TMZ.com reported early Friday “the NCAA is taking an aggressive look at University of Kentucky basketball players — past and current — and their possible involvement with professional agents.”
(Wall’s former AAU coach negotiated new Reebok deal for former UK player)
More:
In the case of one former Wildcat, we’re told the NCAA wants to know about his relationship with his current agent. We’re told the investigator asked about multiple meetings the agent allegedly had with the player … dating back to the player’s senior year in high school.
The insinuation is the agent had an arrangement with the player before he went to Kentucky.
Such an “arrangement” would constitute an NCAA violation.
Today I looked into TMZ’s report and subsequently confirmed a former Kentucky player the NCAA is indeed investigating.
A college basketball source with knowledge of the investigation told me today that the NCAA is, once again, investigating the relationship between John Wall and longtime Wall associate Brian Clifton.
Wall had a close relationship with Clifton before attending Kentucky and played on a club team founded by Clifton before moving on to the Wildcats. Clifton claimed in 2008 to CBSSports.com that he was a certified player agent before creating founding the club team that Wall played on.
“Absolutely I was a licensed agent. But what I started and what I had given my life to was this [D-One Sports] program and I was about to watch it fall apart. Obviously I couldn’t let that happen. So at that time — after having not signed any clients — I figured that program was the most important thing for me. … And that was the end of the agent thing.”
Interestingly though, Clifton is now officially representing Wall under the auspices of his own management company, called “Pindar Enterprises.”
On June 9, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported:
Reebok made an immense investment with the charismatic and explosive guard, believing that Wall can replace Allen Iverson as the brand’s superstar. Wall’s reps, Dan Fegan of Lagardere Unlimited and Brian Clifton of Pindar Enterprises, negotiated a rare two guaranteed signature shoes for Wall.
Wojnarowski and WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL reported the deal negotiated for Wall by Fegan and Clifton to be worth $25 million over five years.
So much for Clifton’s “end of the agent thing.”
This is not the first time the NCAA has investigated Wall’s link to Clifton. In October 2009 the RALEIGH NEWS-OBSERVER reported:
Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive told ESPN.com on Thursday that the NCAA’s agents and amateurism group is looking into the eligibility of Wall, who chose the Wildcats over Duke, Miami and Memphis, among others.
The Web site reported that Kentucky has been researching Wall’s eligibility for months because Brian Clifton, who is in charge of Wall’s D-One club program, was a certified agent with basketball’s international governing body, for about a year. Wall, a Raleigh product, played for the team from 2006 to 2008.
On Halloween, 2009, the ASSOCIATED PRESS reported the result of that NCAA inquiry:
The school announced Friday that the 6-foot-4 freshman must sit out two games and repay almost $800 in expenses incurred during unofficial visits to schools during his junior year at Word of God Christian Academy.
Wall`s status had been up in the air as the NCAA investigated the relationship between Wall and Brian Clifton, his former AAU coach. Clifton was a certified agent for a period during Wall`s recruitment, and the NCAA looked into whether Wall accepted any illegal benefits from Clifton during that time.
Wall will miss an exhibition game against Campbellsville on Monday and the season-opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13.
Now to recap TMZ’s report earlier today:
In the case of one former Wildcat, we’re told the NCAA wants to know about his relationship with his current agent. We’re told the investigator asked about multiple meetings the agent allegedly had with the player … dating back to the player’s senior year in high school.
The insinuation is the agent had an arrangement with the player before he went to Kentucky.
It is a violation of NCAA rules for a student athlete to receive anything of value from an agent — or to have any agreements, verbally or in writing, with an agent.
Despite having no clients at the time, Clifton is on the record as saying he gave up being an agent to focus all of his efforts on an AAU/club team that Wall played on.
Then, after Wall left Kentucky, Clifton was back to the agent trade, repping Wall, his first and only client, during negotiations for the NBA player’s $25 million Reebok deal.
I’m told that a possible agreement between the two while Wall was a student-athlete is part of what’s at issue in the NCAA’s current investigation into the Kentucky basketball program.
2:43 pm on July 2nd, 2010
yep….1st poster is right…Clifton never wanted Wall to UK. That really doesnt matter though. The point is anyone can pick anyone they want and doesnt always have to be something planned from way way back. People should quit getting all giddy…this is another attempt by a bunch of so called reporters needing web hits..thats it… nothing more
2:47 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Lol no way. Clifton was sooooo against Wall to UK. Absolutely didnt want him in Lexington.
3:05 pm on July 2nd, 2010
As a devout UK fan, I always thought Cal was shady and these things that are coming out just prove it. I hope the NCAA doesn’t give us the death penalty.
3:36 pm on July 2nd, 2010
I hope the UK program dies a slow painful death.
3:36 pm on July 2nd, 2010
I will drink to that.
