NEW YORK โ While one college basketball trial concluded Tuesday with the three defendants being sentenced to less than a year in prison, a second trial slated for April and potentially featuring Arizona coach Sean Miller as a star witness promises to be a โstreet fight,โ according to one defense attorney.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced former Adidas executive Jim Gatto to nine months in a minimum security prison, while former Adidas consultant Merl Code and would-be sports agent Christian Dawkins were given sentences of six months apiece during sentencing in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse. The three men were convicted in October of seven combined counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud by paying families of coveted basketball prospects to get them to commit to programs sponsored by Adidas. Dawkins and Code each must pay $28,261 in restitution to Louisville, while Gattoโs restitution payment is to be determined in April.
All three men will appeal their convictions. They wonโt serve any jail time during the appeal, which could take a year or more.
โTheyโre not going to jail anytime soon,โ Steve Haney, Dawkinsโ defense attorney, said outside the courtroom, where family members of all three men gathered.
During his comments to Kaplan, Gatto, 48, broke out in tears and said he was โvery scared about the prospect of going to prison.โ His wife, Rachel, son Jack, 17, and daughter Grace, 14, sat in the front row with pained looks on their faces.
Speaking later, Dawkins, 26, said, โI realize now more than ever that none of this was worth it. In my quest to get ahead I broke rules and made some really bad decisions. No one forced me to do either.โ
The judge said the sentencing recommendations were meant to send a โgreat big warning light to the basketball worldโ and argued that there was a โneed for deterrence here.โ
Three of the four college basketball coaches implicated in the federal investigation, including Arizonaโs Emanuel โBookโ Richardson, have taken plea agreements rather than face trial. The fourth, Auburn assistant Chuck Person, is scheduled for a June trial.
Gatto and Dawkins worked to funnel $100,000 in Adidas money to Brian Bowen Sr. in exchange for his son, a 6-foot-7-inch, five-star prospect known as โTugs,โ to commit to Louisville.
The ensuing scandal, combined with past issues, led Louisville officials to fire athletic director Tom Jurich and basketball coach Rick Pitino. Pitino is now coaching in Greece, while โTugsโ Bowen is playing professionally in Australia.
Prosecutors described a scheme in which the three men worked together to pay Brian Bowen Sr., something that violated both federal law and NCAA rules, in exchange for โTugsโ Bowenโs commitment to the Adidas-sponsored school. The money was funneled through an amateur team affiliated with Code and a corporation controlled by Dawkins, prosecutors said. Gatto produced phony invoices to Adidas, which reimbursed him with money used to fund the scheme.
Kaplan said Gatto, Code and Dawkins โknew what they did was wrong.โ
โThey were covering their tracks and they were covering Rick Pitinoโs tracks,โ the judge added. โThey knew he was out if they got caught.โ
Kaplan said the โmost seriously injured victim of the Louisville scheme was โTugsโ Bowen. ... He never got an opportunity to play basketball in the NBA. Iโm sure Australia is a great country, but itโs not the life he wanted. These three defendants participated in wrecking โTugsโ Bowenโs life.โ
Dawkins and Code are due to go back to trial on April 22 on bribery charges. Arizonaโs Miller and LSU coach Will Wade have been notified that they will be subpoenaed for that trial. Miller has repeatedly declined to comment about the case.
Haney, Dawkinsโ attorney, promised both a โstreet fightโ and a โfact-heavy trial.โ The coaches are being subpoenaed by Dawkins and Haney as defense witnesses.
Asked how many coaches might take the stand in April, Haney said, โAs many as I can get in the courtroom. In the second trial, weโre going to pull back the curtain.โ
No players or coaches testified in the first trial.
Asked if he might accept a plea deal for Dawkins, Haney said, โWeโre going to go all the way with (a trial).โ
Richardson, the former UA assistant, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to one count of federal funds bribery. The charge against him typically carries a sentence of between 18 to 24 months in prison. Richardson agreed in January not to appeal any prison sentence of two years or less, according to the plea agreement, and will pay back $20,000. He will not have to cooperate with federal authorities under the terms of the deal, said Craig Mordock, Richardsonโs New Orleans-based attorney.
Asked if Tuesdayโs sentencing would have any impact on Richardsonโs sentence, Mordock said no.
โDifferent judge, different charge,โ he texted.
Haney said the defenseโs argument throughout Octoberโs trial was that his clients were simply doing what Adidas โ and coaches at Louisville, Kansas and N.C. State โ wanted them to do: Make certain that players ended up at Adidas-sponsored schools by any means necessary.
โWhen we look back in 20 years, weโre going to ask, โWhy werenโt college basketball players paid?โโ Haney said. โThis could transform college basketball and put the players in a situation where theyโre paid enough money that their families can go watch them play.โ
He said the second trial could trigger a โtransformative process ... and thatโs why weโre going to continue to fight.โ
