico meeting Costa Rica in the other semifinal. The winners were to play three days later at Arlington, Texas.

The Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football said Friday it made the decision due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It is not yet known when the matches will be rescheduled.

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The Ottawa Senators have offered use of the Canadian Tire Centre, the building’s nine adjacent parking lots and three other community arenas affiliated with the team to the Ontario government for temporary use during the coronavirus pandemic.

The NHL team said Friday that owner Eugene Melnyk approached the province this week and is awaiting a reply. The offer comes with the potential use of 17 unleased private suites inside Ottawa’s NHL rink — including Melnyk’s — and amounts to roughly 200,000 square feet of adaptable space.

The NHL paused its season March 12. Six members of the Senators’ organization, including at least two players, tested positive for COVID-19, as did the radio color commentator.

England’s contracted men’s players are donating 500,000 pounds ($610,000) to the England and Wales Cricket Board and selected good causes, and the England’s women’s squad is taking a pay cut for April, May and June because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The players are all making 20% pay cuts for the next three months to fund the voluntary gesture.

They plan to detail the charitable donations next week.

The announcement by the Professional Cricketers’ Association followed talks over how England’s leading players would respond to the crisis after a request from the ECB for 20% pay cuts.

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The SailGP global league has suspended its season through the end of June due to the coronavirus pandemic, wiping out a regatta scheduled for New York on June 12-13. Ticket purchasers will be automatically refunded by the end of June.

SailGP already canceled its San Francisco regatta that had been set for May 2-3.

Two more regattas are on the schedule for 2020, at Cowes, England, Aug. 14-15 and at Copenhagen Sept. 11-12.

The opening regatta of SailGP’s second season, held in Sydney in late February, was won by British sailing star Sir Ben Ainslie, who also is leading an America’s Cup campaign. SailGP was co-founded by former America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts of New Zealand and tech billionaire Larry Ellison.

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FIFA has extended the age limit for the men’s soccer tournament at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic.

FIFA says it also postponed two women’s age-group World Cups due this year, and no international games will be played in the early June dates protected for national team call-ups.

The amended Olympic rule retains the “players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997” standard for the Tokyo Games.

It means players eligible for the intended under-23 tournament in 2020 can still play in Japan at age 24 next year. Men’s soccer kicks off ahead of the July 23, 2021 opening ceremony in Tokyo.

The 16 teams at the Tokyo Olympics next year can also select three over-age players in their rosters. A stellar lineup includes Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Spain.

The decision was made on Friday by a FIFA panel of soccer officials worldwide created to address the soccer shutdown.

Two women’s World Cup tournaments — the Under-20s hosted by Panama and Costa Rica in August and September, and the Under-17s in India in November — are postponed.

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Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper is donating $500,000 to help coronavirus relief efforts in his hometown of Las Vegas and in Philadelphia.

Harper and his wife, Kayla, are giving money to Direct Relief and Three Square in Las Vegas and Philabundance in Philadelphia.

“Now is the time to come together and adhere to the guidelines of medical professionals! We are wishing the best to all with our prayers during this time,” the couple said in a statement.

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The Sacramento Kings’ former arena and practice facility is being converted into a surge field hospital for COVID-19 and trauma care patients.

The arena, in suburban Natomas, was the Kings’ home from 1988 until 2016, when they moved into a downtown facility.

The Kings and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services say the hospital will have approximately 360 beds along with additional hospital services.

The Kings are also donating 100,000 medical masks and $250,000 to community service organizations.

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The PGA Tour executive who oversees player activity is the first PGA Tour employee to have tested positive for COVID-19.

Ross Berlin, the tour’s senior vice president of player affairs, says he was self-isolating after The Players Championship was canceled when he complained of losing his sense of taste and smell. His doctor put him through a coronavirus hotline interview and told him he wasn’t a high-risk candidate without a fever or breathing difficulties.

Berlin says a few days later, on March 27, he had a fever. He at first was told he had pneumonia, but a test came back positive for the virus.

He says he called everyone with whom he has been in contact — including his barber — and is feeling better. He says doctors told him players he might have seen on March 13 shouldn’t be concerned because he’s beyond the 14-day incubation period.

Berlin has been in various positions with the tour since 1998, with a brief spell as Michelle Wie’s first agent. He says his wife is awaiting her test results, though she has not shown any symptoms.

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The Carolina Hurricanes are putting more than half of full-time staff on furlough through June 7 while taking steps they said would ensure affected employees don’t lose income amid the coronavirus pandemic that has led to the suspension of the NHL season.

The team announced the plan Friday with the team and PNC Arena having shut down operations last month to ensure social-distancing practices.

The team says the furlough applies to about 55% of full-time employees, who would be directed to access unemployment benefits through the government’s $2.2 trillion economic rescue package.

Furloughed employees ineligible to collect full base salaries through unemployment would receive a bonus from the organization when the furlough ends “to be made whole.”

Additionally, furloughed employees will keep healthcare benefits, with the team covering premium payments during that time.

In a statement, team president and general manager Don Waddell says the organization “remains committed to taking care of our staff as well as possible given these unprecedented circumstances.” Waddell said the plan “protects our employees from financial hardship while also mitigating the losses suffered by the company during this shutdown.”

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Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, as well as All-Star center Joel Embiid made a combined contribution of $1.3 million to Penn Medicine.

The money established a funding campaign for COVID-19 antibody testing of front line health care workers. The pledge from Embiid, Harris and Blitzer was expected to help boost efforts to quickly identify health care workers who may have immunity to the virus.

Embiid says “we need to do everything possible to help those heroes who are putting their lives at risk to help us.” The gifts will support new experimental serology tests that detect antibodies to determine if a person has ever been infected with the virus-identifying staff and providers that might have immunity.

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One of the major summer baseball leagues for college players has canceled its season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioner Bruce Alger of the Valley Baseball League in Virginia said the executive committee unanimously agreed the risk to players’ health would be too great.

The 11-team Valley League has been sanctioned by the NCAA since 1961 and began using wooden bats in 1993. It’s among dozens of leagues where college players spend their summers.

The Cape Cod League, generally considered the top summer league, said it had not decided whether to cancel its season. Play is scheduled to begin June 13.

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Major League Lacrosse has postponed the start of its season because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The six-team league was scheduled to begin its 20th season on May 30.

