Agent offered $50,000 for basketball recruit to attend Arizona, dad testifies
Brain Bowen Sr. told a jury it was his understanding the offers were being made by assistant coaches at the schools, though he never spoke to them directly about money.
NEW YORK — The father of a top-rated college basketball prospect testified Thursday that his son was offered thousands of dollars on the sly to play at major programs before a corruption scandal derailed the promising player’s collegiate career.
At a federal trial over allegations about dirty money in college hoops, Brian Bowen Sr. said that an aspiring agent, Christian Dawkins, told the father he could pocket $50,000 if his son played at the University of Arizona, $150,000 at Oklahoma State or $100,000 at Creighton. Bowen said there was some interest from Oregon but didn’t recall cash offer.
Bowen told a Manhattan jury it was his understanding the offers were being made by assistant coaches at the schools, though he never spoke to them directly about money. He said the Oklahoma offer, which included an additional $8,000 for a car, came from then-assistant coach Lamont Evans, a defendant in the investigation who’s pleaded not guilty.
Dawkins, former amateur coach Merle Code and former Adidas executive James Gatto, have pleaded not guilty to they committed fraud by secretly funneling money from Adidas to families of prospects to get them to attend colleges sponsored by the athletic wear company. The son, Brian Bowen Jr., eventually landed at Louisville, an Adidas school, after the defendants engineered a promise of $100,000 for his family.
Gatto’s attorney and a taped conversation in evidence at the trial have suggested the deal to sign with Louisville had to compete with an undisclosed offer to lure Brian Bowen Jr. to Oregon, which is sponsored by Nike. Oregon has denied it knew of any deal.
The criminal case announced last year charging the three men with fraud resulted in the school pulling the son’s scholarship before he could ever play and firing its legendary coach, Rick Pitino.
Before his testimony about the alleged offers, the elder Bowen grew emotional when a prosecutor first brought up his son, who goes by the nickname “Tugs.”
“Is Tugs in college?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Diskant.
“No, he’s not,” Bowen responded.
When the prosecutor asked why not, Bowen dropped his head into his hands and wept, prompting the judge to call a recess.
Brian Bowen Jr. now plays professionally in Australia.
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Palmer is no Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to be sure, he makes too many poor decisions when pressured and has been in this league far too long to expect that to change any time soon. That said, I do feel he is one of the most under rated QBs in the league. Despite some poor decision making he is incredibly accurate when he has room to step into his throws, and has enough arm to make the long field stretching throws Bruce Arians loves. As a whole, I think he's easily capable of taking us to the promise land as long as we can keep the core of our defense together, and I think he may even look like a top tier QB if we can get him a quality LT and a healthy Cooper at guard next year. If a QB with potential falls to us I'm not against taking them, never hurts to groom people and hope you can find the next Wison, Rodgers, or Brady, but I'd rather they stick with Palmer/Staton then reach for a QB in the draft or take another late round Lindly/Skelton level of talent QB. QB is not even close to the must upgrade status it was just a year ago before Palmer dropped into our lap.
Obviously not how I hoped the year would end, would have liked the win even after the saints took care of business simply to stick it to the 9rs and go down in the record books as only the second 11-5 team in this era not to make the play offs, but because the saints did finish their win before our game was over, it did make the loss a little more bearable then it probably would have been had the bucs pulled off the upset. Either way, good season as a whole, was fun to watch, now just hoping we can keep as much of this team together as possible for next year, and with a healthy Cooper and whatever first and second round picks we get next year, maybe even be better.
sad part is the Cards out played the 49ers just lost it in the beginning with a slow start and the turnover. Seattle and San Fran both are very beatable and I am looking forward to a division championship this season..