Michigan State University could potentially face NCAA ramifications in a federal corruption investigation probing at least 20 Division I basketball programs and more than 25 players.
According to a Yahoo Sports report, Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, USC, Alabama and a host of other schools were also named in the investigation.
Yahoo Sports reports that documents and records obtained from the investigation links to some of the sport's biggest current stars, including MSU's Miles Bridges, to specific potential extra benefits for either the athletes or their family members.
These benefits range from basic meals to tens of thousands of dollars, the report says.
Bridges' mother received hundreds of dollars in advances, according to the report.
NCAA President Mark Emmert released the following statement on the report:
“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules. Following the Southern District of New York's indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport. With these latest allegations, it's clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo responded to the report with a statement of his own:
“We are aware of the report in Yahoo! Sports. While we will cooperate with any and all investigations, we have no reason to believe that I, any member of our staff or student-athlete did anything in violation of NCAA rules.”
Michigan State interim athletics director Bill Beekman also added the following statement:
“MSU is committed to a culture of NCAA compliance. We have proactively contacted the NCAA and Big Ten Conference. As Coach Izzo has stated, there is no evidence that he or anyone in his program, including student-athletes, did anything impermissible.”