In a statement, the league says “this decision was made to safeguard the health of our players, fans and staff, as well as those within our MLL communities as a result of the global pandemic.”

MLL has teams in Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Long Island, New York, Annapolis, Maryland, and Fairfield, Connescticut.

No date has been set for the season to begin. The league says it will be guided by CDC recommendations.

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Company-wide layoffs by NASCAR on Friday were part of previously planned restructuring. NASCAR did not reveal the number of employees affected. NASCAR “centralized” Iowa Speedway by dismissing most of its staff to instead use the employees from Kansas Speedway. That track is roughly four hours away from Iowa Speedway. The personnel changes were planned as part of restructuring from last years’ merger of NASCAR and track operator sister company International Speedway Corp.

NASCAR already has issued pay-cuts to its entire organization. It last week cut executives’ salary 25%, and 20% for other employees as stock car’s sanctioning body adapts to the new coronavirus pandemic. The 38-race NASCAR schedule is the longest in sports spanning nearly 11 months and the season was suspended four races into the year. The next publicly scheduled race is May 9 at Martinsville Speedway, but Virginia is under a state-at-home order into June. NASCAR has privately floated to teams revised 2020 schedules but not announced anything about rescheduling its races.

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The Southeastern Conference is extending its ban on practices and organized gatherings through the end of May.

The ban includes team and individual practices, meetings and other gatherings — whether voluntary or required — as well as camps and coaches clinics.

The powerhouse league had previously announced that in-person athletics activities were suspended through April 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Also Friday, the conference said virtual film review that does not include physical activity is permissible. Effective April 6, activity of this nature will be expanded to four hours a week consistent with an NCAA rule waiver and NCAA legislation, an increase from the previously permissible maximum of two hours a week.

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A gaming site is donating $20,000 for pandemic relief in New Jersey and giving out another $20,000 to fans who can predict the results of the NBA 2K tournament among NBA players.

The 16-player tournament begins Friday night and will air on ESPN. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant is the overall No. 1 seed and opens play against No. 16 Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat in the first round.

The winner of the week-long tournament will receive a $100,00 donation to a coronavirus-related relief effort of their choice.

BetMGM has a free bracket game available on its website to all verified New Jersey players. All competitors with a perfect bracket will split $20,000 in prizes.

If there are no perfect brackets, the prize will be split among the highest scorers.

BetMGM is also donating the same amount to the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund.

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The Serie A says it will consider resuming only “when health conditions permit it.”

The Italian league has been suspended since March 9, when the government ordered a nationwide lockdown.

A new government decree issued this week prevents clubs from training — even in small groups — for at least another 10 days.

Twelve rounds of Serie A remain, plus four games that were postponed from the weekend of Feb. 22. Also, the Italian Cup semifinals were interrupted after the first leg.

Following a video conference meeting of all 20 Serie A clubs on Friday, the league said “it will await the decrees from the government and place in primary consideration taking care of the athletes’ health and all people involved.”

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Officials say they’re working to find a new date for the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

The Maryland Jockey Club and Stronach Group announced Friday that whenever the Preakness is run in 2020, it will go on without infield activities that had been one of the race’s biggest traditions. The Preakness was scheduled for May 16 in Baltimore.

The organizations say in a joint statement finding a new date for the Preakness “will take into consideration all of the recommended best practices from local and governmental health authorities to protect our community.” The Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 to Sept. 5. No decision has yet been made on the Belmont Stakes, which is scheduled for June 6 at Belmont Park in New York.

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The Lawn Tennis Association is giving up to 20 million pounds ($24 million) through grants and interest-free loans to help venues, coaches, officials, and players in Britain during the coronavirus pandemic.

Singles players world ranked from 101 to 750 and doubles players ranked from 101 to 250 — who are not already receiving funding — are eligible for grants, and there will be increased prize money for British tour events if the tours resume. This week, Wimbledon was canceled and the tours suspended the British grass-court season.

Most of the focus of the LTA package is on protecting the grassroots, including continued funding for development centers and the two national academies, and supporting full-time coaches.

Chief executive Scott Lloyd and the executive team will take temporary pay cuts of 20%, while some staff will be furloughed next week but will be paid 80% of their salary.

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Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce says team employees have been tested after exhibiting symptoms for the new coronavirus.

He says no players or members of the coaching staff have shown any symptoms or been tested.

Pierce said Friday he doesn’t know the identity of those who were tested. He said at least 18 or 19 days have passed since any members of the team would have had contact with the employees.

“Everyone that has been tested, the symptoms they had or reported, they do feel better,” Pierce said. He said he has “become a master of this Zoom app” while having video conferencing with players, assistants and other NBA coaches.

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The NFL’s Indianapolis Colts are giving season-ticket holders the option to defer April’s payment until June 15.

On Friday, team officials emailed letters to those with payment plans, giving them a Wednesday deadline to accept the offer.

The final two installments were initially due April 15 and May 15. The Colts have not announced any changes about the May payment.

“In light of the unique circumstances right now, we have decided to modify the payment options for members of our season ticket family on payment plans,” the letter reads in part.

The move comes one day after the Indiana High School Athletic Association canceled the entire spring sports season. State officials had previously announced all schools would remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

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Mental health experts who were supposed to be available to help American athletes at the Tokyo Olympics are being asked to start working now.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says the experts are leading discussions about mental health and wellness for athletes and staff in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Those same experts will also be on hand at the Tokyo Games, which have been postponed a year.

The USOPC also disclosed the 13 members of a new external mental health task force created to support American athletes and coaches. It includes Olympians, doctors and the head of The Speedy Foundation, a mental-health organization named after the late Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, an Olympic silver medalist in aerials.

That group is working with an internal group at the USOC being led by chief medical officer Jonathan Finnoff.

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The world heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev on June 20 has been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The fight was scheduled to take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and will be Joshua’s first defense of his IBF, WBA, WBO belts since he regained them from Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing, says a new date for the fight is being worked on.

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More than a dozen U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes received reassurance this week when Toyota North America announced it would extend their endorsement contracts through the rescheduled Tokyo Games in 2021.

The auto company and major Olympic sponsor has 17 U.S. athletes under contract. They include swimmer David Boudia, gymnast Laurie Hernandez, Paralympian Oksana Masters and sprinter Michael Norman.

