Oklahoma State Receives Notice of Allegation From NCAA Over FBI Probe

The Oklahoma State basketball program has received a Notice of Allegation from the NCAA for former assistant Lamont Evans accepting bribes.

Oklahoma State has received a Notice of Allegation from the NCAA following an investigation into it's men's basketball program, the university announced on Friday. The notice includes a Level I violation against former assistant basketball coach Lamont Evans.

It alleges that Evans "knowingly solicited and received benefits for facilitating or arranging a meeting between student-athletes and financial advisors" between April 2016 and September 2017. Evans was one of four assistant coaches arrested in 2017 in the federal government's undercover sting operation into the college basketball bribery and fraud scandal.

The allegations do not include any current student-athletes or members of the coaching staff.

Oklahoma State released a statement and said it has asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to contest the Level I designation.

"Following the NCAA's thorough investigation with OSU's full cooperation and participation, the University agrees that Mr. Evans did, in fact, accept bribes for the purpose of steering players to financial advisors in violation of NCAA bylaws. While OSU is very disappointed that this occurred, we were relieved to learn that there were no recruiting or other major violations on the part of the institution. There are no allegations involving current student-athletes or coaching staff.

"In addition to the primary finding is the finding that one then-member of the basketball team received $300 from Mr. Evans. This information was reported to OSU by the student-athlete and then self-reported to the NCAA by OSU in October 2017. The student athlete's eligibility was restored, and he never competed while ineligible.

"The NCAA enforcement staff is of the opinion that the Committee on Infractions might consider this to be a Level I violation by the institution. The University feels strongly that the bribes were taken for the sole benefit of Mr. Evans who was terminated within days of the announcement of the charges. The University did not benefit in any way and was considered by the Federal government to be the victim of the scheme. As such, we have asked to appear before the Committee on Infractions to present our position on the level of violation."

In January, Evans admitted to accepting $22,000 in bribes to send South Carolina and Oklahoma State players to financial advisers and business managers. He was convicted in April and sentenced to three months in prison in June. Evidence against Evans included wiretaps where he discussed steering players to Christian Dawkins' sports agency.