If you’re not very familiar with who Christian Dawkins is then you’re probably not much of a college basketball fan. However, if you’re VERY familiar with who Christian Dawkins is then you’re probably a big fan of Arizona, Texas, or Oklahoma State basketball.
Arrested just a couple of weeks ago, Dawkins finds himself right in the middle of the FBI’s case against college basketball. According to testimony, he was the middleman between college basketball programs and recruits when it came to brokering deals for a recruits commitment. That’s where the OSU program comes into the picture.
On Thursday the father of one-time prized recruit Brian Bowman Jr. testified in federal court that Dawkins offered his son cash and extra money for a car and housing on behalf of Oklahoma State University. The elder Bowman to a Manhattan jury that the sum of cash was $150,000 with an extra $8,000 thrown in for the car and housing.
According to the testimony with was former Cowboys assistant Lamont Evans who made the offer. Evans was one of four NCAA assistant basketball coaches to be charged by the FBI last year and was fired a short time later.
Oklahoma State released a statement basically saying that they would not be releasing any statements due to the matter being a part of an ongoing investigation. That said, there has to be a particular level of uncomfort as the NCAA is assumed to be looming to like a bunch of vultures waiting to swoop in when the FBI is finished.
“Since there is an ongoing inquiry into the allegations related to former assistant basketball coach Lamont Evans, we will have no comment until the inquiry is completed,” – Oklahoma State University.
Arizona is reported to have offered $50K and Texas was said to have offered assistance with housing. Obviously the hope is that the allegations are false and not credible, but if not, then the hope becomes that there’s no paper trail.
Bowen, currently playing professional basketball in Australia, was ultimately a 5-star commitment to Louisville but had his scholarship offer revoked after the Cardinals parted ways with Rick Pitino amid the scandal. It is alleged that he had a promise of 100K to play basketball for the Cardinals.