FBI investigation into college hoops fallout continues

An FBI investigation continues to rock the college basketball world. So far, seven schools have felt the impact – Louisville, Miami, Oklahoma State, University of Southern California, Arizona, Alabama and Auburn.

On Thursday, Oklahoma State fired assistant basketball coach Lamont Evans.

On Wednesday, Louisville announced it has put head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich on administrative leave. Their tenures at Louisville are likely over.

On Tuesday, an FBI investigation led to ten arrests, which included four assistant college basketball coaches – Chuck Person (Auburn), Lamont Evans (Oklahoma State), Emanuel Richardson (Arizona) and Tony Bland (USC). Federal investigators released information revealing numerous instances of bribes paid by athlete advisers to assistant and associate basketball coaches in order to influence student athletes. The FBI said it has been investigating since 2015.

SEC Commisioner Greg Sankey released a statement on Wednesday.

“The allegations announced by federal authorities on Tuesday are distrubing and, if true, reveal alarming activities within the sport of basketball. The depth of the problem remains to be seen but clearly there is indication of behavior that must be corrected for the health of basketball and the integrity of college athletics. The alleged activities are detrimental to the sport, are unfair to the many individuals who do it the right way and undermine the trust of the fans who support their programs. I find encouragement, however, in the federal government’s willingness to utilize the powerful tools at its unique disposal to hold responsible parties accountable.”

We will continue to follow this story as it progresses.