KANSAS CHEATING AND FAILS (ABRIDGED VERSION) Part I
2003
Darnell Jackson becomes Bill the Cheater's first commit to Kansas after receiving over $5,000 in improper benefits during his recruitment.
2004
Departing players receive customary graduation checks from appreciative boosters. Team sets off on illegally organized barnstorming tour where they receive the gate money to supplement their income.
Kurtis Townsend hired as assistant basketball coach. Townsend's experience includes being a member of the staff at California (1993-1997) during one of the largest NCAA recruiting violation investigations in history which landed the school on 3 years probation. He followed that up as an assistant at Michigan (1998-2001) during the greatest recruiting scandal in the history of the NCAA, which resulted in four years of major sanctions for the school. As a bonus to the Kansas basketball program, Townsend brought along with him recruit C.J. Giles, formerly committed to USC when Townsend was coaching there. However, when Townsend left USC for Miami, G.J. Giles transferred along with him to Miami. Once Townsend was fired at Miami, C.J. Giles again transferred with him, this time to Kansas.
Julian Wright commits to Kansas without ever visiting campus. Wright, who had previously eliminated Kansas from his list apparently and inexplicably changed his mind and committed on the spot during a Self and Townsend in-home visit. Scheduled visits to various other schools are abruptly cancelled.
2005
Departing players receive customary graduation checks from appreciative boosters. Team sets off on illegally organized barnstorming tour where they receive the gate money to supplement their income.
Alex Galindo and Nick Bahe announce they are transferring from Kansas basketball program.
Highly publicized bar fight involving starting guard J.R. Giddens occurs. Multiple witnesses report that Giddens was the primary instigator in an attack that saw 10-12 people beat Olathe resident Jeremiah Creswell with fists, bricks and bottles. Saying he was trying to defend himself, Creswell brandished a knife and stabbed Giddens and four others. Witnesses said KU forward C.J. Giles also threw a punch and tossed bricks at Creswell as he lay defenseless on the ground getting stomped.
Ronnie Chalmers, previously a high school coach in Alaska with only 5 years of experience, but more importantly, recruit Mario Chalmers' father, is announced as Director of Kansas Basketball Operations. His son also amazingly elects to come to Lawrence in a surely unrelated occurance.
Among other undisclosed violations and disclosed violations, Kansas announces that it also discovered that its basketball staff had traditionally engaged in a practice of allowing monetary payments to graduating players and other Jayhawk players who had exhausted their eligibility by boosters in violation of NCAA rules. A self-imposed two year probation is levied against their athletic department. Other sanctions are levied against women's basketball and men's football. Curiously, men's basketball escapes all (self-imposed) punishment.
Rodrick Stewart suffers gash on head after getting having a bottle smashed over his head during a fight at a Lawrence, Kansas bar.
Not exactly clear when, but Brandon Rush commits to Kansas basketball program. Rush narrowed his college choices to Illinois and Oklahoma, when Missouri would no longer offer a scholarship and their AD blocked allowing him to walk on due to too many potential off the court issues. Then he couldn't qualify at Illinois. Then he couldn't qualify at Oklahoma. Rush decided he would have to enter the draft straight from high school as he couldn't qualify at a D1 university, except it looked as though he wouldn't be a first round selection, something his brother had already had happen to him. His older brothers talked him out of it. Two weeks after school started he got into KU and began taking classes, and even though he at times carried a 0.0 GPA in high school at Westport managed to get a 3.6 at KU while missing the first two weeks of classes. This strangely coincided with the same time frame which their compliance department was noted to be severely understaffed and inadequate by the NCAA and academic fraud was occurring.
Sherron Collins commits to Kansas amidst various media reports that he was steered by his coach/street pimp Anthony Longstreet, considered by Chicago Public League coaches as the new Landon "Sonny" Cox for his ability to recruit players to Crane. Scheduled visits promised to various other schools are abruptly cancelled. Afterward, Longstreet, without being prompted or even accused of taking money, bizarrely challenged local sportswriters to "get the proof, produce the canceled check.'' Thereafter, Longstreet refused to ever speak again on the subject. He explained, "Right now, I've been told to be quiet because this stuff is getting too ugly."
Darnell Jackson ruled ineligible by NCAA Eligibility Committee for 9 games for receipt of $5,000 in benefits from a Kansas booster over a three year period while being recruited by Kansas. Apparently the NCAA feels 9 games seems rather sufficient and ignores their prior precedence of treatment for lesser offenses.
A cbssportsline.com article suggests that J.R. Giddens is also ultimately wrapped up in the Darnell Jackson scandal, questioning: "Did Don Davis also have a 'relationship' with Jackson's best friend and former AAU teammate, J.R. Giddens, the McDonald's All-American who signed with Kansas in 2003? Because if the answer is yes, Kansas has a big, big, big problem."
