Quote:
Originally Posted by estefaniocurry
They set up all the shenanigans, from taking tests for players to paying their families so that they can be pinned on some "rogue" not directly employed by the university or the athletic department, and not easily linked directly to official authorities (coach, AD, etc.). Sure some of them are crooked operators looking to make a dime for themselves - those are exactly the perfect people to use - because they can be blamed as autonomous actors. Usually it works well enough to lessen the punishment when they get caught.
This implies a level of active, top-down direction that doesn't exist very often. It happens, of course, but willful blindness at the head coach/AD level is much more common. Roy Williams doesn't want to know how the academic support group at UNC is so good at keeping kids eligible and not distracted, so he doesn't ask. Nick Saban doesn't want to know why a player is driving a new Range Rover, so he doesn't investigate. Bruce Pearl likely falls into this category.