How could it be basketball season at Kentucky with a weekly “Big Blue Freak Out”? The latest came courtesy of an ESPN article written by ….. wait for it ….. Pat Forde and Dana O’Neil where it is revealed that UK freshman John Wall and Mississippi State’s Renardo Sidney are facing eligibility issues. The issues facing Sidney are well documented and the mere mention of Wall’s name in an article with Sidney is trying to imply that something nefarious is a foot in the Bluegrass.
But in reality, it appears to be much ado about nothing. The Wall eligibility issue seems to be centered around Brian Clifton, John Wall’s AAU coach and sometimes a part time agent. In the ESPN article, they discussed Clifton’s past as an agent:
Clifton, the president of D-One Sports, previously admitted to being a certified agent but said he forfeited his license in August 2008 so he could devote his full attention to his AAU program.
“Absolutely I was a licensed agent,” Clifton told CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish in August 2008. “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.”
So there you have it. Brian Clifton WAS an agent, albeit an agent that never signed a client. And he gave up his agent status over a year ago. But for a short period, Clifton did walk the edge as both John Wall’s AAU coach and as an agent. And apparently, he accompanied John Wall on a couple of recruiting trips to UK in 2007. The important distinction is that when Clifton accompanied Wall, he did so in the role of AAU coach, which is fairly common. And it is fairly common for the AAU/High school coach that accompanies the athlete to a trip to foot part of the bill out of his pocket and pay for some of the expenses for the player.
And there’s the rub. The fact that Clifton was a licensed agent (albeit it not a practicing agent and an agent with no clients) and he may have paid for part of Wall’s trip is what is being looked at here.
According to Forde’s article, here are some of the possible penalties:
Under the guidelines set by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, agent violations can fall under two categories:
• If an individual accepts significant monetary benefits from an agent, his or her eligibility should not be reinstated.
• If an individual accepts benefits from an agent that are not significant enough to warrant permanent ineligibility, the student-athlete will be withheld for the violation and will be required to repay the value of the benefits.
The committee goes on to say that if a student-athlete accepts benefits from an agent greater than $101, the student-athlete will have to repay the money and be subject to a minimum 10-percent withholding condition — in other words, withheld from 10 percent of a team’s regular-season games.
And this is where the general consensus leaves us right now. If Clifton did indeed foot part of Wall’s trip, Wall will be required to pay back the money that Clifton paid. And if it is a significant amount, Wall may miss the first 2-3 games of the season.
But as of now, all of this is pure speculation. No one is saying that Wall took money from Clifton, but as Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio says “It is the case of an AAU coach who should have been more careful in doing two jobs that can lead to situation like this, that of Agent/AAU coach”.
Now of course, there are a couple of loose ends to clear up on this situation as well. Since Forde is on the warpath, the rest of the UK haters are ready to scurry back out like roaches do when the lights are turned out at night. But a little bit of information for them and also some things to hopefully put the BBN at ease:
- This is not a John Calipari issue in any way, shape, or form. The visits by Wall were in 2007 when Gillispie was coach. Just to repeat it. This is no a Calipari issue. If anyone says it is, you have my permission to beat them about the face and mouth.
- Get ready to embrace the hate — again. The sleaze merchants at ESPN have updated their story, lumping Wall in with Sidney and Lance Stephenson and loading the story with Calipari/Memphis innuendos.
- This story is nothing new to UK. This is something UK has been working on for a while and according to Matt Jones, it does not appear that anyone at UK is too concerned about Wall’s eligibility for this season. Dwayne Peavy, UK’s SID had this quote: “”My understanding is that all 13 players on our roster are eligible at this point”
- There is a rumor out there that this may be part of the reason C.J. Leslie did not attend BBM. Just a rumor, mind you, but if it is true, it seems that Leslie may be close to committing to UK.
- The good thing about this is that UK is investigating this early. John Wall has not played in any games for UK, and once he does don a uniform, this issue is over for UK. There won’t be any whispers about UK using an ineligible player or having to vacate anything. I think that the fact that UK has been on this for a while is a good sign that Sandy Bell and the compliance department are doing their jobs. And we can rest easy and enjoy the wins that will come in the Wall era.
The one thing to follow on this story is how far the NCAA wants to take it. Aside from John Wall repaying the money and maybe missing a few games, the UK aspect is over. But what about Duke? And the other schools that Clifton players reside? It is well known that Clifton wanted Wall to go to Duke and Clifton has another player, Ryan Kelly, on the Duke roster. Now that Kelly has played games for Duke, can he be found as an ineligible player? Kind of like Corey Maggette?
Oh wait. Never mind…
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