2006
Reports surface regarding NCAA investigation into potential violations involving Kansas freshman Brandon Rush. The potential violations centered around Rush's involvement with an agent and possible payment of travel expenses by NBA teams the previous summer during Rush's workouts with the teams. The NCAA suspends Brandon Rush after the NCAA determined that he had improperly received benefits from an agent after applying for the 2005 NBA draft. An appeal by Kansas is granted within one day and Rush is re-instated without missing any games.
Christian Moody becomes the first jayhawk player since the 1980s to not be eligible for his graduation checks from alumni, as the pending investigation causes ku to cease such open forms of paying their players. The NCAA responds that ku failed to demonstrate Institutional control and that the minor violations self reported in basketball in KU's report do not seem to be all-inclusive.
KU placed on probation for major violations across multiple sports and for Lack of Institutional Control. The selection is the 5th for the KU's men's team, no other men's basketball team in history has more NCAA probations. Though they were allowed to get away with a large percent of their violations, they are still charged with:
Illegal payments given to potential recruit in excess of $5,000
Tickets illegally given to recruits to sit behind the bench at NCAA tournament games
Money funneled to current student athletes through illegal barnstorming gate money
Illegal payments given to players after eligibility is exhausted with approval of the coaching staff through a network of alumni
Providing illegal transportation to recruits
Providing illegal clothing and other benefits to recruits
Providing illegal transportation to family members of recruits
Making special arrangements to facilitate a vehicle for family members of recruits
Failure to report violations
Failure to employ a compliance auditor
Negligence to provide adequate oversight
Violation of probationary period and deemed a Repeat Offender
Lack of Institutional Control
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NCAA hands out punishment of three years probation.
KU moves into a 3 way tie (with Minnesota and Cincinnati) for men's basketball programs with the most instances of probations all time in NCAA history.
2007
No graduation checks are publically distributed.
Brandon Rush participates in improper workouts with the Knicks in preparation for the upcoming NBA draft. The workout forfeits Rush's eligibility per NCAA rules, and upon suffering an injury at the workout multiple sources said his family and advisers worried about his college eligibility and believed he needed to keep the story quiet until he left Kansas for the NBA.
2008
Brandon Rush arrested for failing to appear in court. The hearing is ultimately delayed until after the basketball season so that his on court production is unaffected.
Sherron Collins is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in an elevator. The authorities and coaching staff are made aware of the incident, but nothing is made public until after the season concludes.
Brandon Rush arrested for failing to pay child support. The hearing is delayed until after the basketball season so that his on court production is unaffected.
Reports surface that Darell Arthur did not legitimately graduate from high school and passed through the NCAA clearinghouse by submitting fraudulent transcripts. As an ineligible player, per NCAA rules KU would be required to forfeit all games in which Arthur was a participant....which would result in ku being the first ever 40 loss team in a single season, the worst season in the history of the NCAA.
A judge rules in favor of the women Sherron Collins sexually assaulted in an elevator in May of 2007, granting damagers in excess of $75,000. She accused him of exposing himself and rubbing against her repeatedly on May 18, 2007 in an elevator at a University of Kansas apartment complex. Collins does not bother to show up to court. Despite the incident occurring roughly a year earlier, it is the first time the case is made public, allowing Collins to participate in the entire 2007-08 season without missing any playing time.
It becomes apparent that key recruits the Morris twins are not going to qualify academically. Faced with the proposition of having only 1 player on the roster over 6-7, Self arranges for the Morris twins to finish up their high school classes in Lawrence.
Dallas School District re-opens case regarding Arthur not really being a college eligible player. A number of teachers testify to how the cheating occurred.
2009
During a "no contact period" as defined by NCAA rules, Self pays a visit to the #1 unsigned recruit in the nation John Wall, and states in front of witnesses: "I'm not supposed to be talking to you, and you know that, but I just wanted to tell you that was a great win." Demonstrating quite the bravado and respect for NCAA regulations for someone piloting a program on serious probation.
Confirmation comes in the Darell Arthur case, that his grades were artificially changed and that his "graduation" from high school was not legit. His high school vacates their state championship for using ineligible players. Per NCAA rules the use of an ineligible player resulting from him violating the NCAA ethics clause, the proper application would result in forfeiture of all games participated, and KU would fall to 0-78 for the prior two years.
Top recruit Xavier Henry elects not to attend classes in Lawrence over the summer. His father explains why ku is a good fit by saying "Xavier is not interested in attending class. If he didn't have to go to college, he wouldn't do it."