The status of endorsement contracts is a major concern to athletes because most signed deals that were set to expire after this year’s scheduled Olympics. They have been rescheduled for 2021 and that has forced corporations to reset and rethink the structure of their deals.

Visa is another major sponsor and has also told its global roster of nearly 100 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls that it will extend sponsorships through 2021.

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World Triathlon has extended its suspension of all events from the end of April to the end of June because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The latest events to be called off include the Yokohama leg of the world series, three African Cups, three American events, four Asian Cups, one event in Oceania and eight in Europe.

World Triathlon president Marisol Casado says “the suspension of all activities doesn’t mean at all that we stop working” on finding alternative dates.

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The WNBA has postponed the start of its season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league was set to open training camps on April 26 and the regular season was to begin on May 15. The WNBA will still hold a “virtual” draft on April 17.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “While the league continues to use this time to conduct scenario-planning regarding new start dates and innovative formats, our guiding principle will continue to be the health and safety of the players, fans and employees.”

The WNBA, which was set to begin its 24th season, is the longest running professional women’s sports league.

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The Premier League has pushed back its restart date and says play will not resume at the beginning of May.

The league had given a return date of April 30 amid the coronavirus outbreak but now says the season “will only return when it is safe and appropriate to do so.”

It says there remained a “combined objective” for all remaining domestic league and cup matches to be played to maintain the integrity of each competition.

The league also says it has consulted players over a pay deduction or deferral of 30%.

It also voted to advance funds of 125 million pounds ($150 million) to clubs in the English Football League and fifth-tier National League.

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German soccer club Borussia Dortmund is converting part of its stadium into a treatment center amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bundesliga club says a space inside Germany’s largest soccer stadium has been made available for medical staff to examine people with virus symptoms.

The move comes after an influx of suspected coronavirus cases put existing facilities in the city of Dortmund under strain.

The center will open on Saturday.

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The Tour de Suisse has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, removing one of the few cycling events left on the calendar before the Tour de France is due to start.

The nine-day Swiss race was scheduled to run from June 6-14 and is designed to give riders a chance to prepare for the three-week Tour de France. The French race is still scheduled to start on June 27.

Colombian rider Egan Bernal won in Switzerland last year ahead of his first Tour de France title.

Organizers in Switzerland say its “the first time since the Second World War that the traditional event will not take place.”

They say “the risk of additional strain on the Swiss health system due to possible crashes during racing is high.”

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The Russian anti-doping agency is preparing to freeze all testing until May to comply with new government measures shutting down work deemed non-essential.

RUSADA deputy CEO Margarita Pakhnotskaya tells The Associated Press that her agency is looking for possible exemptions to instructions from President Vladimir Putin for all Russians except those working in essential sectors to stay home through April 30.

Pakhnotskaya says in a text message that she “will check on Monday the possibility to receive special permission” from government bodies for staff to collect samples from athletes. There will be no testing this month if that isn’t granted.

Testing has been suspended since March 27 under a previous round of measures.

Isolation measures around the world have led to a sharp drop in anti-doping tests. That’s led to warnings that some athletes could take advantage of the situation. The World Anti-Doping Agency says it is trying to track gaps in testing.

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Former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang was among 20 people arrested in Kenya for locking themselves in a bar and drinking alcohol in breach of a curfew imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Police say the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist was among those detained at a police station in Iten, one of Kenya’s famous high-altitude towns where distance runners train. They were in breach of a 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. The group included a local politician.

Kipsang, who is also a police officer, was provisionally suspended this year from track and field and charged with doping offenses that include tampering with doping samples. He has also won the New York, London and Berlin marathons.

Twelve athletes were arrested in Iten earlier this week for breaching Kenyan government regulations on social gatherings during the COVID-19 crisis. The runners were arrested for training in a group, which has been banned in Kenya. Training camps have been shut down and athletes must train alone.

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Two women separately accused University of South Florida football player LaDarrius Jackson of sexual assault in 2017, saying the 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end forced himself on them in their own homes.

Police arrested Jackson twice in two weeks on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment. He pleaded not guilty and posted bond while awaiting trial.

The university also opened a student conduct case against the then-22-year-old junior. It determined he violated its policy against “non-consensual sexual intercourse” and expelled him.

Yet one year later, Jackson played before a crowd of nearly 30,000 fans as Tennessee State University took on Vanderbilt in Nashville. Jackson played six games for TSU in 2018, transferring there while facing the possibility of decades behind bars in Florida.

That his expulsion and ongoing criminal case posed no obstacle to his collegiate football career isn’t unusual. 

College athletes can lose their NCAA eligibility in numerous ways, but sexual assault is not one of them. Even when facing or convicted of criminal charges, even when suspended or expelled from school, NCAA rules allow them to transfer elsewhere and keep playing. 

An investigation by the USA TODAY Network identified at least 28 current and former athletes since 2014 who transferred to NCAA schools despite being administratively disciplined for a sexual offense at another college. It found an additional five who continued playing after being convicted or disciplined for such offenses through the courts. 

In addition to Jackson, who through his attorney declined to comment, these players include a pair of receivers from University of Oregon and Ohio State, a kicker from University of Kentucky, a defensive end from Purdue, and an All-American sprinter now at Texas Tech who helped the track team win its first-ever national championship in June. 

The NCAA notoriously metes out punishments to student athletes for bad grades, smoking marijuana or accepting money and free meals. But nowhere in its 440-page Division I rulebook does it cite penalties for sexual, violent or criminal misconduct. And unlike the pro leagues, the NCAA has no personal conduct policy and no specific penalties for those who commit sexual assault.  

The NCAA’s highest governance body, a group of university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors known as the Board of Governors, is well aware of the issue. But it has resisted calls by eight U.S. senators and its own study commission to fix it.  

The NCAA declined to comment for this story.

The list of 33 players identified by the news organization — which operates 261 daily newspapers — is by no means an exhaustive count. 

The USA TODAY Network filed public records requests for campus disciplinary records at 226 public universities in the NCAA’s highest echelon, Division I. It also combed through hundreds of pages of police reports, court filings and other documents, and spoke with dozens of school officials, victims, lawyers, researchers and advocates. 

