They have a lack of institutional control charge on both football “and” basketball that are part of the charges. LSU now has to act quickly, as they could have years of restriction and every athlete on ship in both sports will be allowed to transfer. Agree with the above that LSU will likely get a major coach by offering a 10 year $9 million contract or $90 million retirement package to a coach looking for a last guaranteed contract.
Yeah, and that is why most cheaters don't get caught; they aren't that stupid. Had he routed the money through a booster, he would probably still be employed.
Absolutely. I have NO doubt. I'm amazed at those who think some coaches just recruit from magnetic personalities.
Thanks @gatorinmi. How the SI article starts: We like to win. That was the loud, clear, unmistakable message from Kansas on Friday. We like to win, we don’t care how, we don’t care what NCAA sanctions may come, we don’t care about anything but continuing to win. Thus, Bill Self is Coach For Life. Rock, Chalk, Scofflawhawk! In the throes of an infractions process that has resulted in major allegations from NCAA enforcement, which could lead to huge penalties, Kansas has up and given Self—who is personally charged with a Level I violation—a lifetime contract. It’s a rolling five-year deal that specifically states he cannot be fired for cause due to NCAA sanctions. It is impressively brazen, and also extremely on-brand for the school that claimed victimhood in the federal corruption scandal, sued Jim Gatto, broke out the money cannons for Midnight Madness, and then complained that the scandal has hurt recruiting. The rest is worth a read at @gatorinmi's link.
Tuesday's Advocate Less than 48 hours after LSU fired Will Wade in the wake of the school receiving an NCAA notice of allegations about recruiting regularities within its basketball program, one person who was embroiled in the initial brouhaha three years ago spoke out Monday. Former LSU president F. King Alexander, speaking on WRKF's Talk Louisiana, said the school did not have enough evidence against Wade at the time to fire him for cause and suspended him when he refused to meet with LSU officials seeking more information in the matter. King noted the only information LSU had in 2019 about allegations that Wade paid recruits came from leaks in the media, and that former athletic director Joe Alleva was forced out of his job by several board members who believe Wade was mistreated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Former LSU president F. King Alexander son of UF's Dr Ruth Alexander the founder of the women’s intercollegiate athletic program at the University of Florida in 1972
"Our responsibility to protect and promote the integrity and well-being of our entire institution..."-LSU AD. If that were true, they would've fired Wade in 2019. Wade did answer "all questions and denied any wrongdoing in connection with recently reported allegations of irregularities in college basketball recruiting" and got a suspension. The school chose to turn the other way because they were winning. There's no way they could've believed this slim ball. If it were Florida, he'd be canned immediately. NCAA should punish LSU severely
Or he put his trust in LSU that they would cover for him, and they threw him under the bus when they no longer could pretend nothing was wrong. Failure to answer questions about the FBI investigation should have been grounds for automatic termination with cause. Since LSU kept him around in spite of that they should be hammered and hammered hard. On the bright side, at least he didn’t blow smoke and lie, and maybe that was because of a fear of prosecution, or because he knew they could/would fire him with cause even if they originally supported his actions and looked the other way.
It took Wade 5 weeks to be reinstated once he agreed to let LSU and the NCAA interview him. The article above said ”Alexander remembered a 2019 basketball game where both he and Alleva were lustily booed in the PMAC because of the decision to suspend Wade. He said Wade refused to meet with LSU officials at the time and answer questions about the wiretaps that caught him referencing a "strong-ass" offer for an LSU recruit.”. The above refusal by Wade should have been grounds for immediate dismissal. Who in here could tell their boss that no, I don’t want to talk about the FBI investigation involving our company and myself and expect to keep their job. They cared more about winning basketball games than getting to the bottom of the issue, and justified their inaction using the excuse that the FBI and NCAA would not give them access to all their evidence, which is kind of a no shit Sherlock moment, as no investigative entity is going to give evidence to the people they are investigating until they are ready to charge them. ESPN says: What's next for LSU, the Tigers basketball program and Will Wade? The five biggest questions that LSU officials sat in on the NCAA interviews of LSU personnel during the investigation, so they should have had an idea of the crap that was going on. If they don’t get the book thrown at them, then there is no fairness and the NCAA should go away.
Yes Wade was sloppy. IMO his arrogance stemmed from his belief that he wasn't going to be caught or canned. The AD and big donors were fully aware of his fraudulent behavior and illegal transactions and violations. Wade had turned the program around and its success tasted good. But they probably didn't count on him being so sloppy and amateurish and failed to at least monitor him. But if the AD and big donors were completely in the dark, what does that say about the athletic director and UAA? An unsupervised and unchecked program? Whatever it is, LSU is desperate for a big-time basketball program competing for SEC titles and deep NCAA tourney runs. So in 2019 the school knew Wade was lying and made a conscious decision to suspend and then reinstate. And if the NCAA kept pestering them, LSU would do what they always when the football programs is in trouble: let the big donors pay off the NCAA.
A bit surprised McMahon used his chip here, big jump in pay from $500k though. LSU to hire Matt McMahon: Tigers program turns to Murray State coach after firing Will Wade
Knowing their AD he probably did something like a 7 year guaranteed contract at 3.5 or 4 million. So basically the moment he signed he made 25 million or more.
