Photo Courtesy of McDonald’s All-American Games/247sports.com
Brian Bowen may yet suit up for the University of Louisville Cardinals Men’s Basketball team. Bowen was a 5 star, McDonald’s All-American player in the 2017 class that was at the center of a pay for play scandal uncovered by the FBI. The scandal cost Tom Jurich and Rick Pitino their jobs.
Per Tim Sullivan of the Courier Journal, the FBI has informed UofL they may now do an internal investigation into Bowen to see if he could possibly be reinstated.
Bowen’s attorney Jason Setchen told Sullivan that there are no more “investigative impediments” on Bowen and UofL was free to do internal investigations and consider his reinstatement.
Sullivan wrote, “The university has yet to clarify whether Bowen has simply been suspended on a precautionary basis or been declared ineligible, which would make his reinstatement subject to NCAA approval.” So, Bowen’s reinstatement may be in the hands of the NCAA and not UofL.
According to Sullivan, it appears Bowen’s father, along with at least 1 UofL coach, Adidas representatives, and others were in on the scheme.
Setchen told Sullivan that Bowen was not involved and brought up the Cam Newton case from a few years ago. That case involved Newton’s father attempting to get Mississippi State to pay for his son’s services. Setchen told Sullivan he believes the circumstances are similar.
Sullivan talked to an attorney from Atlanta named Stuart Brown who has dealt with NCAA eligibility issues. Brown told Sullivan he believes Bowen will likely be reinstated with the evidence he’s viewed so far.
“I would suspect the young man would get reinstated with some repayment and community service stipulations and some meaningful withholding (from competition), but certainly not a whole season,” Brown advised Sullivan. “That’s presuming that the institution decides that a violation occurred.”
You can read Sullivan’s entire article in full detail below.
Breaking: Feds give #Louisville go-ahead to investigate & consider reinstatement for suspended recruit Brian Bowen. https://t.co/AFvqjtVTBN
— Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan714) November 2, 2017
Tim Sullivan has now written an opinion piece. In it, he advised UofL can no longer just sit idly by and use the FBI investigation as a crutch in dealing with eligibility questions involving Brian Bowen.
You can read Sullivan’s full Courier Journal article via Jeff Greer’s tweet below.
Definitely worth a read: Louisville can no longer pass the buck on Brian Bowen. https://t.co/XbhiGGJ2j5
— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer_) November 3, 2017
Jeff Borzello and Jeff Goodman of ESPN both spoke with Setchen about Bowen. Borzello wrote an article and it basically confirmed what Setchen had told Tim Sullivan. You can read Borzello’s story and information Setchen provided to Goodman via Goodman’s tweet below.
Bowen's lawyer told me Bowen's hope remains to play college basketball at Louisville. Lawyer also said Bowen did nothing wrong. https://t.co/YgiysyGiS5
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 3, 2017