But 5 of every 6 universities refused to provide the records, even though federal law gives them explicit permission to do so. The disciplinary records from the schools that complied revealed the names of hundreds of students found responsible for sexual offenses — many of whom the USA TODAY Network identified as athletes who transferred and continued playing afterward. 

Recent research has shown that a small fraction of students commit a majority of campus sexual assaults. That makes the practice of bringing athletes previously disciplined for sexual assault onto new campuses “an extreme liability,” said John Foubert, a rape prevention expert for the U.S. Army and dean of the Union University education college in Tennessee. 

“I think it’s a fundamentally stupid idea,” Foubert said. 

Campus disciplinary proceedings often are criticized as unfair toward the accused. Some students have complained that schools violated their due process rights and won favorable rulings in court. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is working to allow schools to increase the recommended evidentiary threshold in those cases.  

Some also argue that athletes disciplined by their schools are innocent until proven guilty in court and should not be disqualified from competing. However, athletes convicted of sex crimes and registered as sex offenders — including former Air Force football players Jamil Cooks and Anthony Daniels — are also among those who’ve received second chances. 

Others criticize colleges for creating the sense of entitlement that can translate into sexually violent behavior. Athletes routinely receive exclusive access to multimillion-dollar facilities, free food, clothing, tutoring, training, medical treatment and equipment, priority registration in classes, full-ride scholarships and even monetary stipends.  

If colleges and coaches do not instill in players a sense of responsibility that comes with these privileges, it can set them up to fail, said Laura Finley, a professor of sociology and criminology at Barry University in Florida.  

“They are often your most idolized people on campus,” Finley said. “They may be getting preferential treatment by university officials or other people already. They are oftentimes used to doing what they want and being the big man on campus.” 

The USA TODAY Network reached out to nearly 100 coaches, athletics directors and athletes for comment for this story. All but two coaches and one athletic director declined interviews. Others provided statements instead, or referred questions to university spokespeople and attorneys. Those sources said their schools scrutinized the players thoroughly, believed they were safe for campus and so far haven’t received subsequent sexual misconduct reports involving them.

But that approach may expose universities to what California civil rights attorney John Manly called a “ticking time bomb.” They could be liable for legal damages if the transfers hurt someone there, and in most states, so could administrators and coaches, Manly said.

“If that time bomb goes off while that person’s at school, that university has full liability,” said Manly, who represented victims of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor sentenced to prison for sexually abusing young athletes in his care.  

Michigan State did, in fact, recruit a troubled athlete who went on to reoffend while playing for the Spartans. In 2016, head football coach Mark Dantonio signed high school standout Auston Robertson despite knowledge of previous accusations of sexual assault by at least two women in his home state of Indiana.  

One year later, Robertson was charged with raping one of his MSU teammates’ girlfriends. He was dismissed from the university, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in 2018 and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.  

MSU now is embroiled in a lawsuit filed by a former recruiting director, who claims the university wrongly terminated him in part over that case, despite his warnings to Dantonio not to sign Robertson. 

For survivors of campus rape, the issue is not one of legal liability or policy consistency. It’s about the moral and ethical implications of re-elevating the perpetrators of their traumatic assaults to positions of prominence while leaving the aggrieved to pick up the pieces.  

“It blows my mind how transactional it is, and how they don’t think about the consequences for the student body or for the school,” said Daisy Tackett, a former University of Kansas rower who in 2015 reported being raped by a KU football player. 

In that case, KU found long snapper Jordan Goldenberg responsible for engaging in “non-consensual sex” with Tackett and sexually harassing another rower in a separate incident, documents show. He was banned from campus, only to resurface on the Indiana State University football team a few months later. 

Goldenberg did not respond to multiple phone and social media messages seeking comment. 

Indiana State told the USA TODAY Network that only assistant coach Gary Hyman “was aware of Jordan Goldenberg’s student conduct background” at the time. Hyman had previously coached Goldenberg at KU. Once the news of his transfer broke, Indiana State dismissed Goldenberg from the team and suspended Hyman for two days with pay.  

Hyman knew Goldenberg got in trouble at KU but didn’t know why or that he had been expelled, he said. 

“I deeply regret that I was not more communicative with the limited information I had about Goldenberg,” said Hyman, who is now the University of Texas at San Antonio football team’s special teams coordinator. “At no time, though, was there any deception or ill intent on my part.”  

There should have been rules to stop Goldenberg from joining the team in the first place, Tackett said.  

“There are probably millions of other people that they could recruit,” Tackett said. “I don’t get why it’s so hard for the NCAA to say, ‘Rape is bad.’” 

Schools are required by federal law to investigate sexual assault allegations involving students, including college athletes. For those found responsible, the highest form of punishment a school can impose — even in the most egregious cases — is expulsion.  

But expelled college athletes can simply transfer elsewhere and keep playing. 

The NCAA, meanwhile, employs a nearly 60-member enforcement staff to investigate potential violations of amateurism and academic eligibility rules, weighing in on issues like whether players ate too much pasta at a banquet or if a recruit’s father wrongly accepted a razor and shaving cream while on the road. 

It has suspended athlete playing privileges for infractions as minor as lying about buying a used mattress from an assistant coach. And it can impose permanent bans for major violations, not only ending players’ college sports careers but jeopardizing their scholarships and chances of going pro.  

Many experts criticize the NCAA for placing too much emphasis on minor infractions and not enough on serious misconduct like sexual violence. But one former NCAA investigator noted that schools could solve the problem on their own by refusing to recruit such athletes. 

“It’s another example of schools compromising their values to win games and make money,” said Tim Nevius, who led dozens of NCAA rules enforcement cases from 2007 to 2012 and now runs a New York law practice representing college athletes in eligibility issues.  

Right now, the USA TODAY Network investigation found, troubled transfers easily gain acceptance at new schools where they can get a fresh start. 

For Jackson, the former University of South Florida player accused of rape, he found acceptance in Tennessee. 

Jackson was arrested by USF police on May 1, 2017, on charges of sexually assaulting a female student earlier that day. According to her statement in a campus police report, Jackson forcibly pushed her into her room, straddled her on her bed and masturbated on her chest.  

A day later, a different female student told the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office that Jackson trapped her in the bathroom of her apartment, forcibly removed her clothes and raped her in March.  

