Oklahoma St. gets NOA tied to corruption probe
Oklahoma State received a notice of allegations from the NCAA on Friday, the school announced.
The allegation includes one Level I violation involving former associate head coach Lamont Evans, who was sentenced in June to three months in prison for accepting bribes to push players to certain agents and financial advisors. Evans was among four assistant coaches arrested in September 2017 following an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting.
Evans “violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly solicited and received benefits for facilitating or arranging a meeting between student-athletes and financial advisors” from April 2016 to September 2017, according to the NCAA.
The NCAA alleges that Evans received $18,150 in the form of bribes from Marty Blazer and Munish Sood to arrange meetings with two players from Oklahoma State and South Carolina, where Evans was previously an assistant coach, and then influenced them to sign with Blazer and Sood’s financial advisory firm. Furthermore, the NCAA alleges that Evans provided $300 in cash to a player, considered an impermissible benefit, in August and September 2017.
“We have been open and transparent with our team, our recruits and the NCAA,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “We’re disappointed this occurred but are pleased that a thorough investigation has determined the most serious violation was reported in the news more than two years ago. We look forward to presenting our case on the level of violation to the NCAA.”
Oklahoma State also released an official statement in response to the allegations.
“Following the NCAA’s thorough investigation with OSU’s full cooperation and participation, the University agrees that Mr. Evans did in fact accept bribes for the purpose of steering players to financial advisors in violation of NCAA bylaws. While OSU is very disappointed that this occurred, we were relieved to learn that there were no recruiting or other major violations on the part of the institution. There are no allegations involving current student-athletes or coaching staff.
“The NCAA enforcement staff is of the opinion that the Committee on Infractions might consider this to be a Level I violation by the institution. The University feels strongly that the bribes were taken for the sole benefit of Mr. Evans who was terminated within days of the announcement of the charges. The University did not benefit in any way and was considered by the Federal government to be the victim of the scheme. As such, we have asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to present our position on the level of violation.”
Evans was fired for cause two days after the arrest, while former forward Jeffrey Carroll missed the first three games of the 2017-18 season due to a review of the men’s basketball program.