Terps Sports

Wasn't Jimmy Collins found "innocent" in this recruitment?

Was what Pearl said/wrote not true, or was Collins innocent like OJ Simpson?

Article summary:

Deon Thomas and Collins deny any wrongdoing whatsoever. But Pearl recorded a phone convo with Thomas that entails Thomas was offered 80k and a Chevy from Collins (the transcript is shown). But Thomas didn't admit to accepting the bride in the transcript. Thomas claims that he admitted to Collins offering the bride just so he could "get an overzealous recruiter off the phone." The phone conversation was 14 minutes long but only 6 minutes were presented during the case. Also, Pearl enlisted Thomas' best friend to help persuade Thomas to come to Iowa, and told him he could get a scholarship himself if he helped.

Even though Thomas and Collins deny any wrongdoing, it's clear that Collins offered the bride from the evidence. But that's besides the point of the piece. Pearl was just pissed that Collins was going to land Deon Thomas, a player that Pearl manically recruited and even flew out to Amsterdam to watch play. Basically, Pearl promised Iowa he would land this kid, and was given a lot of funding (more than Iowa can afford) to go on these trips for scouting purposes because Pearl wanted to seal the deal. When Pearl heard that Thomas was leaning towards Illinois (who wouldn't choose Illinois over Iowa?), and fearing for his job security after hyping up his own recruiting so much, he took drastic measures: basically planning to ruin Collins' career and castrate Illinois so he could save his ass and potentially land Thomas with Illinois out of the way. The article ends by saying that the NCAA is an unlawful land, and everyone is aware of the infractions that take place everyday but they are unanimously ignored to keep the "enterprise" going and the money coming in. So to think what Pearl did was for, as he claims, "idealist purposes," is incredibly naive and dishonest. Pearl damn well knew the nature of the NCAA. He just wanted to advance his career in any way possible. And if that meant taking down another program and a prospect's career, that didn't matter. Dude is a sociopath.

Beat me to the punch.

I mean, if you read the article, there's evidence that Thomas was OFFERED a bribe by Collins. Doesn't mean he physically accepted it. There's an unwritten code in CBB that you don't rat out another program because of a personal vendetta, and that's exactly what Pearl did.

Edit: I don't think Thomas accepted the money and car because of the fuzz that Pearl created shortly after Collins' bribe. Wouldn't it be prudent to either give the bribe gifts back to Collins before the investigation begins? It's hard to hide that much money and a car, especially for a relatively impoverished family, so I don't think he ever accepted the bribe. He just went to Illinois because what other school would take the risk on Thomas after he was accused of being involved in a bribe that the NCAA was investigating. After Pearl spilled the beans, his only choice of college WAS Illinois.