USF expelled Jackson later that May after he accepted responsibility, according to records obtained by the USA TODAY Network, not contesting the charge and waiving his right to appeal. 

The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office is prosecuting both criminal cases. Between them, Jackson is charged with three counts of felony sexual battery, two counts of false imprisonment and a count of misdemeanor battery. He pleaded not guilty. 

Jackson sat out the 2017 season, but by 2018 he was back on the field in a Tennessee State uniform under head coach Rod Reed. 

Tennessee State officials declined to answer questions about Jackson.  

University spokesman Emmanuel Freeman said the school “is not always made aware of matters in which a student may have been involved at a previous institution.” Generally, he said, if TSU discovers information about a prospective student, it “evaluates the risks associated with” his or her presence on campus. 

“In all instances,” Freeman said, “the institution’s paramount interest rests with ensuring the safety of its students and campus community.”

Jackson’s academic transcript noted he was not in good disciplinary standing because of his expulsion, records show. A Google search also would have yielded alarming results. 

Jackson wasn’t the first accused player Reed added to his team.  

Quarterback-turned-wide receiver Treon Harris joined Tennessee State in 2017, a year after his suspension from the University of Florida football team amid a sexual assault investigation. It was the second time UF had suspended Harris for such an allegation; the first time was in 2014.  

UF did not find him responsible in either case, records show. Harris struck a deal with the latest victim in which he apologized and voluntarily withdrew from the university in exchange for suspending the proceedings, according to a source with first-hand knowledge of the agreement who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. 

The University of Florida is based in Gainesville and not affiliated with the University of South Florida, which is based in Tampa. 

When coaches recruit players like Jackson and Harris, they send the message that sexual violence is tolerated, said Brenda Tracy, a national advocate who speaks out about her own 1998 rape by four men, including two Oregon State football players, and the impact it had on her life.  

“I know what it looks like to have tens of thousands of people cheer for your rapist,” Tracy said. “All it does is normalize what the perpetrator has done and completely minimize the experience of victims.” 

The players in Tracy’s case received a one-game suspension for what their coach called “a bad choice.” They were arrested but not prosecuted after Tracy declined to move forward with the case.  

Since then, the mother of two has formed a nonprofit called Set the Expectation to curb sexual violence in sports. She has spoken before dozens of teams across the country. 

Not among them is the Tennessee State football team, which in addition to Jackson and Harris recently featured yet another player shadowed by sexual assault allegations — quarterback Demry Croft. 

Shortly after transferring from Minnesota, Croft was accused of rape by a TSU student and indicted in August on eight felony counts — six rape and two sexual battery, court records show. He has pleaded not guilty. He was suspended from the team as a result and no longer appears on the roster. 

“Predators hunt where they’re safe and thrive in cultures that enable them,” Tracy said. “We’re teaching our young men that it’s OK to hurt people as long as they can throw a ball or run fast. It’s just a complete lack of regard for this issue and other humans.” 

At the other end of the spectrum is the University of South Florida, where until Dec. 1 head football coach Charlie Strong’s stance on violence against women was heralded as one of the toughest. 

USF fired Strong earlier this month after a 4-8 record in his third season. 

Strong suspended or dismissed at least four players arrested for sexual assault, including Jackson, during his decade-long head coaching career. While at University of Texas, he was one of the first Big 12 Conference coaches to publicly support restrictions on recruiting athletes responsible for sexual assault and domestic violence. 

“If you are a student-athlete and you have a chance to go to University of Texas, go to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, wherever you go, and then for some reason you did something that they had to dismiss you from that program, I don’t think that you should be given another opportunity to go to another major school and just start all over like your slate is clean,” he said at a 2015 press conference.  

“I’m all into giving guys second chances, but I want to give guys on my team second chances, not someone else from another program.”

But Strong appears to have contradicted his own position by recently recruiting an athlete found responsible for sexual misconduct at a previous school. He then put that player in a special “sexual assault awareness” game on Sept. 28 that featured Tracy as an honorary team captain. 

All the players wore purple-and-teal ribbons showing support for the cause. 

Except Tyrik Jones, a junior defensive end disciplined for sexual misconduct by the community college from which he transferred. No ribbon graced his helmet.  

Jones declined to comment through a USF athletics spokesman. USF later said any missing decal was unintentional and may have been due to Jones’ use of a back-up helmet during that game.

According to a female student’s account in an Arizona Western College police report, Jones introduced himself to her after class one afternoon in October 2017. He invited her to his dorm room, which she declined, she said. But she agreed to give him a ride.

When they pulled up to the dorms, Jones began asking her questions such as, “Are you a virgin?” the report states. Then he reclined his seat and told her he had taken his penis out, she said. He told her to touch it, grabbed her hand and tried to pull it toward his groin, but she pulled her hand away, she said. He then reached over and fondled her breasts and groin area through her clothes as she tried to push his hands away, she said. 

After suffering for months from stress and anxiety, the woman in February 2018 told campus administrators what happened, the report shows. She didn’t want Jones prosecuted, she said, but wanted the incident to be documented.

Following a formal hearing on Feb. 27, 2018, Arizona Western officials found Jones responsible for sexual misconduct and sanctioned him to disciplinary probation until August 2019. Jones was not on campus at the time, taking online classes remotely, officials said.

In December 2018, Strong signed Jones to USF’s 2019 recruiting class. He played six games this season, recording six tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. 

Strong declined to be interviewed but said in a Nov. 22 statement: “Neither I, my staff or our office of compliance was aware of any past issues involving Tyrik Jones when we signed him in 2018, and no information provided by Arizona Western or its coaching staff indicated an issue. Upon being made aware of a past issue, we followed standard processes in referring the information to the proper university office for a full review. That review is ongoing.” 

Jones didn’t play for nearly two months after the sexual assault awareness game, but he returned to the field a day after Strong’s statement. 

Most NCAA schools, including USF, have no policies for checking athletes’ backgrounds or formal procedures for responding when they become aware of a past incident, according to public records requests filed by the USA TODAY Network at more than 200 schools.

Many schools rely in part on questionnaire forms called “transfer tracers” to raise red flags. But tracers were never intended as substitutes for background checks, and they can give troubled athletes the false impression of a clean record.

