Today in New York City, college basketball middleman Christian Dawkins, who helped facilitate payments between colleges and young basketball stars testified that Tom Izzo refused to pay for the services of star recruit Brian Bowen. He testified that Izzo, “told me flat out they weren’t going to pay,” in reference to Bowen’s commitment.
This is a pretty great look for the Spartans, as Dawkins has testified that numerous teams, from Louisville to Oregon and more were all ready to pay handsomely for Bowen’s signed offer letter to their school.
This is exactly in line with what Dawkins’ attorney Steve Haney said about Michigan State back in October:
“Michigan State was one of the only schools that was not going to pay Brian Bowen to go there,” Haney said.
It was confirmed through Yahoo Sports’ Pat Forde and Pete Thamel that Izzo and Dawkins had met together at least once.
This should clear Michigan State of any wrongdoing when it comes to Bowen, and hopefully of any other scandals related to paying college players in recruitment. However, Dawkins was clear that, in his mind, every team in the NCAA does pay for players, but he was never able to secure compensation for Bowen from Izzo, which is encouraging.
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