NEW YORK — The father of a former basketball recruit may have left the Longhorns with some explaining to do.
Brian Bowen Sr., who is accused of arranging a pay-for-play scheme for his son, Brian Bowen Jr., was in federal court Thursday. Bowen Sr. is accused of arranging to receive $100,000 in exchange for his son's commitment to play at Louisville.
During court testimony, Bowen outlined what other schools had offered for his son's commitment, including Texas.
"Schools would give me money for a top player, like my son, to go to school," Bowen Sr. said. Bowen Sr. then accused Arizona, Creighton, Oklahoma State and Texas of offering him improper benefits via Christian Dawkins of ASM Sports.
Bowen Sr. said former Longhorns assistant coach Mike Morrell offered to "help him with housing." Additionally, he said Big 12 rival Oklahoma State offered $150,000 cash, $8,000 for a car and money to buy a house. Bowen Sr. also said Arizona offered his son $50,000, while Creighton offered him $100,000 and "a good job."
It's not the first time that the Longhorns have been mentioned in association with Dawkins. In February, Yahoo! Sports reported that federal authorities were monitoring former NBA Agent Andy Miller and his former associate, Dawkins, in an effort to clean up college basketball corruption.
Yahoo! Sports reported that the FBI had seized documents showing Texas guard Eric Davis Jr. had received $1,500 from Dawkins. Texas subsequently suspended Davis, who was never reinstated before declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft. Davis would eventually go undrafted.
On Friday, University of Texas Vice President and Athletics Director Christ Del Conte released the following statement:
“In response to the NCAA Board of Governors memo last year charging institutions to examine their men’s basketball programs for possible rules violations, our compliance office conducted a review and did not find any information that substantiates the recent testimony at the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. We will monitor the information from the court proceedings and continue to cooperate fully should there be any requests from the NCAA.”
