NC State Basketball
OUR TAKE: On how the FBI investigation could impact NC State
Former NC State point guard Dennis Smith Jr. allegedly received a loan of $73,500 from agent from ASM, a sports agency firm, but he ultimately didn’t sign with them when it was all said and done.
(See NC State’s response to the FBI report here.)
Also, the FBI documentation that was leaked in the Yahoo report includes the names of former NC State coaches Mark Gottfried, Orlando Early and Butch Pierre. (See N&O Piece Here)
The above email doesn’t say what Gottfried and Early talked to Christian Dawkins, of ASM about. But what is clear in his email is Gottfried and Early were talking to this sports agency.
So what do we make of all this?
A couple of things…
1) There is nothing that reveals that NC State gave Dennis Smith Jr. any money through what has been revealed at this point.
2) NC State coaches talking to a sports agency is sketchy, though not incriminating. There is no evidence at this point money was exchanged.
3) I can’t prove this, but it is likely the NC State coaches were calling in regard to then prospect Brian Bowen, who eventually landed at Louisville to the tune of $100k.
4) This is just the tip of the iceberg. This is evidence of only one sports agency, and nearly every significant college basketball school found themselves in there somewhere.
5) Speaking of ‘tip of the iceberg’, this is a small leak by the FBI. Nothing has been leaked from shoe companies and AAU circuits/teams at this point.
6) None of this is shocking. Not at all. Anyone with their nose to the ground knows this has been going on for a long long time in college basketball.
7) Why is the FBI even involved? Because a lot of what happens comes down to bribery. Money gets slipped to players to coax them to sign with them as agents or as an endorsement deal with a shoe company when they leave college.
8) What is the NCAA to do? Honestly? Unless schools or representatives of schools are directly involved in the exchanging of funds, I’m not sure what they can do.
If more comes out on Gottfried and crew, and somehow he took cash, in my opinion, that’s on him and not the institution. The school did their due diligence with the following letters back in 2012.
Also, I don’t think they (NCAA) can truly do anything significant with all of the schools that will arise in the reports that follow without sinking the ship they ride in. If you really want to dig, you won’t find many schools that won’t be implicated directly, or indirectly. Think that’s not true, you’re lying to yourself.
9) This issue is exposing a much much bigger issue within college basketball, and I’m not saying I have the answers. The idea that these kids are “amateurs” that aren’t allowed to make a dime, while they make the “professionals” surrounding the sports millions is hypocritical. I’m not saying you have to change rules because they are broken, but when what the rules in-and-of-themselves are exploiting the student athletes, a conversation must be had.
10) Finally, Dennis Smith Jr is gone. The coaches no longer coach for NC State. What’s the worst that could happen in my mind? NC State is forced to negate the wins they got while DSJ was in Raleigh (Not making light of this, but most NC State fans wouldn’t mind erasing the 2016-17 season from their memory anyway.). Now, if they were to start talking about punishments into the future, I think that’s lunacy. NC State took the initiative to send a letter in 2012 to agents they felt were too close to the program and one was Miller. They made it clear he was to stay away. Gottfried went rogue and was in contact with him. They’ve since fired Gottfried. I don’t think this is an institutional failure. NC State took steps to make sure this didn’t happen. This is a coach going behind the back of his school. If you were to punish schools like this impacting their future, you’d completely shut down the NCAA tournament for years to come, and that ain’t happening.
According to reports, NC State is adding UMASS’ Brett Nelson as an Assistant Coach.
Sources: Brett Nelson is leaving UMass to join Kevin Keatts’ staff at NC State as an assistant.
Matt Figger — who worked for Frank Martin at both South Carolina and Kansas State — will replace Nelson in Amherst.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 15, 2024
Nelson was only at UMASS for 1 season under Frank Martin. Prior to that, Nelson was the Head Coach at Holy Cross for 4 seasons, posting a 27-84 record.
Prior to taking the Head Coaching mantle at Holy Cross, Nelson was at Marquette for 5 seasons, spending the first 3 as an Assistant Coach, and the final two as an Associate Head Coach. Prior to Marquette, Nelson also served as an Assistant Coach at Ball St., Drake, Arkansas and Marshall.
Before coaching basketball, Nelson played for the University of Florida from 1999-2003. He was All-SEC twice, and earned Third Team All-American honors. When he left Gainesville, he was the Gators’ all-time leader in three pointers made, and ranked 2nd in steals.
As a Senior in High School, Nelson was a McDonald’s All-American.
Power Forward Ernest Ross announced this morning that he is returning to NC State for his final year of eligibility.
View this post on Instagram
Last Friday, Ross committed to UTSA after entering the Transfer Portal on April 17th, but it looks like he had a change of heart over the past couple of days.
NC State has been in desperate need to add a Big out of the Portal. They have hosted ECU’s Ezra Ausar and Georgia’s Frank Anselem-Ibe, but neither of them have found a home yet. With the addition of Ross, NC State has added depth in the Frontcourt, and unless something changes, their roster is full with 13 scholarship players.
Ross played in 14 games this past season, averaging 3.4 minutes per contest. After playing in 34 games last season, averaging 11.4 minutes per contest, Ross saw his participation dip to a career low this season, but that didn’t for a second break his infectious personality. On the sideline, you could count on Ross every single game to be the heart and soul of the Wolfpack on the bench. To watch a player who played as little as he did, care as much as he did, makes me super proud that this young man represented NC State so well.
Ross was a consensus 4-star player in NC State’s 2021 recruiting class, with 247Sports ranking him as the #60 overall player nationally. ESPN ranked him as the #5 overall player in the state of Florida.
