By Bruce Pascoe| Arizona Daily Star
Arizona’s men’s basketball program was hit with a new allegation Wednesday, when Yahoo reported that former assistant coach Book Richardson discussed paying $40,000 to get former player Rawle Alkins immediately eligible to play in college.
Yahoo reported that Richardson said he paid an unnamed high school coach to add a course to Alkins’ academic record so that he would have enough core credits to become academically eligible as a freshman in 2016-17.
Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images
Yahoo’s story cited a 1,500-word transcript of a July 2017 conversation that included Richardson, aspiring agent Christian Dawkins, financial advisor Munish Sood and two undercover FBI agents. The transcript, which is public record, was not used as evidence in this spring’s basketball corruption trial in New York.
Yahoo also reported that it viewed an email sent to the NCAA from the attorney of former UA assistant coach Mark Phelps, Alabama-based Don Jackson. In it, Jackson said questioning from NCAA enforcement officials indicated they were aware Richardson “was implicated in the $40,000.00 transaction with the high school coach.”
