Ever since live sports have been put on pause due to COVID-19, one thing that has not been halted is the release of the HBO sports documentary The Scheme. The documentary tells the story of Michigan native Christian Dawkins, the self-made Saginaw wannabe sports agent that was charged by the FBI for corrupting amateur athletics.
The documentary highlights Dawkins having a close relationship with some of college basketball’s biggest names such as Arizona’s Sean Miller, LSU’s Will Wade, and new Iona coach Rick Patino. Despite all these names being mentioned in the report by the FBI, all are still currently employed as college coaches. Here are my top two takeaways after watching HBO’s The Scheme.
- HOW THE HELL ARE WADE AND MILLER STILL COACHING?
“We could compensate him better than the rookie minimum,” Wade jokes. “We’d give him more than the D-League…Alright I was thinking last night on this [Javonte] Smart thing, like, I’ll be honest with you. I’m f******tired of dealing with the thing…What do you think? ‘Cause I went to him with a f******strong a** offer about a month ago. – Will Wade via FBI wiretap
At the end of the documentary, they play FBI wiretaps of Dawkins talking to both Miller and Wade on the phone talking about paying college athletes. For Sean Miller, he discusses about how important it is for the program to being paying former #1 pick De’Andre Ayton. While for Wade and the LSU Tigers, he appeared to be talking about former Clemson forward Jerome Blossomgame in the quote above. Despite these wiretaps being visible to the general public, it is shocking that they are both on the sidelines of their respective university, and their silence and non-compliance with their universities are what saved their jobs.
2. Dawkins had fun on the FBI’s dime
In the documentary, Dawkins teams up with what he thinks are advisors to help get his sports management dream to life. Through partnerships he was introduced to Jill Bailey and Jeff D’Angelo, both who were undercover Federal Agents. D’Angelo, who is not interviewed in the documentary, allegedly gave Dawkins a free flow of cash while during the investigation. Dawkins allegedly spent a lot of FBI money partying with NCAA assistant coaches instead of bribing the coaches, which the FBI wanted. Dawkins also admitted that he kept over $90,000 in cash from D’Angelo, which he eventually used to fund himself in his case against the FBI. The FBI’s decision to take this case as serious as they did was laughable in my eyes and it was funny to see that out of the 10 charges they brought to the courts only three of the charges turned into convictions.
The story of Christian Dawkins is something out of a movie. The way he hustled coaches out of money from a fake recruiting site when he was just a teen, the way he scammed the Feds out of thousands, and the impact he had on the game of basketball despite not being a licensed sports agent. But one quote that stood out to me of Dawkins was when he made the point that coaches that don’t play his players are the real wrong ones in this situation. He went on to cite that this a commonality in college basketball, and that them helping out their student-athletes should be applauded and not frowned upon. Although the debate of playing college athletes is a complicated road, one thing that is for certain is that these coaches get paid a ton of money to coach these college kids, and it is a shame that they do not see a dollar for their intense dedication to their respective universities.
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