3:37 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Why are you guys so mean to me? I mean, I just gave my players a raise? I can’t pay them as much as the NBA does.
3:51 pm on July 2nd, 2010
And Probation is my game. Suck on this UK fans.
4:11 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Catylst…..the misinformation is that Cal does NOT cheat. While the trust is that he does.
4:11 pm on July 2nd, 2010
More yellow journalism. Trying to profit from conjecture, misinformation, innuendo and general hatred for UK and Calipari. Pathetic…
4:33 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Here I come UK fans.
4:35 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Why are you all hating on me? I was just trying to get paid after my dancing career didn’t pan out.
5:42 pm on July 2nd, 2010
I smell a rat….. oh that’s me.
5:46 pm on July 2nd, 2010
TO UK is gay
Guess what you can do with your post!
5:59 pm on July 2nd, 2010
If this was such a problem why did the NCAA clear Wall after a two game suspension. Ky was left alone when they weren’t getting the big names into school. As soon as we started getting great players coming in then the NCAA and the media kill themselves trying to ruin Ky. Wall was cleared by the NCAA and the SEC to play that should be the end of it.
6:34 pm on July 2nd, 2010
IM A DIEHARD UK FAN HAVE BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE BUT CANT STAND CALAPARI!!!!!!! HE IS SHADY AS HELL I WOULDNT TRUST HIM TO BABYSIT MY DOGS HE WOULD PROLLY FIND THEM AN AGENT AND ENTER THEM IN DOG RACES
7:12 pm on July 2nd, 2010
We are back baby!! So hate on if so desire. LOL
7:27 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Fact is everyone wants ky out of picture because we are a juggernaut. NAACP investigated us for a black coach after coach pitino so we hired tubby he won a championship with pitino’s boys that stuck tubby here for ten miserable yeArs. I ain’t say tubby isn’t a good guy just not that great of a coach. Why hasn’t duke had a black coach I guess they $$$ their dues. We didn’t recuit top players because tubby isn’t that great of coach and nobody wanted to play for him. Kentucky recruited some nice players during tubby’s years. But now with calipAri letting the boys run the show And calipari manage the public it’s win win. Bledsoe investigation now wall again next we will be investigate Krebs American eligibility. Lol I understand why everyone wants Uk out of picure they (other colleges)have to start looking through the four stars . It’s kind of funny to watch from the side. Calipari maybe crooked but let’s face who isn’t Obama ? Bush? Bp? Coach Calhoun oh yeah I can’t mention him he’s from the big easy I mean big east oops they gotta alot of good teams with big money. Any way if a player is cleared before season by NCAA then they should be clear and free it s called double jeopardy. Anyway this doesn’t even matter just learn to live with it boys
8:14 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Do your homework. It was Calipari who turned in UMass as soon as he discovered Marcus Camby had dealings with an agent. Every major program has issues. Everyone of them. Some are lightning rods, some aren’t.
8:20 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Kentucky is completely irrelevant. Only reason Cal left Memphis is because he was going to be fired if he stayed in Memphis and UK was the only taker. They took Calipari even though they knew of these impending allegations.
FACT: Calipari will get Kentucky’s 2009 season vacated and will get Kentucky on probation.
And how do you have 5 NBA first round players and NOT win a National Title?
Kentucky is completely FAIL all around. Hick town.
8:34 pm on July 2nd, 2010
On a serious note, 1-Clifton is not the focus of the investigation. 2-www can kill this anytime he wants to. He already killed a NY Times investigative piece. If anyone thinks Cal is straight up, I want to talk to you about some great deals I can hook you up with.
9:02 pm on July 2nd, 2010
You see we’ve got a coach at Kentucky who put two (now THREE) schools on probation and he’s still coaching. I really don’t understand that.
Integrity is really lacking.
9:10 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Cal’s a ho
10:19 pm on July 2nd, 2010
“I always thought Cal was shady and these things that are coming out just prove it.”
You don’t want to wait until all the facts are in? Yikes, I hope you never serve on a jury! It’s opinionated, close-minded people that led to the Inquisition. That led to the burning of witches. That led to the Final Solution. (And gridlock in Congress.) Nobody writing comments here knows what happened. Or if anything happened at all. So let’s wait and see what findings come from this alleged inquiry before we tie Calipari to the stake and start lighting matches, okay?
And you’re a UK fan? Absolutely mental.
10:20 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Eddie DWI Sutton, Rod Flasher Strickland III, Billy Scotch Gillespie, and now the grand master of all Johnny vacate Calimari. UK is what is wrong with game. Ricky Bighead took a pay cut to go the NBA.
10:28 pm on July 2nd, 2010
Ed Davis of UNC signed with an agent before he finished playing for UNC and the NCAA did not touch them. They should have to forfiet most of the 09-10 season.