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Sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor is hospitalized for a dislocated finger after attempting to beat up members of KU's football team on campus. The whole "point plankn" incident. The fight, or zombie attach, included upwards of 100 people. Among them were seen the Morris twins, Mario Little, Sherron Collins, Tyshawn Taylor, Brady Morningstar, Travis Releford, Tyrel Reed, Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson. A second fight breaks out the next morning involving 30 to 40 individuals after one of the Morris twins pushes a football player down the stairs. In an effort to remain consistent, the police, AD, and University determine the best course of action is taking no action at all.
23 year old junior Brady Morningstar is arrested for driving while intoxicated.
Markieff Morris is the driver in a two car accident. Neither he nor the 16 year old female who he is transporting are injured, but the car is registered to former KU player Scott Pollard. With only 4 days remaining on their probationary period, another potential violation is uncovered if a booster is providing improper transportation benefits to a student athlete. Pollard claims he sold the vehicle to KU player Tyshawn Taylor, although he is still listed as the vehicle's owner.
2010
It is reported that Taylor's entire family has moved from New Jersey to live in Lawrence, similar to Raef Lafrenz's 40 year-old Iowa schoolteacher parents being able to completely retire and move to Lawrence during their son's career a decade earlier. (And similar to what happens with the Morris twins later.)
The KC Star does a feel good piece explaining that Taylor's family is not alone. "At Kansas, Sherron Collins' mother moved to Lawrence for about a month this year before heading home to Chicago to address a family health concern. Jeanell Taylor came this season, while Angel has been in town for both of her sons' seasons. The mother of Xavier and C.J. Henry lived in Lawrence. So did the father of KU player Jeff Withey, who moved from San Diego. Mario Chalmers' parents moved from Anchorage, Alaska, to Lawrence after his dad got a job on Bill Choke's staff."
In anticipation of their matchup of two top 10 teams in Lawrence against KSU, assistant coach Curtis Townsend sends 4 floor tickets to Samantha Ryan, porn star.
On March 20, 2010, as a #1 seed, Bill Choke failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament because of another ESPY-award-winning upset loss, this time to the Northern Iowa Panthers. Again, KU let no-name players like Jordan Eglseder (14) and Ali Farokhmanesh (16) p3wn them. UNI had never beaten a #1 team before, but at the end of the game, Bill Choke's NBA farm team of Marcus Morris, Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor, Xavier Henry and Markeif Morris suffered the humiliating 69-67 embarrassment.
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2011
Less than a week after their season came to an early end, KU kicks the offseason off in typical fashion with an embarrassing scandal when it is revealed that both the IRS and Federal Investigators (the FBI) are looking into illegal practices within the ku ticket office.
Brandon Rush is suspended by the NBA for 5 games for his 3rd failed drug test. Simultaneously, ku AD Lew Perkins is being blackmailed. The blackmailer threatened to reveal that KU was covering up failed drug tests by their basketball players and other student athletes, which seems to have major credibility since Chalmers and Arthur were caught with marijuana at the NBA rookie camp and now Rush has violated the drug policy.
KU signs the nation's #1 recruit Josh Selby. An article discussing his decision contains the following excerpt: "[T]hey approached a light-blue Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows. Selby, keys in hand, popped the trunk, threw sneakers in it and joked with Forbes. Selby said goodbye, and drove away." Adidas is implicated in the investigation that follows. It's all about "brand loyalty," baby.
Director of the Williams Educational Fund at Kansas, Rodney Jones, resigns because of the investiogation by the IRS and FBI into the ticketing scandal. Charlette Blubaugh, Kansas' ticket director, resigns. Brandon Simmons, assistant athletics director for sales and marketing, resigns. Jason Jeffries, assistant director of ticket operations, resigns. Ben Kirtland, associate athletic director for development who was ultimately responsible for all of the athletic department's fundraising activities, resigns. [Nobody apparently asks about the free tickets that the univeristy coach gets for every game.]
Former ku player Roger Morningstar and father of then-current player Brady Morningstar allegedly made over $800,000 through illegitimately re-funneling tickets with his various contacts inside the athletic department over the last 8 years.
The ticket scandal leads ultimately to Dana and David Pump, fondly called "the Pimps," and alleges that they are in the business of "selling players" to various schools. Among the players who played on the Pumps traveling AAU teams are KU signees Mario Chalmers, David Padgett, Omar Wilkes, Tyrel Reed, Elijah Johnson, Jeff Withey, Travis Releford and Brady Morningstar. Prior to accepting the job as Director of Basketball Operations at KU, a position he would hold only for the timeframe that overlapped when his son played at KU as a way to "legally" funnel money to the family for Mario's services, Ronnie Chalmers served as the coach of one of the Pump Brothers' AAU teams.
KU issues its own self report on the ticket scandal. For a period of at least 8 years approximately 4,000 to 6,000 basketball tickets per year were being improperly distributed, which equates to as many as 300 tickets per game.
