Former assistant Evans to plead guilty to bribery
Former South Carolina and Oklahoma State assistant coach Lamont Evans will plead guilty to a conspiracy to commit bribery charge on Wednesday, according to one of his attorneys. Evans will become the third former coach -- Tony Bland (USC) and Emanuel "Book" Richardson (Arizona) were the others -- to plead guilty in a corruption scandal that rocked college basketball. Evans is accused of taking $22,000 in bribes to steer South Carolina and Oklahoma State basketball players toward certain financial advisers and business managers when they turned pro. He has agreed to pay back $22,000 and could face up to two years in prison at sentencing. Evans was arrested in September 2017 as one of four assistant coaches caught on FBI wiretaps. The other three arrested were former Auburn assistant Chuck Person, Richardson and Bland. Person's trial is expected to be held in June. The corruption scandal led to the firing of Louisville coach Rick Pitino, and court testimony last fall placed schools such as Kansas and North Carolina State under scrutiny. Former Adidas executive James Gatto, former agent runner Christian Dawkins and former Adidas consultant Merl Code were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October after a trial in New York. Code and Dawkins face a separate trial for the bribery charges in April. The three men are slated to be sentenced on March 5. --Field Level Media
