The biggest whore Jerry Tarkanian ever met

[Cartoon by Sebastian Conley, exclusively for Money Players. All rights reserved.]

Another day, another allegation that sports agents, AAU coaches and the devil are all the same. Pat Barrett, a longtime coach on the summer basketball circuit, is, again, involved. Shocking. Yahoo! Sports alleges that Barrett accepted a $250,000 donation from Ceruzzi Sports in return for access to his best NBA prospect, Kevin Love.

The NCAA is apparently concerned about the role AAU coaches play in the recruiting and agent game:

“College coaches were now standing side by side with agents at AAU tournaments and high school games. ‘In the parking lots and at the concessions stands and in the hotel rooms’ is where the NCAA’s Newman Baker said agents linger.”

Agents, AAU coaches and college coaches standing side by side. One big happy, dysfunctional basketball cesspool. The NCAA rulebook prohibits agents from doing anything like paying money to players or to their surrogates. But, amazingly, it allows colleges coaches to pay for direct access to top players. Thankfully, it prohibits college coaches from raising money on behalf of AAU programs, although that did not stop one former coach from requesting IN WRITING that his boosters donate to a program to help with his program's recruitment. Remember, AAU coaches have value to not just sports agents, but also to college coaches who also covet their top players. AAU programs are funding their tax-exempt programs with donations from agents, financial advisers and, I'm guessing, wealthy boosters. "Sleazy" agents donate all this money for a lousy 4% of the bump on an NBA rookie contract plus 20% of endorsement deals, which in this economy is 20% of nada. If you do a back-of-the-napkin calculation, it is easy to see that a great player is far more valuable to a college coach than any sleazy or even reputable agent. Just ask noted sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, who wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the flawed salary structure for college coaches:

[College coaches] are making almost as much as NBA coaches, even though their teams' revenues generally are below one-tenth those in [the NBA]. The trick, of course, is that the players aren't allowed to be paid, so the coaches, in essence, get the value produced by their recruits. It doesn't hurt that college sports benefit from state subsidies and federal tax exemptions, and that they have no stockholders looking for quarterly profits.

Unfortunately, my friend Jason Williams, who worked for Ceruzzi Sports and former NBPA director Charles Grantham, was allegedly the point person recruiting Kevin. In the Yahoo! article, Kevin cuts right to the (motorcycle) chase: “If I was going with an agent, why would I ever go with a guy who, no offense, but he crashed a motorcycle into a tree? I’m not going to go with a guy that’s reckless.” Pat Barrett thrives in his world not just because some agents help fund his program, but also because college coaches kiss up to him. And provide free tickets. And give him access. And, wink, wink, encourage wealthy boosters to also contribute. My early analysis: Kevin and his family were used. Big time. Pat Barrett is a con artist, not on the scale of Bernie Madoff, but a bad dude, nonetheless. He conned Ceruzzi Sports by making them believe he “controlled” Kevin Love and that he could steer Love to chose Ceruzzi as his agents. And Barrett defrauded the Loves by going behind their back and capitalizing on an asset he did not own. My favorite judge of basketball character (or lack of) is Jerry Tarkanian. When he was coach at UNLV, Tark described Pat Barrett as "the biggest whore I ever met." I am sure Tark encountered lots of whores along the way, so this is quite a statement. (BTW—I am convinced Jerry Tarkanian is one of the most honest college basketball coaches of all time…honest about the dishonesty associated with basketball.) So much for Tark's spot-on character assassination. Twenty years later, a job recommendation by Pat Barrett is still apparently golden:

"If you are going to be the coach at USC, you better have a relationship with the coach of the Southern California All-Stars, Pat Barrett, who recommended [Rudy Hackett]. I hired him and I'm very glad we did.

Only in America. Only in the bizarro world of basketball, where the wolves don’t even have to bother to dress as sheep. --Marc Isenberg

Comments

[Kristaan Johnson]

How can anyone blame Pat Barrett for capitalizing on a major NCAA loophole that allows him to get bread. The bottom line is that all these "Big-Time" recruits in the past 15-20 years have been demanding some kind of payment from basketball programs that recruit them. As a former UCLA basketball player and 1995 NCAA Champion, I have witnessed first hand the ills that plague college basketball, and some shady business dealings by EVERYONE involved, not just so-called "agents" or AAU coaches. The Love's were used? You gotta be kidding me. Next thing you are going to say is OJ(Mayo) is a victim, Reynardo Sydney is being exploited, and Tyreke Evans got a raw deal. I respect your viewpoints and opinion Marc, but if you are going to keep it real, then do so. Don't sugar-coat this shit. Though you may personal issues or beef with P.B., he is not the root of the problem. Tark had the nerve to call P.B. a whore? WOW! The real Pimps are these AD's, Head Coaches, and the Boosters of these high-profile programs. They are the ones pulling the strings dog. Not Pat Barrett.

The Legend Lives

[Jameel]

As a former colligate and professional athlete I think articles such as this are very important to inform people of the real issues with college basketball. The perspective that college athletes are all dumb jocks who live their lives on a hoop dream is way too prevalent in my opinion. Crooks and scam artists who openly (or even subtlely) exploit these athletes need to be exposed. Your blog is one way to have some accountability over these peoples' actions. It's also important to educate athletes and their families about these issues...the more they know about this business the less likely they are to be exploited.

Great work as usual, Marc...I appreciate your passion to speak up on behalf of athletes.

[Ticked off]

Marc,

Are you kidding me? You're either stupid or ignorant.

Pat Barrett is a pawn in the game. Kevin and his dad Stan took in excess of $300,000 and Pat was not the orchestrator it was Ceruzzi.

Pat runs a great program that is constantly looking for funding to keep it going. Let me ask you this genius, if someone who struggles to keep a program funded is offered a legal (albeit unethical) incentive to assist an agent try to sign a player with the offer of some hefty reward on the back end, who wouldn't take it?

The story here is not about PB it's about the sneaky Agents, players,the coaches that look the other way and the old men that run the NCAA (that look the other way at something that happens in every sport at every school to one degree or another).

If you want some good stuff quit screwing with the little fish (PB) and go after the big fish the players, agents and most importantly the NCAA to create some reform that would stop this.

Get it Straight

[Marc Isenberg]

Get it straight--

First, Kevin and Stan did not take in excess of $300k as you allege.

You say accepting money from agents is legal, but unethical. It's ok to accept money from donors, including agents. But if PB is funneling money from his sports agents to families, he is probably breaking the law...and Southern Cal Allstars could lose its tax status.

I agree that Barrett is a small fish. He may even run a great program, as you suggest. Time will tell who will be proven right.

--Marc

[Garrett Sanders]

Thanks Marc. You make some great points, particularly about college coaches essentially doing the same as agents.

I doubt the NCAA and universities REALLY want to know what's really going on...like the Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men....You want the TRUTH??? You can't handle the TRUTH!

So do you think should be done to address these issues??

[Milton Woodberry]

What happened to kids just having fun while playing ball? Now any kid with a shred of athletic or photogenic talent is looked upon to subsidize a business. Parents, coaches, & agents gotta check themselves, and the kids have to be aware, too. Kevin Love apparently has some sense.