College Basketball: Will Wade in serious trouble and it may impact LSU football
The NCAA is showing determination in punishing college basketball cheaters. The slow process will take more time, but Will Wade is clearly in much trouble. LSU may quickly make him, using Wade’s own words, a “strong-assed offer.” That offer would be, get your lying, cheating tail out of Baton Rouge.
It is not a matter of Will Wade being fired. It is only when. LSU should act quickly because the NCAA has the goods on Wade and as a result, violations in the football program are getting more scrutiny.
Here's a screen shot from the documents produced by LSU that led to the eye-popping allegations against basketball coach Will Wade. pic.twitter.com/nmObY2IDP5
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 26, 2020
Although ESPN broke the recent news, for months Yahoo Sports has provided detailed accounts of the Will Wade saga. Last spring, HBO shined a bright light on what others already knew. In the documentary, former agent-runner, Christopher Dawkins provided a recording of a phone call with Wade. In the call, Wade told Dawkins he had made a certain recruit, a “strong-assed offer.”
In the documentary, Dawkins said,
"I think the only way you can interpret someone in a head-coaching position saying that they made a strong-ass offer, they ain’t talking about a scholarship offer, bro. One hundred percent talking about money."
Dawkins, who is no choir boy, also expressed some respect for Wade.
"You’ve got to take your hat off to him, man. He not only didn’t get charged for anything, not only did the government have all of this information and evidence and nothing was happening on a criminal level, he also basically just said f— you to the NCAA and the university he worked for … and he still got to keep his job and make millions of dollars.Will Wade is definitely a f—ing gangster for what he did."
A gangster running a college basketball program is what LSU has tried to ignore for as long as possible. The prinicipal ‘ignorers’ were former LSU President, F. King Alexander and the former Director of Athletics, Joe Alleva, abetted of course by LSU’s lawyers.
The LSU football violation, while less sansational, is still a major transgression. LSU booster, John Paul Funes allegedly paid the father of former play, Vadal Alexander, $180,000. The money came from a foundation that employed Funes. The senior Alexander was apparently paid the money for a job requiring no work. Funes pled guilty and was sentenced to prison for embezzleing more than $500,000 from the foundation.
Compounding the problem for LSU, is the NCAA’s interest in having the basketball and football violations ajudicated by the the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, which was created to handle complex cases.
Lawyers for LSU do not object to the IARP handling the basketball case. They want the football violations to be examined separately. Unlike the standard NCAA Enforcement process, decisions made by the IARP are not subject to appeal. It is obvious LSU wants to have an appeal option for the football violations.
Appeal is far less important for the basketball violations. The future puinishment of Will Wade is a given. Wade’s punishment might be so severe it distracts from questions about the school’s Athletics Department. The stakes are high. At risk is the NCAA punishing LSU for a lack of institutional control, with sanctions for basketball and football.
A few months ago, commenting on the HBO documentary, Bama Hammer said LSU has no shame. That may change, for what Will Wade has been allowed by LSU, to do – is shameful.