A transferring athlete’s outgoing school completes a tracer for the incoming school to determine NCAA eligibility. It includes questions about things like academic standing and whether the athlete was suspended or disqualified for disciplinary reasons. 

But some tracers’ narrowly worded questions allow schools to withhold critical information.

The tracer USF sent Arizona Western regarding Jones asked, “Has the student been disqualified or suspended from your institution for disciplinary reasons?” “No,” Arizona Western marked, because he had been placed on probation — not suspended or disqualified, school officials confirmed.

Sometimes schools just answer incorrectly. 

In March 2014, a female student told University of Kentucky police that football punter Tanner Blain sexually assaulted her at a party, an incident report shows. He was never charged criminally, but the university found Blain responsible for rape and suspended him for two years, a university attorney confirmed. 

Blain did not return messages seeking comment, but his father told the USA TODAY Network that his son is innocent.

The university provided few details about the incident and redacted a campus police report almost entirely, saying it contains private information. 

The report details the victim’s “efforts to fight (off) her attacker … her friends’ efforts to help her while the incident was ongoing,” and how the victim “escaped from her attacker and the private residence where the attack took place,” the university told the Kentucky Attorney General’s office in defense of its redactions against an appeal by the USA TODAY Network. The agency upheld the university’s redactions.

During his suspension, Blain transferred to El Camino College, a junior college in California. After a season there, he signed with San Diego State University, where he played two more years under head coach Rocky Long and helped the Aztecs win consecutive conference titles.

Time is a precious commodity for NCAA athletes, who have five calendar years to play four seasons in their sport. The “year of residence” rule is the one meaningful penalty the NCAA imposes on players suspended or expelled from school. 

It benches them for a year when they transfer from the school that disciplined them directly to a new NCAA school, eating into their play time. 

But athletes can avoid that penalty by stopping first at an intermediate school, like a junior college. By doing so, they technically transfer to the NCAA school from the intermediate school — not the school that disciplined them. 

At the junior college, athletes can keep their skills sharp, competing at the lower level while completing at least a semester or associate degree. As long as they remain eligible and avoid trouble, they can transfer back to an NCAA school later and never lose that year.  

Blain took advantage of the junior-college loophole and resumed play immediately after transferring to San Diego State. 

“I take any allegation of wrongdoing regarding anyone affiliated with the San Diego State Football program seriously,” Coach Long said in a statement. “While recruiting individuals to join our University, we work diligently to obtain as much background information on the individual as possible.”

The San Diego State athletic department relies in part on tracers for checking athletes’ backgrounds, spokesman Mike May said. Although it sent tracers to both El Camino and Kentucky asking about prior suspensions, both forms came back clean, May said. 

Kentucky’s failure to note Blain’s suspension on the tracer “was simply a mistake,” said UK spokesman Jay Blanton. The university’s student conduct office is required to notify its athletics department if an athlete is involved in a disciplinary proceeding, but that didn’t happen in Blain’s case, Blanton said.

Universities now use a standardized tracer on the NCAA transfer portal, a nationwide database of athletes seeking transfers. But its narrow question about disciplinary action carries the same limitations as the old forms. And schools still use their own tracers for transfers from junior colleges, which don’t have access to the portal.

Absent a more stringent NCAA policy, schools have no incentive to conduct proper background checks, said Kathy Redmond, founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes. 

Redmond sued the University of Nebraska in 1995, alleging it was liable for her rape by a football player because it ignored previous sexual assault complaints against him by other women. It was the first Title IX lawsuit of its kind, and the sides ultimately reached a settlement.

Tracers provide schools plausible deniability, Redmond said.

“They don’t want to know,” Redmond said. “They want to be able to say, ‘We had no idea.’ We hear that all the time. It’s just willful ignorance.”

Universities have a duty under federal and state laws to keep students safe, said Manly, the civil rights attorney who represented Nassar’s victims. 

“That’s your primary job as a university administrator, and director,” Manly said. “If you have no policy to screen people that are coming in from other programs where they’ve been dismissed for safety, you’re violating the law, you’re violating the standard of care, and you’re placing your students in peril.”

Schools may have a legitimate legal defense if they did a proper check and no one told them about a previous student’s sexual assault, Manly said. But that defense weakens in the case of an athlete rebounding from a top program, he said.

“If you’ve got a star athlete who’s leaving a prestigious Division I college football program and going to some Division II or low-end Division I school, if you have a brain in your head, you’re going to be on notice that something’s wrong.”

In the absence of an NCAA policy against sexual violence, some of the organization’s conferences are taking the matter into their own hands.

Since 2015, six of the NCAA’s 33 Division I conferences — the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big 12, Pac-12, Big Sky, Southern Conference, and Mid-American Conference (MAC) — have enacted policies or procedures to prevent the recruitment of violent athletes.

They generally require universities undertake due diligence to vet athletes’ pasts and prohibit those disciplined for sexual assault, domestic violence and other serious offenses from transferring in. 

Yet some players still find their way in. 

Two-time All-American sprinter Derrius Rodgers transferred to the Big 12’s Texas Tech from Illinois State University in 2018. He made his mark quickly, earning first-team all-conference honors in indoor track and helping the outdoor team win its first-ever national championship in June. 

But months before his transfer, Illinois State administrators found Rodgers responsible for “sexual misconduct/violence” and sexual harassment stemming from a December 2017 incident, disciplinary records show. 

The university placed him on disciplinary probation until the end of 2018 and imposed a contact restriction until May 2023, records show. The school upheld its decision after hearing his appeal. 

Illinois State refused to provide additional details on Rodgers’ offense. Campus and local police said they have no incident reports.  

Rodgers declined to comment. 

Texas Tech said it didn’t know about Rodgers’ disciplinary action. His tracer form from Illinois State was clean — it only asked if he was disqualified or suspended — and the disciplinary action was not mentioned in communications with his former sprints coach, said athletics spokesman Robert Giovannetti. 

Illinois State disputed this. “It is the University’s understanding that Texas Tech was informed that the student had troubles on campus,” athletics spokesman Mike Williams said. 

Two weeks later, Texas Tech’s Giovannetti clarified: “While we were told that there were problems with girls on the team, we were also told they were handled internally.” He added, “There was no mention of a university Title IX issue.”

