On February 25, 2019, reports began circulating that indicate both Arizona head basketball coach Sean Miller and LSU head basketball coach Will Wade will be subpoenaed in connection with the upcoming April 22 federal basketball corruption trial.
Back in October, a Manhattan federal jury convicted former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager and aspiring sports agent Christian Dawkins, and former Adidas consultant Merl Code of fraud charges arising out of this college basketball pay-for-play scandal. Throughout the course of trial, several NCAA coaches’ names emerged as a result of the FBI’s investigation – this included Miller and Wade.
Since the inception of this controversy back in September 2017, reports have emerged that reflect potentially nefarious activities on behalf of both Miller and Wade. Indeed, there seemingly exist federal wiretaps of both coaches talking to Dawkins; specifically, during the October trial, one of the attorneys read aloud a wiretap transcript of a conversation between Dawkins and Wade, wherein they discuss potentially swaying top recruit Balsa Koprivica to play at LSU.
Thus, the preliminary notifications that Miller and Wade will be subpoenaed increases the likelihood that any FBI tapes of the coaches will be played at the upcoming trial for further dissection. Along the same lines, this development raises the question of whether these two high-profile coaches will eventually testify in federal court regarding the details of their NCAA recruiting; this potential testimony could shed enormous light on an area previously hidden under the cover of darkness.