Who do you believe, Jeff Lebo or Coach K/Roy Williams? I see Lebo giving an honest assessment and K/Williams lying through their teeth.
Response of long time coach at ECU, Jeff Lebo:
"I've told people I wasn't shocked, but surprised that finally it got out there, and somebody with some teeth in the government got involved," said Lebo, who's 325-273 over his career as a head coach. "It was probably the worst-kept secret in the country for a long time. I'm sure over the course of time here, there will be measures to address it. But it's not going to go away completely. It's changed in the course of the time - the cheating. It's not the boosters anymore. They're talking about it how it's moved to agents, to money managers, to sneaker companies, I guess, and it was just a sad day for me as a coach, and for a lot of guys who are in coaching.
"Then a lot of guys who are out of coaching, that maybe lost out because of that and because of what's been going on. That's why I said it was sad, because people got ahead by not doing it the right way and made a good living doing it not the right way, it sounds like. There are a lot of guys who are out of this business, that tried to do it the right way, that got beat. Until they take an emphasis off winning, which I don't think will ever happen, you're going to see this stuff change and morph, and it's just sad when you're in college to have to see it and be a part of it, and get the painted brush that all of us are like that. That's the frustrating thing for me."
Lebo, who's been recruiting players as a coach since first starting out as an assistant in East Tennessee State in 1990, said he's heard all sorts of stories about corruption in college basketball over the past numbers of years. But, even still, when the 50-year-old coach got his eyes on the FBI's report, he was amazed.
"Oh, you hear it all the time," Lebo said. "That's just part of what we do on a daily basis. You hear it, but you don't really know it, exactly. But reading what I read, you couldn't make that stuff up. It was just crazy to read it and just think about it. And it sounds like they're just at the tip of the iceberg here."
Compare this to Coach K's response:
"Last week was bad, doesn't mean all of college basketball is bad," Krzyzewski said. "It also doesn't mean that it's necessarily the tip of some iceberg. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think the iceberg is really good."
And this doozy: "I don't think this thing about shoe companies giving kids money is rampant."
And Roy William's response:
North Carolina coach Roy Williams told ESPN that Nike has never aided him in securing players.
"They've never helped me get any player, never insinuated, never done anything," Williams told ESPN in an exclusive interview on Monday.
"I've dealt with Nike and Jordan Brand since I came back here, but we never even discuss things like that," he added. "So I know it's foreign to me."
Williams admitted he hasn't followed the specifics of the college basketball scandal closely, but that he was "stunned" when he first heard the news that four assistant coaches and two people affiliated with Adidas were arrested by the FBI a week ago.
Response of long time coach at ECU, Jeff Lebo:
"I've told people I wasn't shocked, but surprised that finally it got out there, and somebody with some teeth in the government got involved," said Lebo, who's 325-273 over his career as a head coach. "It was probably the worst-kept secret in the country for a long time. I'm sure over the course of time here, there will be measures to address it. But it's not going to go away completely. It's changed in the course of the time - the cheating. It's not the boosters anymore. They're talking about it how it's moved to agents, to money managers, to sneaker companies, I guess, and it was just a sad day for me as a coach, and for a lot of guys who are in coaching.
"Then a lot of guys who are out of coaching, that maybe lost out because of that and because of what's been going on. That's why I said it was sad, because people got ahead by not doing it the right way and made a good living doing it not the right way, it sounds like. There are a lot of guys who are out of this business, that tried to do it the right way, that got beat. Until they take an emphasis off winning, which I don't think will ever happen, you're going to see this stuff change and morph, and it's just sad when you're in college to have to see it and be a part of it, and get the painted brush that all of us are like that. That's the frustrating thing for me."
Lebo, who's been recruiting players as a coach since first starting out as an assistant in East Tennessee State in 1990, said he's heard all sorts of stories about corruption in college basketball over the past numbers of years. But, even still, when the 50-year-old coach got his eyes on the FBI's report, he was amazed.
"Oh, you hear it all the time," Lebo said. "That's just part of what we do on a daily basis. You hear it, but you don't really know it, exactly. But reading what I read, you couldn't make that stuff up. It was just crazy to read it and just think about it. And it sounds like they're just at the tip of the iceberg here."
Compare this to Coach K's response:
"Last week was bad, doesn't mean all of college basketball is bad," Krzyzewski said. "It also doesn't mean that it's necessarily the tip of some iceberg. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think the iceberg is really good."
And this doozy: "I don't think this thing about shoe companies giving kids money is rampant."
And Roy William's response:
North Carolina coach Roy Williams told ESPN that Nike has never aided him in securing players.
"They've never helped me get any player, never insinuated, never done anything," Williams told ESPN in an exclusive interview on Monday.
"I've dealt with Nike and Jordan Brand since I came back here, but we never even discuss things like that," he added. "So I know it's foreign to me."
Williams admitted he hasn't followed the specifics of the college basketball scandal closely, but that he was "stunned" when he first heard the news that four assistant coaches and two people affiliated with Adidas were arrested by the FBI a week ago.
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