Last August, as lawyers for Kansas and Adidas were finishing work on a 12-year, $191-million extension of the apparel company’s sponsorship contract with the school, coach Bill Self got a text message from a friend in Adidas’s youth basketball division.
“Hall of famer. Thank you for help with Getting this extension done. Thx brotha,” wrote T.J. Gassnola, a top consultant for Adidas basketball who traveled the country trying to convince elite teenagers to play for the shoe company’s youth, or grassroots, league.
“I’m happy with adidas,” Self replied. “Just got to get a couple real guys.”
“In my mind it’s KU bill self … that’s what’s right for adidas Basketball … the more you win, have lottery pics. And you happy,” Gassnola wrote. “I promise you. I got this, I have never let you down Except (Dyondre) lol.”
The text exchange was among several involving Kansas coaches submitted in federal court Monday, as Gassnola testified as part of the ongoing trial of two Adidas officials and an aspiring NBA agent accused of conspiring to pay the families of top recruits to steer them to Adidas-sponsored college teams. The “Dyondre” is likely a reference to Deandre Ayton, a star recruit who eventually committed to Arizona, despite the efforts Gassnola has admitted to making to get him to play for Adidas, and Kansas, which included a $15,000 payment to a family friend.
As the trial began its third, and likely final, week Monday, it has yet to produce smoking gun evidence of a prominent head coach involved in brokering deals for top recruits. It has, however, shed light on a cozy relationship between Self and top Adidas officials that could draw NCAA scrutiny over the generally prohibited involvement of third parties in the recruiting process.
For years, officials at Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have been able to prod elite high school players toward their sponsored college teams without generating NCAA sanctions for those schools, in part because of a system that creates plausible deniability for coaches. Each company sponsors multiple colleges, so coaches can tell NCAA officials that the company’s consultants aren’t working specifically on behalf of their school.
In parts of three days of testimony in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, however, Gassnola – who has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in connection with payments for two Kansas recruits and a North Carolina State recruit – has admitted that Self, and Kansas, held a special place in his recruiting efforts. After Ayton committed to Arizona, for example, Gassnola felt he had “let down” Self and Kansas, he acknowledged on the stand.
Last August, as Self was trying to land Silvio De Sousa, an Angola native who played high school basketball in Florida, Gassnola was closely involved in the recruiting process.
On Aug. 9, 2017, Gassnola texted Self to let him know of a recent conversation with Fenny Falmagne, De Sousa’s legal guardian in Florida. Gassnola has admitted to agreeing to pay Falmagne $20,000 to get De Sousa to attend Kansas.
“I talked to Fennie,” Gassnola wrote.
“We good?” Self texted.
“Always. That’s was light work. Ball is in his court now,” Gassnola replied.
Later that night, according to phone records referenced in court, Gassnola and Self had a five-minute phone call. When asked what they discussed, Gassnola testified he didn’t recall. Gassnola repeatedly has testified he never discussed the specifics of how he was helping Kansas secure top recruits with Self or Kurtis Townsend, a Kansas assistant who also texted the Adidas consultant about De Sousa.
Later last August, after De Sousa publicly announced his decision to attend Kansas, Self made a phone call to Adidas executive Jim Gatto, Gassnola’s boss, to thank him, Gassnola testified.
The text messages between Gassnola and Self were introduced as evidence by lawyers for Gatto, the Adidas executive facing wire fraud charges. Federal prosecutors are arguing that these payments to families of recruits defrauded Kansas and other universities, by exposing them to possible NCAA sanctions. Gatto’s lawyers have argued he didn’t defraud the universities because he was acting at the behest of coaches, including Self.
While Gatto’s lawyers have not explicitly said Self and other coaches knew the “help” Adidas provided occasionally would involve cash payments, they have suggested such activity is commonplace in elite recruiting in college basketball, and if coaches didn’t know, it was because they didn’t want to know.
“When Jim was helping these families, he thought he was doing his job,” Casey Donnelly, an attorney for Gatto, said in her opening argument.
While Louisville quickly moved to fire Rick Pitino as coach last September, after the first revelations that Adidas had agreed to pay the father of a recruit $100,000, Kansas steadfastly has supported Self.
“It is not appropriate for the university to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing. As we have said all along, the prosecution has not suggested any wrongdoing by the university or its coaches. We will continue to cooperate as requested throughout the trial,” Kansas has said in a statement.
Kansas general counsel Brian White has attended the trial this month, often sitting in the front row and carefully taking notes. When approached by a reporter, White acknowledged he was a lawyer but refused to disclose whom he represented. (His identity was confirmed via a Kansas news release announcing his hire earlier this year, which included a photo.)
At a recent news conference, Self declined to comment when asked about the federal trial.
“I can’t talk about that,” Self said. “I’m not meaning to be opaque about this at all. I just feel like … our stance is still the same. We’ll comment when the time is appropriate.”
In 15 seasons at Kansas, Self has compiled a 447-96 record, with three Final Four appearances and one national championship. In September 2017, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. According to Gassnola, the night before the ceremony in Springfield, Mass., Self and his wife had dinner with Gassnola and his longtime fiancee, along with Gatto and his wife.