By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
Former summer league basketball coach Myron Piggie admitted
Tuesday to defrauding UCLA and three other universities, their
conferences and the NCAA by paying several players ““
including former UCLA forward JaRon Rush ““ during high
school, thereby jeopardizing their amateur eligibility.
Piggie pleaded guilty in a Kansas City federal court to one
felony count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and a misdemeanor
of failing to file a federal income tax return. He could face up to
five years in prison without parole and a $25,000 fine for the
first charge, and one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for the
second.
Nine other charges against Piggie were dropped in the terms of
the plea agreement.
U.S. Attorney Stephen Hill of Kansas City said that Piggie
admitted to giving cash payments to JaRon Rush, Missouri’s
Kareem Rush, the Detroit Pistons’ Korleone Young and Orlando
Magic’s Corey Maggette, and Oklahoma State’s Andre
Williams. According to Hill, Piggie said he made those payments to
the players with the intention that they would compensate him
later, after they had signed professional contracts.
Hill said that by doing so, Piggie deprived the universities,
conferences and NCAA of the honest services of the Rush brothers,
Maggette and Williams during times that they were suspended.
He also said that Piggie admitted causing those players to
fraudulently receive athletic scholarships worth more than
$99,000.
“We’ll go on from here and we’ll go where the
investigation takes us,” Hill said. “What we heard in
court was an acknowledgment that Myron Piggie and others set out to
corrupt high school basketball players, summer basketball, and
universities and the NCAA’s ability to enforce their own
rules.”
The cash payments made by Piggie to his players violated the
NCAA’s standards for amateurism, a violation punishable by
suspension and repayment of the amount of money accepted.
According to Chris Whitley, a public relations officer in
Hill’s office, Piggie admitted paying Rush $17,000. That
amount is higher than the $6,125 the NCAA cited when it suspended
Rush for 44 games on Feb. 1 ““ a penalty that was later
reduced by 20 games.
Whitley would not comment on how Hill’s office came to the
$17,000 amount.
While the NCAA could look into why the reported amount of the
payments is different, spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said the NCAA
doesn’t plan on investigating UCLA due to information
uncovered in Piggie’s case.
“I don’t think there is any new information
pertaining to UCLA (from this plea bargain),” she said.
“The only issue, and this is true for any university, is if
the school used an ineligible player during the NCAA championships.
Then there is the potential that money earned during that
championship must be returned.”
If the NCAA finds that Rush was ineligible during the 1998-99
season, his first year at UCLA, the school could end up having to
pay back more than $60,000 in tournament revenue it received from
its first-round loss to Detroit-Mercy.
UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis said Wednesday that the
school is still working on submitting a report to the NCAA on the
issue.
In the end, while Piggie’s case has brought attention
““ and criticism ““ to violations stemming from the AAU
circuit, former UCLA head coach John Wooden said it will be
difficult to curtail the problem in coming years.
“Stopping high school players from taking money is a very
difficult thing to accomplish,” Wooden said. “Of
course, colleges have no control of them in high school. It’s
the high school coaches, high school teachers and the
player’s family that have the responsibility.”
Piggie is currently being held in custody in Kansas City while
he awaits sentencing.