In the wake of two Georgia Tech basketball players being indefinitely suspended due to the school’s self-reporting of an NCAA violation, the person who allegedly provided the benefits has stepped forward to CBS Sports. Ron Bell, a longtime friend of Tech coach Josh Pastner, is alleging the program wasn’t fully truthful with what it reported to the NCAA.
Georgia Tech got ratted out because Josh Pastner didn’t call his friend on his birthday ... allegedly
You gotta keep in touch with your homies.
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
There have been some doozies of recruiting violations throughout the years, but this one might literally take the cake (emphasis mine):
He said he feels Pastner has failed to compensate him properly for the “work” he’s done. He said Pastner didn’t call him on his birthday this year, which is something he interpreted as disrespectful. He said he has for a while had a bad relationship with Georgia Tech’s program and operations manager, Ellie Cantkier, and that when the two had a disagreement recently he felt Pastner “took her side.”
Essentially, Bell is saying he additional illegal benefits to two Georgia Tech players went beyond what the program reported. He told on Pastner to the media because the relationship between the two has started to deteriorate.
This is all kinda funny, and really weird. But it also underscores an interesting point about recruiting. The real power may be centered around the coaches and the schools, but the players and the runners wield a pretty big stick in the whole deal as well.
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