Hey and welcome to a different electrifying episode on the Go Rhody Podcast Community! Be part of us as Christian Arnold, a digital reporter for the New York Publish, dives into the riveting world of faculty basketball.
He’s received the within scoop from Former Fordham coach Keith Urgo, who opens up concerning the jaw-dropping NCAA 3-year investigation right into a recruiting scandal that shook the College. “What in the end emerged is that the basketball workforce exceeded its recruiting leisure bills,” Arnold reveals.
These bills, which may cowl the whole lot from sports activities video games to bowling, are capped at $75 per particular person, however Fordham blew previous that restrict, racking up over $10K! The scandal even concerned a controversial photograph shoot in Central Park that violated NCAA guidelines.
Throughout their cellphone interview, Christian sensed that the shroud of secrecy was lastly being lifted as Urgo expressed reduction over the NCAA’s long-awaited revelation of the investigation’s full extent.
Christian penned, “Keith Urgo felt like a weight had been lifted on Tuesday when the NCAA lastly unveiled the findings of a yearslong probe into recruiting violations throughout his tenure as head males’s basketball coach at Fordham College.”
But, Urgo couldn’t cover his frustration over the “aggressive” nature of the NCAA’s inquiry, particularly given the comparatively minor infractions by the Rams basketball program. The spotlight of the Urgo Interview? “It’s nearly like they (NCAA) couldn’t contact the massive canine, so that they needed to penalize us to keep up the phantasm of management and energy.”
“It’s nearly like they (NCAA) couldn’t contact the massive canine, so that they needed to penalize us to keep up the phantasm of management and energy.”
Keith Urgo, Former Head Coach of Fordham Basketball
Christian identified the absurdity of taking a recruit to a Yankee sport and sticking to the $75 price range. He felt that probation would have been a good punishment, however vacating Fordham’s unimaginable 25-8 season was excessive.
That dream season put them on the map! Model wonders if the NCAA investigation forged a shadow over the workforce’s stellar 22-23 A10 coach of the yr season. Urgo admitted it did affect the squad.
The checklist of impermissible actions contains tantalizing journeys for recruits to occasions like New York Giants video games, New York Knicks matches, Brooklyn Nets video games, and the U.S. Open! There have been even lesser violations like paid outings at bowling alleys and a wild occasion the place the workforce rented jet skis for a recruit.
Plus, on 24 events, the workforce employed knowledgeable photographer for dazzling photograph shoots in Occasions Sq.! The NCAA additionally questioned how lengthy recruits spent within the suite for the US Open tickets.
Model asks Christian how the NCAA uncovered the recruiting violations, to which Christian reveals that Fordham flagged and self-reported them. He suspects all of it tied again to the US Open bills.
As soon as that was uncovered, different occasions got here below scrutiny.
Model shares a legendary quote from NCAA faculty basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian:
“The NCAA was so mad at Kentucky they gave Cleveland State two extra years of probation.”
Jerry Tarkanian, Legendary Faculty Basketball Coach