Giovannetti said coaches “conducted reasonable due diligence,” as is Big 12 policy. But that did not include obtaining Rodgers’ past disciplinary records — a step Texas Tech took after the USA TODAY Network brought the case to its attention, Giovanneti confirmed. 

Rodgers’ offense would not have automatically disqualified him anyway. Big 12 policy allows schools to define “serious misconduct” on their own, as well as what it means to have “committed” it. 

Some schools in the conference, including Oklahoma State University and the University of Kansas, define “committed” to include violations of the student conduct code. But Texas Tech and other Big 12 schools cover only criminal convictions in their definitions. 

Rodgers remains on the track roster. 

The NCAA’s own study group, the Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence, last year advocated for the organization to tie athlete eligibility to behavior. 

In its final recommendation, the commission “encouraged the board to direct the divisional governance bodies to consider legislation that reflects an Association-wide approach to individual accountability,” minutes from the board’s August 2018 meeting show. 

But the NCAA Board of Governors did no such thing and disbanded the group instead. It promised, however, to “continue to monitor and track on sexual violence issues,” meeting minutes show. 

Two major developments occurred behind the scenes in the months before the board punted on the opportunity. 

Out West, members of the Big Sky Conference were unveiling the most comprehensive misconduct policy in college sports to date. It requires all their athletes to complete an annual questionnaire disclosing their involvement in any criminal, civil or juvenile investigations for serious misconduct. It also prescribes specific definitions for disqualifying offenses and includes a robust appeals process. 

Big Sky’s then-chief Andrea Williams was also serving at the time on the sexual violence commission. She planned to present this sweeping new policy at the group’s final meeting. 

Meanwhile, out East, Stony Brook University in New York was facing backlash amid revelations that, five years earlier, it recruited a football player while he was under investigation for sexual assault. 

University of Idaho wide receiver Jahrie Level became the subject of an investigation at his school in May 2013 but withdrew and transferred to Stony Brook the following month. By the time Idaho found him responsible for sexual misconduct and expelled him in October, Level was already playing for Stony Brook. 

And because Level transferred before getting disciplined — another loophole to avoid the year of residence — he faced no bench time at Stony Brook. Level competed for two seasons. He has been arrested at least three times since but not convicted, records show.  

Level did not respond to multiple phone and social media messages seeking comment. 

When the case made headlines last year, Stony Brook’s then-President Samuel Stanley was also serving on the NCAA Board of Governors. He was among the members who heard the commission’s final recommendation to direct the NCAA divisions to consider legislation like the Big Sky’s policy across all member schools.

And he was among the members who all but killed it. According to the minutes from that meeting, the board determined the commission had completed its charge to merely “explore” the issue. Over a year later, no action has been taken. 

Mairin Jameson, a former University of Idaho diver, was the one who reported Level for sexual assault in April 2013. The incident was the culmination of weeks of inappropriate touching and verbal harassment, she said. At a bar one night, he walked up to her from behind, put his fingers up her skirt and rubbed her underwear from the front to the back, she said.

She remembered being “shell shocked” when she saw the news of Level’s transfer. Until that point, she didn’t know the NCAA allows athletes to transfer and play while under investigation.  

“For him to just get to transfer and continue to do what he loves, really with no consequences, was upsetting to me first and foremost,” Jameson said. “My second feelings were of fear for the women on Stony Brook’s campus.” 

During his senior year at Stony Brook, Level was jailed on charges of obstructing someone’s airway, an offense below strangulation, records obtained show. The charge was dropped, which in New York means the case is now sealed.  

Stony Brook refused to provide documents, but an arrest record from Suffolk County shows the case was linked to Stony Brook University police. 

Level has since been arrested at least twice in his home state of Florida on felony charges of grand theft and carrying a concealed firearm. The charges were dropped.

“I never felt like it was fair that Jahrie got to just go on with his life and play when mine was so affected and continued to be affected,” Jameson said. “I think playing sports is a privilege, and once you take that for granted and make mistakes that affect another person, you should lose that privilege.” 

Stanley declined to comment for this story. He is now the president of Michigan State University, which continues to be scrutinized for its handling of Larry Nassar. More than 300 of his victims have come forward. 

Stony Brook said in a statement: “We speak with coaches and administrators at the former institution(s) of all transfer student athletes. In accordance with our process, these conversations occurred prior to Jahrie Level transferring to Stony Brook and no disciplinary history was reported.” 

Jameson said college athletes should be subject to a code of conduct, and sexual assault should be a disqualifying offense. She said she understands college sports is a business that makes money for universities but believes some coaches and administrators “get lost in that instead of doing what’s right.”

“I think the NCAA,” she said, “needs to take care of female athletes and other women on campus who are affected by this.”

Contact Kenny Jacoby at kjacoby@gatehousemedia.com

In November 2016, according to court documents unsealed this week in New York, one of the nation’s top high school basketball players and his mother signed a series of forms so the player could accept an athletic scholarship from Kansas.

In the forms — similar to those signed by more than 460,000 athletes at NCAA schools each year — both the player and his mother asserted they had no knowledge of any violations of NCAA rules regarding amateurism. Over the years, the NCAA has interpreted amateurism rules to prohibit a long list of benefits for players and families, ranging from duffel bags full of cash and luxury cars to more modest perks, such as gas money and free meals.

When the player’s mom signed those forms, she was lying, according to federal prosecutors, who did not identify her or her son in court documents. Just days before, prosecutors allege, the mother had met with an Adidas consultant in a hotel in New York and accepted $30,000 cash — routed through one of Adidas’ grassroots teams — meant to ensure her son enrolled at Kansas, one of Adidas’ premier endorsed college programs, and if he made it to the NBA, signed an endorsement deal with the apparel company.

In college basketball circles, this allegation, contained in an indictment charging an Adidas executive with wire fraud for arranging the payment, was the latest sign that the ongoing Justice Department probe of the basketball black market is far from over.

To economists and lawyers familiar with both federal law enforcement and college sports, however, this week’s charges brought into sharper focus an aspect of the investigation that has puzzled them for months: The FBI and federal prosecutors in New York are trying to put people in prison for paying college athletes and their families.

