After his near-deadly motorcycle accident, current ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Williams worked as a recruiter for Ceruzzi Sports and Entertainment from 2007 to 2009. He’s seen the corrupt culture of college basketball firsthand, and has admittedly taken part in it.
After the FBI’s bombshell announcement and indictments of four assistant basketball coaches, Williams predicted a grim future for college basketball. He said he knew from experience. Williams dropped on live TV that he funneled $250,000 to Kevin Love’s AAU coach, Pat Barrett, while serving as a representative for the sports agency.
Williams said on Wednesday’s Outside The Lines:
“There were a lot of dealings that were being made that people didn’t know about. There was a lot of money being exchanged. I know for a fact — there was a reported story from Yahoo! Sports back in 2009 — I know that we gave an AAU coach for a guy named Kevin Love who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. We gave him over $250,000. Now, at the time, we were also giving other players money because you were allowed to give players money through their AAU programs.”
The Yahoo! story that Williams referenced in the video described a meeting between Love, Barrett and Williams after a UCLA game. The article no longer lives on Yahoo! Sports‘ site, but here is an excerpt.
Kevin Love said he would’ve preferred hitting In-N-Out Burger with his family after another UCLA victory last winter. Yet, there was Pat Barrett, head of one of the top AAU basketball programs in the country, waiting outside the Pauley Pavilion locker room and pleading for Love to come with him instead.
Love had known Barrett since he was in fifth grade, played two years for Barrett’s traveling team and, as a result, said he felt obligated to go. What Love apparently didn’t know was a New York sports agency had donated $250,000 to Barrett’s team under the premise Barrett could deliver players such as Kevin Love – to dinner first, then as a client.
When Love arrived at Mr. Chow, the famed Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills, the waiting group included Jay Williams, former national player of the year at Duke and 2002 NBA lottery pick.
Williams was there on business, as the chief recruiter for Ceruzzi Sports and Entertainment, the very agency that staked Barrett with a quarter-million dollars.
However, this appeared to be Williams confirming the 2009 report live on ESPN’s broadcast. Love didn’t sign with the agency and mentioned Williams’ motorcycle crash as a reason.
“If I was going with an agent,” said Kevin Love, “why would I ever go with a guy who, no offense, but he crashed a motorcycle into a tree. I’m not going to go with a guy that’s reckless.”
After the article, Ceruzzi Sports was probed by the NBA.
