SEC administrator: "It's revolting when I see Will Wade walk into our gym."

quote:

---

Three Years Ago, the College Basketball Corruption Scandal Promised a Reckoning. Where Is It?

Coaches were wiretapped, players and agents ensnared. And yet only one school to date has been punished by the NCAA. In the meantime, some insiders say things are getting worse, not better.

At least a dozen Division I programs were implicated in the scandal, including four SEC programs—Auburn, LSU, Alabama and South Carolina.

Despite ongoing major infractions cases, three of those SEC schools have scored major recruiting coups this month: Auburn got a commitment from national top-five prospect Jabari Smith; LSU received a commitment from top-50 prospect Alex Fudge; and Alabama beat out Auburn and others for top-15 prospect J.D. Davison, one of several recent power moves by the Crimson Tide. Compliant schools are still losing out on the recruiting trail to schools that have not yet paid a price for alleged violations.

“I know what’s going on,” said South Carolina coach Frank Martin. “I know who’s doing what. If I was a prosecutor, I’d go after people. But I’m not. I’m a coach. So I stay away from certain situations when I know what’s going on. I’m not going to recruit against them.

“But if nothing is done, the message is that cheating is O.K. You can do what you want and nothing happens. There’s cheaters in every profession, but they’ve got to be dealt with. This [FBI investigation] was like an IRS audit. Our business was audited, and when something is audited, you find the problems and fix the problems. Our business has yet to fix the problems. It’s time to fish or cut bait.”

Despite the baggage, Pearl has landed the highest-rated recruit of any SEC coach this fall, and Wade currently has the highest-rated SEC class for 2021. Those developments have spiked the temperature of some of their competitors.

“Auburn’s got to go down at some point,” said one SEC coach.

"I get sick to my stomach every time we play LSU," said an SEC administrator. "It's revolting when I see Will Wade walk into our gym."

The infractions cases involving Alabama and South Carolina are less complex and do not implicate anyone currently employed at either school, but they’re also without closure at this juncture. Alabama has been working with the NCAA regarding its case, which stems from former associate athletic director Kobie Baker’s involvement with helping Dawkins try to form a relationship with Alabama recruit Collin Sexton. South Carolina has received its Notice of Allegations and is charged with a Level I violation (the most severe) for former assistant coach Lamont Evans’s accepting bribes for arranging meetings between Dawkins and former Gamecock P.J. Dozier or his family. Evans was the involved party in Oklahoma State’s violation as well, and the expectation is that South Carolina also will be in line for a one-year postseason ban.

Multiple sources said league members have communicated their frustrations to commissioner Greg Sankey, who also wants the ongoing infractions cases in the league to be resolved. Sankey would not comment on individual cases when SI asked him about them in August, but he did emphasize that, in general, the process needs to move more quickly. “I think the commissioner is beyond the end of his rope,” said one league source. “He’s beside himself.”

---