11:13 pm on July 2nd, 2010
I hope that the NCAA does the right thing. John Calipari is DIRTY. All the media knows it. Mitch Barnhart and Lee Todd are selling their souls for a silly basketball win. Neither (all three) need to be leading this program Many fans in this state are blinded by the thought of being back on top. TAKE A LONG,I MEAN A REAL LONG LOOK IN THE MIRROR. DO YOU SEE ANY RESEMBLANCE OF INTEGRITY!!!!!!!!!!! MANY Fans have predicted a program filled with humiliation! Shame on you Kentucky.
1:32 am on July 3rd, 2010
wtf calipari is scum…glad he left memphis
4:00 am on July 3rd, 2010
All you Cal and UK haters are hilarious. From the looks of some of these post Billy Packer has multiple user names.LOL
4:30 am on July 3rd, 2010
See friends this is why I would not recruit JW to be a Tarheel! Let JC have him … they were perfect for each other.
5:09 am on July 3rd, 2010
So Cal’s name is never mentioned in this whole ordeal, and you geniuses here say this is proof he cheats? If Wall and Clifton had some sort or secret agreement, what the heck does that have to do with Calipari? Wall could have just as easily gone to Duke, and then all of you haters would be blaming Clifton instead of Coach K. Then again you probably would have never found out about it because the NCAA and TMZ wouldn’t have given a damn if it were any other school or any other coach.
6:14 am on July 3rd, 2010
You are kidding me…right? Coach Scum er…Cal would never recruit a kid who’s eligibility is questionable….A fine upstanding rule abiding developer of young men, who has such high moral and ethical standards….NEVER…..LOL….it might not be this time but, it’s coming….UK meet the death penality….From Joe B. to Sutton and now Calipari…should have happened a long time ago. Karma is such a Bi#@h!
12:04 pm on July 3rd, 2010
First of all, there is no current NCAA investigation. It’s possible their task force is investigating a tip or a rumor, but that is completely different than a formal NCAA probe.
Secondly, Clifton didn’t even want Wall to go to Kentucky.
Third, and most important, Clifton isn’t Wall’s agent. He is serving as his business manager, which is not an NCAA violation.
Fourth, Clifton/Cal/Wall/WWW and everyone else you can think of is connected to Nike. Wall signed with Reebok. To make a connection between all of these guys going back to high school is a real stretch.
1:50 pm on July 3rd, 2010
Strike 1 - UMass goes down. Strike 2 - Memphis goes down. Strike 3 - Kentucky goes down. Coach Cal. Great Recruiter. Great Crook. Where does he go next and who goes down?
3:01 pm on July 3rd, 2010
with 5 to 7 one and done players each year UK will have 4 to 5 starting freshman every year. they dont stand a chance.
5:02 pm on July 3rd, 2010
AAU culture - some hoops programs really embrace it, and UK is one of them. enjoy the inevitable probation (again) and take a look at indiana the last couple years to see how fun it will be when all these rats desert the sinking ship.
7:14 pm on July 3rd, 2010
Is there ever going to be an end to this “I hate UK and John Calipari–they are all crooks” stupidity? Hell, if he sent three of the best guards in the nation to the NBA, airhead Joe Biden would have all the top recruits camping in his front yard. Truth be known, I kinda love all this nonsense–only proves that UK is back baby! Take a look–have you ever seen more exciting college basketball in your lifetime! Eat your heart out BIlly Packer and the rest of you morons can take a hike.
10:56 pm on July 3rd, 2010
Are all you Kentucky fans really that blind? I hope you all realize that the people of Massachusetts and Memphis were saying the same things as you are now. “Everyone hates on Coach Cal because he wins…bla bla bla.”
Open your eyes and face the facts. He will eventually SCREW you.
4:00 am on July 4th, 2010
oh no! my school can never gain the services of the most talented recruits in the nation! If UK wants them, what are we to do?! Forget the fact that the DDO unleashes players and displays their abilities that get them into the NBA! They have to be doing something wrong! Damn that Coach Cal for raising all that money for those Hatians. Yes he has to be scum for donating $$$ with 6 figures to a charity in Memphis. How can someone be so low to encourage young individuals to move on to make their dreams come true instead of being selfish and keep them around to guarantee himself a national title.
8:57 am on July 4th, 2010
LOL @ some of the UK fans who want to spin this as nothing more than either jealousy by other fans or just an attack against a good man who does blah, blah, blah, for charity, etc. None of that addresses the issues at hand, namely that the guy has a history of shady dealings that he somehow can never be tied to (and what idiot is dumb enough to leave a paper or electronic trail? These guys know how to have other people do the dirty work and keep themselves out of the loop), and that there is nobody outside of the UK fan base who is remotely surprised by any of this. We’ll see if it can be substantiated, but anyone who is shocked that Calipari has UK in the NCAA crosshairs is either a blind homer or too dumb to vote.
