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Will Wade...

Herb

By Herb
in The Hardwood

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Herb

Herb

Posted
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I like Will Wade. I think he is a good coach and I suspect he is generally a good guy, but I am almost at a tipping point with not being able to support him any longer as LSU's head coach.

Note that legally, these latest developments need to be treated as "hearsay"... they are a 3rd person talking about Wade on video. However, it looks like a pattern is forming surrounding Wade's recruiting practices that are counter to NCAA rules or general acceptability.

I am a firm believer in letting processes play out and give time for facts, context, and other information to percolate to the surface before drawing conclusions.  Having said that, LSU and Scott Woodward are being more pressed to make a decision - possibly sooner rather than later regarding Will Wade's fate as their basketball coach.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Video aired at NCAA trial connects LSU’s Will Wade to $300K deal for Naz Reid: report

Updated Apr 29, 2019; Posted Apr 29, 2019
 

It took only a week for names associated with LSU to get brought up in the latest NCAA corruption trial, as a video aired on Monday (April 29) showed a former Arizona assistant discussing Will Wade and a $300,000 bid for Naz Reid.

Former Arizona assistant Emanuel “Book” Richardson is heard in the video discussing Wade’s reported offer for Reid, who was a 5-star prospect coming out of high school, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports and other reporters covering the trial.

Richardson quoted Wade as saying: “Look, there’s a deal in place, I got $300,000 for him."

Richardson then says, “I said listen, s—, give me half that and I’ll make sure he goes there.”

Wade, according to the video, wanted to hire Richardson as an assistant at LSU.

LSU is aware of the situation, but is declining to comment at this time.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation. Due to the fluid nature of this matter, LSU will refrain from commenting until further notice," said Jason Droddy, LSU’s interim vice president for strategic communications in a statement to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

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Undercover video revealed on Monday showed Book Richardson talking about LSU coach Will Wade approaching him with an informal inquiry about luring Book away from Arizona to coach with at LSU.

 

Book Richardson on video claims Will Wade told him about Naz Reid: “Look, there’s a deal in place, I got $300,000 for him."
Book then says, “I said listen, shit, give me half that and I’ll make sure he goes there.”

 
 
 
 

On Aug. 18, 2017, Reid announced that he was down to two schools in his recruitment: LSU and Arizona. Wade visited Reid less than a month later on Sept. 11, 2017, and Reid verbally committed on Sept. 12, per 247Sports. Reid signed during the early signing period on Nov. 13 of that year.

The SEC all-freshman squad member averaged 13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 27.2 minutes per game in his lone season as a Tiger.

Reid won the SEC freshman of the week accolade on Feb. 11 after averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds at Mississippi State and against Auburn.

Reid declared for the NBA Draft on April 3.

Richardson pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of conspiracy to commit bribery after he was accused of accepting $20,000 in bribes to make sure Arizona players end up with certain managers and financial advisers. His sentencing is scheduled for May 30.

Federal district Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled earlier this month that testimony from both Wade and Arizona head coach Sean Miller was irrelevant to the criminal case. Ramos said he reserved the right to change his mind but later turned down a second request for Miller to testify.

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This comes two weeks after Wade was reinstated after a 37-day suspension and had his contract amended.

Committing NCAA Level I or Level II infractions or being indicted in a state or federal court are now fireable offenses in Wade’s contract.

On March 7, media reports detailed a wiretapped conversation between Wade and former Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins. The conversation recorded by the FBI that includes Wade openly speaking about a “strong-ass offer” he made in the recruitment of current LSU guard Javonte Smart in 2017.

Wade’s suspension, which began on March 8, didn’t arise from the reports themselves, but rather how Wade had been suspended and his former counsel declined to meet with LSU and NCAA officials regarding those reports.

When Wade was reinstated on April 14, former athletic director Joe Alleva said in a statement that Wade denied all wrongdoing,

“Coach Wade’s explanations and clarifications offered during the meeting, absent actual evidence of misconduct, satisfy his contractual obligation to LSU," Alleva said in the statement.

Immediately after his suspension, Wade said in a statement that the reports “do not begin to tell the whole story.”

Then, LSU and Wade went back and forth with public statements.

Wade released a statement a week after his suspension saying LSU officials should have allowed him to resume coaching at that point.

That same day, March 14, LSU officials said they had “no choice” in the matter, citing “institutional control.”

When the NCAA determines that schools lack institutional control over a situation, heavy sanctions can be imposed and investigations can be opened up throughout the athletic department.

Dawkins, the man reportedly on the other end of the wiretapped phone call, was convicted of felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and has been ordered to spend six months in prison.

An additional report from Yahoo on March 28 named Shannon Forman — Smart’s “mentor” — as the third party in that phone call.

LSU sidelined Smart for the Vanderbilt game, but both the school and the NCAA cleared the Baton Rouge native to play for the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament after “no wrongdoing” had been found to date. The investigation into Smart was not yet over at that time.

Smart, after putting together a decent performance for LSU in its loss to Florida, was one of the two players to face the media and took a line of questioning only directed to the reported wiretaps or the investigation.

“No, sir, I have nothing to do with that,” Smart said when asked if he knew of the “offer” that Wade reportedly made in his recruitment.

 

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Fishhead

Fishhead

Posted
Posted

A guy on trial for something is saying he heard about a guy saying something. 

Nothing-burger.

What gets me is this. 

In the same damn trial, Alabama, Clemson, and others have been named regarding paying football players. Today in the same trial, Zion Williamson was named as having received pay.  Where's the chatter on this?

Crickets in the media. 

But Wade? OMG! WHAT A TRAVESTY! HE SHOULD BE ASHAMED, LSU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!

I'm with O on this one. 

Frick dem!

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