Former South Carolina assistant Lamont Evans arrested in FBI college basketball corruption investigation

Former South Carolina assistant coach Lamont Evans is one of several individuals arrested as part of an FBI fraud and corruption investigation focused on college basketball, according to filings published today. Evans recruited former Gamecocks stars Sindarius Thornwell and PJ Dozier.

Evans currently coaches at Oklahoma State, where he has been since the 2016-17 season. However, FBI filings point to him accepting bribes to steer players toward certain agents/apparel companies as early as March 3, 2016, when he was still employed by South Carolina (referred to as “University-2” in the filings).

Dawkins and Sood refers to sports agent Christian Dawkins and financial advisor Munish Sood, who were also named in the investigation.

How heavily involved is South Carolina in this?

It’s tough to say right now. Obviously, Evans was still in Columbia when he met with Dawkins and Sood to detail the parameters of the kickback itself. He was paid on April 19, 2016, just weeks after he was hired at Oklahoma State to serve on then-head coach Brad Underwood’s staff in Stillwater (Underwood has since left for Illinois, but Evans was retained by Mike Boynton). However, it’s possible that it goes back farther, but how far back is not known.

There’s still a lot coming out that we’re trying to piece through, so bear with us and keep it here for further updates. The FBI held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to detail the findings.

UPDATE: The University of South Carolina has released a statement.