CBS Sports reported that key KU recruit Josh Selby had questions about legitimacy of his amateur status. The questions arise from his relationship with the business manager for NBA star Carmelo Anthony.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The KC Star exposes that in addition to his other examples of gross negligence and abuses of power Lew Perkins has been billing obscene amounts of travel expenses back to ku alumni and taxpayers due to his personal view of self importance. He charged the athletic department more than $150,000 from July 2008 to May 2010 for 22 flights on university-owned and leased planes, at times for such vital trips as visiting relatives or picking up his dog. Perkins explained, “I consider my time very valuable.†Having already played the card of being incompetent and incapable of performing basic job functions to distance himself from the ticket stealing scandal he orchestrated and the various bribes he accepted, Perkins turns to one of the only explanations left saying, “I’m old. I can’t remember yesterday. I wish I could tell you my mind is better than it is.†Which is a huge comfort I’m sure that for only $4 million plus a year you can get a bumbling, confused old man when the situation suits him.
2 months after stating, “I have loved my time here at the University of Kansas and I will continue leading Kansas Athletics over the course of the next year," Perkins said in July of 2010….Lew Perkins resigns effective immediately.
Kassie Liebsch was a systems analyst working in the KU Athletics ticket office at the time of the ticket scandal and became interim director of ticket operations after Blubaugh resigned. KU associate athletics director Jim Marchiony then deemed Liebsch should be given that role full-time. “There was an extensive investigation done,†Marchiony said, “and the results of the investigation indicate that Kassie was not involved in the kind of behavior that the others were involved in.†Less than 6 months later five former employees at the University of Kansas are indicted on federal charges. Among them is Kassie Liebsch. Its almost like you can't fully trust the findings of the internal investigations that ku conducts. Very weird.
The regular season starts without Josh Selby being declared eligible by the NCAA. Finally two games into the season the NCAA determines that he received $4,607.58 in improper benefits which include clothes, transportation, meals and lodging for Selby and his family. The NCAA suspends him for 9 regular season games of his freshman year, citing a rule that impermissible benefits in excess of $1,000 equates to a 30% of games suspension. The impermissible benefits total nearly $1,000 less in value than what was uncovered in Darnell Jackson's ultimate 9 game suspension, and only about $4,200 more than what was uncovered in MU’s 2004 investigation that led to 3 years of probation and an off campus recruiting ban.
Jayhawk senior Mario Little is arrested on charges of battery, criminal damage and criminal trespassing after engaging in physical acts of violence against two males and two females.
A person familiar with the search process to replace shamed Head Corruption Officer Lew Perkins said Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little offered the job to Bubba Cunningham of Tulsa after a search committee submitted a short list of finalists and ranked him as their No. 1 preference. "Kansas wants him and he wants Kansas." Two days later Bubba Cunningham tells ku no and signs a contract extension with Tulsa.
Sophomore point guard Elijah Johnson is arrested for neglecting to pay parking tickets. The incident stemmed from several months prior, and Johnson was falsely under the belief that societal norms did not apply to him while he still retained eligibility. He played in ku's game the next day and will not face team discipline. "He hasn't done anything wrong," Self said of his arrested player.
Less than one month after his arrest for battery and criminal trespassing and damage, Mario Little is re-instated to the basketball team. He is required to receive weekly counseling through the remainder of the basketball season. Self summarized the situation in a statement as "I'm more concerned about what's best for our program rather than an individual."
It becomes public that high profile ku booster Doug Compton who owns a private jet named Jayhawk One and is a business partner of Danny Manning and Larry Brown, is also the employer of the Morris twins mother as the receptionist as his huge real estate complex. Mrs Morris came all the way from Philadelphia to supply her unique skill set, just as Cole Aldrich's father had done in his employment with Compton during his son's eligibility period.
In addition to employing the parents of ku players, Compton also has a son who is the video manager for the team. In a very unique situation, this video manager is the roommate of a basketball player from Baltimore. High profile recruit Josh Selby rooms not with his teammates, but the son of a multi-millionaire. Doug Compton Jr. would be a rather fine roommate to have if you wanted lots of nice things and needed to borrow some spending money.
ku announces that Christian Garrett, a 6-foot-3 combo guard has been added a second-semester walk-on player. Garrett is a teammate of DeAndre Daniels, a 6-8 5 star forward formerly committed to Texas who is now expected to choose KU over Texas and Kentucky soon. Having grown up in Westlake Village, CA, Christian Garrett always wanted to walk-on at kU. That's why he traveled across the country to attend IMG and that's why he took recruiting visits with Daniels to NC State, Oregon, Kentucky, Kansas and other schools.
Hat Tip to the Tiger Board & Shaggy Bevo
