Cynthia Bridges, mother of Michigan State University basketball star Miles Bridges, talks about her son getting into basketball. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press
Michigan State is tied to another major scandal, this time involving the FBI probe into college basketball.
And Miles Bridges is part of the focus.
Federal documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports link Bridges’ mother, Cynthia, to agent Christian Dawkins. Saginaw native Dawkins – an associate of former NBA agent Andy Miller and his ASM Sports agency – is one of the 10 men who were charged by the FBI in September, days before practice began for the college basketball season. The U.S. Attorney's Office charged Dawkins with three counts of wire fraud and one count of money-laundering conspiracy.
One of the players implicated in September, Brian Bowen of Saginaw, has not been permitted to play this season by the NCAA due to his involvement. The governing body’s amateurism rules prevent athletes from receiving “benefits from an agent or prospective agent” or from having an “agreement to be represented by an agent.”
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Expense report documents seized by the FBI, according to Yahoo, included two items on May 3, 2016, involving Cynthia Bridges. Those were:
* “Redwood Lodge. Lunch w/Miles Bridges Parents. $70.05.”
* “ATM Withdrawl: Miles Bridges mom advance. $400”
Per the NCAA, “parents may not be given benefits, gifts, or discounts by institutions, other parents, or other representatives of Athletics Interest.”
It is not clear if Bridges, who was a preseason All-American, knew about the meetings or the alleged cash payment. He committed to MSU on Oct. 3, 2015, with his mother and sister by his side at Mott Community College in his hometown Flint. Bridges signed his letter of intent to play for the Spartans on Nov. 11 that year and enrolled at MSU in June 2016.
Yahoo reported it did not view all of the documents the federal government possesses. The document with the links to Bridges was not included among the photos of the spreadsheets shown in the report.
Also listed on Dawkins’ spreadsheets, according to Yahoo, were paid dinners with MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo.
A message to MSU has not yet been returned. The No. 1 Spartans play at Wisconsin on Sunday (1 p.m./CBS).
NCAA President Mark Emmert issued a statement early Friday morning about the Yahoo report.
“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America,” Emmert wrote. “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.”
In September, the FBI revealed the early findings of its ongoing, two-year investigation and issued arrest warrants for Dawkins and nine others including bribery, wire fraud, corruption and illegally funneling money to prospects and their families through shoe companies. Among those implicated were four assistant coaches at Division I schools, representatives from major shoe companies and financial advisers, including Dawkins. It cost Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino and his Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich their jobs.
NCAA officials said they were not aware of the federal investigation until those charges were unveiled.
Izzo, himself a Basketball Hall of Fame coach, in early October said the scandal among his peers was both “disappointing” and “sad” while calling it a “black eye” for the coaching profession.
“When you have a bunch more people touching you, you got a lot more chance for a bunch more problems,” Izzo said, about two weeks after the FBI story broke. “I think that's what has disappointed me. I tell every recruit that comes here as a freshman and sophomore, when they come here with their family, my only piece of advice (is) don't let the process ruin you, because it will. … You've been raised by mom and dad for 17 years, and things are OK. You've been raised by mom and grandma, whoever it is. For the most part, that's who is your group. They've done a pretty good job because you're eligible in school and you can become a big-time basketball player. Why all of a sudden do we need 20 other people coming into your world?”
The two items linked to Bridges were on the smaller scale of the players linked to Dawkins. Six other high-profile basketball players from Michigan – Bowen, Josh Jackson, Eric Davis, Kyle Kuzma, Edmond Sumner and Monte Morris – also were linked to Dawkins, per Yahoo.
The spreadsheets show a $7,000 cash advance and payment for about $1,500 in flights for Bowen and his parents and a $1,500 in cash advances to Davis, both from Dawkins’ hometown Saginaw.
Bowen, who originally signed with Louisville, was ruled ineligible in the fall by the NCAA after the initial arrests. He is now a freshman at South Carolina but has not been ruled eligible. Davis is a junior guard at Texas.
Kuzma, a Flint native who is now with the Los Angeles Lakers, allegedly received at least $9,500 while playing for Utah, according to the documents.
And the mother of Detroit native Jackson, Apples Jones, allegedly received $2,700 while her son was at Kansas according to documents.
Detroit native and Country Day grad Sumner, who was a second-round pick of the New Orleans Pelicans, also is listed in Yahoo’s report. Documents allege that Sumner and/or his father, Ernest, received at least $7,000 in advances while Edmond was at Xavier.
Dawkins also is alleged to have paid for meals for former Flint star Monte Morris, who played collegiately at Iowa State.
Among the other high-profile current college stars implicated in the Yahoo story are Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter.
“Just like everything in life, I think there's maybe a few — and I don't know who's right, wrong or indifferent, nor do I care anymore — but there's a few that screw it up for the rest,” Izzo said in October. “Don't paint the brush over everybody because it's not the way it is.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
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