9:10 am on July 4th, 2010
to unx sucks: It’s RICKY 3 STACKS
12:09 pm on July 4th, 2010
UK fans, why do you insist on calling the Big EAST the big easy? If our conference is so easy, why do we own you in every single post season tournament?
3/27/2010: UK 66 WVU 73 (Elite
3/25/2009: UK 67 Notre Dame 77 (NIT)
3:09 pm on July 4th, 2010
Why do uk fans keep calling people haters? What is there to hate on? You all didn’t win anything LOL. cal is dirty and is bad for college bball. He should be banned for life.
7:30 pm on July 4th, 2010
KY fans wonder why everyone is “hatting” on them. Well, when you take the documented cheatingest program in the history of the NCAA and pair them with the most documented cheating coach, people are going to take notice. It’s simply business as usual at KY. And most of their fans don’t really care, as long as they win. Pretty pitiful if you ask me. Whether or not anything comes down on them is a mute point as their image is tarnished anyway.
Get Calipari out of college ball - he is killing the system and the game I love.
10:39 pm on July 5th, 2010
The sad thing is that UK was a respected program (until 1990), with impressive alumni (Bowie, Issel, Dampier, Riley, Grevey etc). Then they became a UNLV clone.
1:18 am on July 6th, 2010
TMZ IS THE JOKE!!! COACH CAL IS BEING WATCH EVERY STEP AT UK… THEY ARE BEING TALKED SO MUCH BECAUSE OF UK AND COACH CAL AND GET THE PLAYERS IN..UK IS NUMBER ONE BASKETBALL PROGRAM JUST AS ND IS IN FOOTBALL.
8:51 am on July 6th, 2010
word is that Wall had to be watched ALL season long by a uk employee (Sandy Bell) to keep an agent away from him. I’d say this was consistent with the article. uk fans are so dumb. they don’t realize Cal is gonna wind them up on another SI cover, “Kentuckys Shame part 2.
11:14 am on July 6th, 2010
“Take a look–have you ever seen more exciting college basketball in your lifetime”
Id say watching them get bounced from the NCAA tourney was no more or less exciting than any other team.
2:10 pm on July 6th, 2010
Funny, all of you who are trashing Calipari in this. Forgive me for trying to speak some common sense, but IF a pre-existing arrangement had been verbally agreed to between Wall and Clifton, how exactly would Calipari know about it? Just saying. Perhaps you all need to get off of Calipari’s back and start realizing that most of these high-profile athletes are black kids who grew up with nothing, and who are easily influenced by someone who can give them the things they didn’t have growing up - money, cars, video games, etc. So, the kids jump at the opportunity because they feel the world owes it to them. It isn’t the coaches fault unless they are directly involved in connecting the kids to the boosters, agents, etc. Just saying.
6:17 pm on July 6th, 2010
Kentucky the first program to reach 2000 wins… twice (once this past season gets removed from the books).
12:07 pm on July 7th, 2010
And the winner of most penalized college sports program goes tooooooo….
KENTUCKY!!!!!!!
lol hatin? more like UK just sucks and folks don’t like arrogant a-holes…
2:14 pm on July 7th, 2010
THia ahould be about the so called agents — business mgrs wh manipulate 16-18 yr old kids from poor backgrounds for a buck—-invstigate them for tax evasion, new laws againsyt implied contracts with minors etc.
2:16 pm on July 7th, 2010
Keith…at least UK doesn’t suck as bad as your name does. And the winner for lamest name goes to…Keith!
3:05 pm on July 7th, 2010
are douchebags.
3:09 pm on July 7th, 2010
Every college program cheats. It’s the truth and you all can get over it. Every professional sports team cheats. It’s all part of the deal. UK gets targeted by everyone because they’re good at it. UNC is too but they’ll get caught eventually as well. And the rest of you…..your podunk little basketball program will get nabbed sooner or later…it’s inevitable. The NCAA will just tell you that a player they cleared 3 years ago suddenly wasn’t eligible and you need to vacate seasons past. Go Arkansas Pine Bluff!!!!
3:42 am on September 19th, 2010
Taking the Heisman Trophy from Reggie Bush? Sure. Having that effect Reggie Bush being known as one of the most dominant RB’s in NCAA history? No.
The college years can be extremely difficult for all students and especially student-athletes. Mistakes are lessons that better judgments in the future. To punish a person ye…ars after making the wrong decision is an inefficient way of solving the problem. Punishment should be focused on the coaches and organizations that broke the rules. If coaches don’t break the rules players can’t break the rules. Eliminate the cause, suffer no effect.