“I still can’t figure out why the FBI is involved with this,” said Dan Rascher, a California economist who has consulted for college athletes on lawsuits challenging NCAA rules. “There’s literally no problem at all with people being paid for their skills to provide value to an educational institution. Except if the people we’re talking about are college athletes.”

[New indictment ties Kansas, N.C. State into FBI’s college basketball probe]

By making money from her son’s talent, and lying about it, prosecutors allege, the mother conspired with Adidas officials to defraud Kansas, which could have been exposed to fines and other sanctions if the NCAA learned of the payments. This theory of fraud, which casts schools as victims because players or their parents have secretly taken money, is rare but has been deployed at least twice before by federal prosecutors: in a 1980s case involving a sports agent with ties to the mafia, and a 2000s case involving a convicted cocaine dealer making it rich as an AAU coach.

Six months after the first arrests, however, the FBI and prosecutors in New York have yet to make public any allegations involving mob ties or drug dealers, or even tax evasion, which some legal experts expected would eventually emerge, offering justification for the public money spent.

A spokesman for prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, who are overseeing the investigation, declined to comment.

Colleges as victims?

In the scenario involving the Kansas recruit, according to prosecutors, the fraud occurred when the mother signed that form despite knowing she’d taken money for her son’s talents, in violation of NCAA rules. The mother, according to court documents, is an unindicted co-conspirator of the Adidas executive.

The victim of this fraud conspiracy, according to prosecutors? Kansas, a school with one of the wealthiest basketball programs in the country, whose coach makes $5 million annually to oversee an amateur basketball team that is regularly one of the star attractions in the Big 12 Conference, which has packaged basketball and football television rights to help generate $371 million in annual revenue, and in the NCAA tournament, which generates more than $850 million for the NCAA and member schools each year.

The mother was not charged with a crime but, according to experts familiar with federal investigations, likely will be threatened with the prospect of arrest by prosecutors, if she hasn’t already, as they seek her testimony against the Adidas officials.

[Instead of paying players to go to Miami and Louisville, he kept the money. The FBI let him go.]

The latest charges, which also involve a recruit whose father allegedly took $40,000 from Adidas to secure his son’s commitment to North Carolina State, rest entirely upon the very same NCAA rules that are the subject of a federal antitrust lawsuit in California. Lawyers representing athletes in that case, set for trial in December, are portraying the NCAA and schools as a cartel that colludes to cap the earnings of college athletes at the value of a scholarship, sending hundreds of millions of dollars in excess revenue, collectively, into school coffers and paychecks for coaches and administrators.

The NCAA, on its website, defends amateurism as a “bedrock principle of college athletics.” Amateurism rules, the NCAA states, “ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably.”

If the NCAA permitted college athletes to sign endorsement deals with shoe companies, as Olympic organizations do with their athletes, legal experts noted, prosecutors would have been unable to file the wire fraud charges announced this week against Jim Gatto, an Adidas global marketing executive who also faces charges for similar allegations of arranging payments to steer recruits to Miami and Louisville.

“There are no true victims here. It’s a derivative crime based on alleged violations of a private, nonprofit entity’s internal bylaws,” said Don Jackson, an Alabama attorney who has represented athletes in NCAA rules compliance cases. “This would be like someone lying on an application to the 4-H club and getting charged with wire fraud.”

Blurred lines

Jackson is among many who note even the NCAA has struggled to determine when shoe company money flowing into a youth team is against its rules.

Among those who run grassroots basketball teams, the key to procuring shoe company money has long been clear: Get the top high school players. Such as star often can bring his team a shoe company sponsorship, which can run as much as $100,000 or $150,000 per year, to engender the kind of loyalty that will lead the player to choose to play for one of the colleges whose basketball programs are sponsored by the same company and, ultimately, to sign an endorsement deal with the company if he makes it to the NBA. Nike, Adidas and Under Armour are the three dominant spenders in the grassroots market.

In 2009, Jackson represented Renardo Sidney, a Mississippi State player who drew the NCAA’s attention because Reebok had sponsored his grassroots team and hired his father to a consultant’s position. The NCAA ultimately suspended Sidney for a season, ruling, among other violations, that Sidney’s father couldn’t properly account for money that had flowed into a nonprofit foundation he’d created, connected to the Reebok-sponsored team.

This year, however, the NCAA approved Duke freshman star Marvin Bagley III as eligible, even though the circumstances surrounding his father’s relationship with Nike raised eyebrows around grassroots and college basketball. As reported by the Oregonian last month, Bagley’s family was struggling financially a few years ago, shortly before Nike agreed to sponsor Phoenix Phamily, the grassroots team featuring Bagley III as a player and his father, Marvin Bagley Jr., as coach and team director.

[The FBI also probed payments to college athletes in the ’80s. It didn’t end well.]

In a 2016 interview with Sports Illustrated, Bagley Jr. — the father, who did not return a request to comment — said the family was relying on the Nike sponsorship and a fledgling apparel company he had created to “make ends meet.”

Bagley III attended Duke, one of Nike’s premier endorsed college teams, and after one year with the Blue Devils, he declared for the NBA draft, and is expected to be among the first players selected. Bagley III has not yet made his shoe endorsement plans public, but he is widely expected to sign with Nike.

Duke basketball officials declined to comment when asked about Bagley’s eligibility. The NCAA also declined to comment.

There are significant differences between the details publicly known about Nike’s dealings with the Bagleys and the specifics alleged in court documents of Adidas’s dealings with representatives of recruits. Nike signed Bagley’s team to a publicly announced sponsorship. Adidas executive Gatto is accused of arranging cash handoffs to families of recruits through an Adidas consultant who oversaw several grassroots teams, and at N.C State, through an assistant coach who has not been identified.

The economic realities displayed by these deals are basically the same though, economists note. Top high school recruits have more financial value — to shoe companies, agents and financial advisers — than NCAA rules currently allow them to earn.

After the first round of arrests last September, the NCAA created a commission, led by former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, to propose rules changes to college basketball. Unless the commission recommends Olympic-style rules permitting athletes to sign endorsement deals, economists and legal experts doubt it will have a significant impact in reducing these secret dealings that prosecutors in New York believe are defrauding major colleges.

“When you have a system that generates billions of dollars in revenue, and you have an unpaid labor force, you’re going to breed a black market,” Jackson said. “That’s just a fact.”