Kansas Asst. Basketball Coach Allegedly Discussed Paying Recruit on Phone Call

A recorded phone call heard by Judge Gerald E. Lynch of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals allegedly involved an unnamed Kansas men's basketball assistant coach discussing paying the family of a prospective recruit.

According to Dana O'Neil and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Lynch mentioned the call in a court opinion two weeks ago regarding the convictions of former Adidas employee James Gatto, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and business manager Christian Dawkins. 

Per ESPN's Mark Schlabach, the trio was found guilty on felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October 2018 for their involvement in providing recruits with improper benefits to play at Kansas, Louisville and NC State.

The University of Kansas has denied any wrongdoing, instead insisting that the Adidas representatives acted on their own.

With regard to the phone call, Lynch wrote:

"In the call the coach admitted that he knew that paying for a recruit's brother to visit the school violated the NCAA rules, yet he planned to ask 'Jimmy' for help in routing funds to the family through an amateur team, all in the hopes of getting the recruit to eventually commit to Kansas because 'it's [his] job' to do so."

According to O'Neil and Feldman, the "Jimmy" mentioned was Gatto.

Lynch, who agreed with two of the charges against the Adidas representatives and disagreed with a third, added: "Had the jury heard this call, it may have believed that the coach did call Gatto to ask him to provide the money. In turn, that would make it more likely that Gatto genuinely did not intend to defraud Kansas by his actions at issue in the case."

In September 2019, the NCAA charged Kansas with lack of institutional control and head coach Bill Self with head coach responsibility.

Per Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, testimony and court documents show that former Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola played a role in funneling money to relatives of Kansas recruits Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa.

While the assistant coach in the phone call presented to Lynch was not named, longtime Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend has been charged by the NCAA along with Self with Level 1 violations and a lack of institutional control. According to O'Neil and Feldman, the NCAA said Self and Townsend "embraced, welcomed and encouraged" Adidas to connect with recruits and convince them to commit to Kansas.

Kansas has declined to comment amid the ongoing investigation, but Townsend's lawyer Stu Brown, said, per O'Neil and Feldman:

"The dissenting opinion mischaracterizes Kurtis' phone call and provides only selectively edited parts of the call without context. Kurtis vigorously denies that he discussed breaking NCAA rules. Kurtis has a record of NCAA compliance throughout his almost thirty years as a college coach. Kurtis has cooperated fully with the NCAA investigation, and he will continue to do so."

Townsend has been on Kansas' staff since 2004 and remains with the program, and the same is true of Self, who has been with the Jayhawks since 2003.

Kansas, which won a national championship under Self and Townsend in 2008, is currently the No. 15 team in the nation with a record of 11-5 in 2020-21.