[Thamel] Sources: Kansas is expected to hire veteran college basketball assistant Tony Bland as an assistant coach. Bland spent last year at the University of Washington. He's a veteran West Coast coach who worked earlier in his career as an assistant at San Diego State and USC.

[u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT]

[u/catdogfox]

Seems like a tasteless hire

[u/BillButtlickerII → u/catdogfox]

[u/Dear_Machine_8611 → u/BillButtlickerII]

He looks like that JD Vance Kash Patel pic lmao

[u/NumberOneCombosFan → u/catdogfox]

Tommy Umami is still unemployed, and they go for this guy?

[u/NextAd7514 → u/catdogfox]

Like Calipari?

[u/jayhawk03 → u/NextAd7514]

WOOOOOOSH

[u/Soterios → u/NextAd7514]

Sir, there is nothing bland about calamari

[u/SgtRockyWalrus → u/NextAd7514]

Salt. Exactly what’s needed for a bland hire.

[u/sktgamerdudejr]

I have no idea if he’s a good coach or anything about him, but I’m happy that UW lost a coach so here’s the upvote. 

[u/Koppenberg → u/sktgamerdudejr]

Losing Coach Bland is a major blow, so you can gloat.

On the other hand, the rumors say that Will Conroy is coming home to fill the opening, so we're pretty happy about that.

[u/Misterpanda13]

I know Tony. This is a great pickup.

[u/Beljone → u/Misterpanda13]

I trust Misterpanda13. This is a great pickup.

[u/idoma21 → u/Beljone]

I trust Misterpanda13 slightly less than Masterpand13, but more than Misterpanda69, which I don’t want to talk about.

[u/ScaredEffective]

Isn’t this the guy that got indicted by the FBI?

[u/Koppenberg → u/ScaredEffective]

Yeah, he was. He is also a 100% stand up guy who Kansas can be proud of hiring and having on their staff.

If you only read the headline, it looks like Bland is a sketchy guy. If you read all the details, Bland comes out of the whole mess looking less criminal than anyone else, including the FBI agents doing the investigating.

NCAA recruiting is a dirty game and I'm not saying Bland didn't play it along with everyone else, but when you read what everyone involved actually did, Bland is really the only one who comes out looking like a stand up guy who had bad luck and terrible taste in friends.

Anyway, there are a lot of super-shady personalities in this sport and Tony Bland is one of the good guys.

[u/kirkismyhinrich → u/Koppenberg]

99.9% of this sub is going to think he is a sketchy guy then.

[u/Reflexlon → u/kirkismyhinrich]

Employed by KU now, so its 99.999%.

[u/slee29 → u/Koppenberg]

Everything you say about Coach Bland is true. The FBI investigation was sketchy as hell. My guess is Bill Self saw thru it.

[u/the_rest_were_taken → u/Koppenberg]

Arguing that what he did wasn't actually bad without mentioning any details of what he did isn't doing anything to help the sketchiness vibes lol

[u/Koppenberg → u/the_rest_were_taken]

He took $4100 from a high-roller friend in finance at a Los Vegas bachelor party. That's it. The other coaches got stiffer penalties because A: they took more money and B: they gave some of it to players w/ the intent to steer them to a school.

[u/the_rest_were_taken → u/Koppenberg]

Are you mentioning other coaches because you think that makes his actions any better? I've literally never heard of the dude before today but you're making him sound really sketchy

[u/hanz333 → u/ScaredEffective]

Yeah he was part of the probe of agents paying coaches to have them point players their way.

It was likely unethical (as opposed to corrupt) but the idea that it was a fiduciary violation is really a stretch in terms of the FBI getting involved.

[u/Koppenberg → u/hanz333]

He took $4100 from Christian Dawkins (who was under severe FBI pressure to find coaches who would bribe players) at a bachelor party in Vegas and that was enough to make a conspiracy to commit bribery charge stand up.

The FBI agents investigating him stole more money ($13,500) from the money used to lure in the coaches and gambled it away. but none of them were punished.

[u/stimpsonj5 → u/Koppenberg]

Just because the cops suck too doesn't mean what he did wasn't shady. Most of what he did and said was on video:

In that video, Bland is seen discussing nefarious recruitments and, when the topic of navigating USC's players to Dawkins' budding management company, LOYD Inc., says, "Do that stuff. Yeah, yeah."

"We have a couple opportunities where you've got us a gold mine over here, so we've had this opportunity but it's not been this clean," Bland says on the video.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-corruption-trial-ex-usc-assistant-coach-tony-bland-avoids-prison-gets-two-years-probation/

I get that recruiting has always been gross but even he doesn't dispute that he did what he was accused of of his own free will or that it was wrong.

[u/Koppenberg → u/stimpsonj5]

Almost nobody comes out of this scandal looking good.

Tony Bland comes out of this scandal looking better than anyone. He looks better than the FBI. He looks better than his boss. He looks better than the other fall guys, who all got much stronger sentences. Of the four, 2 served time and 3 were given 10 year show cause penalties by the NCAA. Bland served a little probation and 3 year show cause.

If he did wrong, he's more than served his penalty. I'm not sure what going to bat against him in online venues get you, but you can sling mud at this guy all you want and his character and reputation are going to make him look a lot better than any sanctimonious grandstanding can smear.

[u/stimpsonj5 → u/Koppenberg]

I don't think anyone is going to bat against him and certainly I'm not, but he should have you on retainer because you're definitely going to bat on his behalf.

He took money to give kids questionable (at best) advice. Its not murder, but its not nothing either, and I'm sure he did it more times than the one time he got caught. Is he a friendly guy who is nice to people? He may well be, but that's not the only measure of whether someone is a good dude or not.

[u/Koppenberg → u/stimpsonj5]

Paraphrase: "I'm not going to bat against him, I'm just going to contradict every nice thing written about him."

[u/stimpsonj5 → u/Koppenberg]

Call it whatever you want, but I at least don't think it's crazy to suggest we maybe pump the brakes on calling a dude a "stand up guy" when he's on tape taking bribe money and talking about how he's sitting on a gold mine because he can keep doing it.

[u/MasterFussbudget → u/ScaredEffective]

Yes

[u/8349932 → u/ScaredEffective]

Yes but that happened at USC, not SDSU.

(I just need to point that out)

[u/lazergator → u/8349932]

I’m impressed we’ve maintained a program under Fisher and Dutcher without any scandals, there was a bullshit rumor a while back that Gary Parish spread but it was a nothing burger.

[u/Koppenberg → u/lazergator]

Better to say "without any of the many scandals amounting to official sanctions."

I'm still a little bitter about tampering w/ Valentine Izundu.

[u/lazergator → u/Koppenberg]

What exactly was the scandal regarding a grad transfer? I remember WSU tried to block the transfer.

[u/Koppenberg → u/lazergator]

SDSU, through a 3rd party, initiated contact in the recruiting processes while he was still playing at WSU.

This was pre-portal, so the rules were different, but initiating contact with potential transfer while they were still at their school was clearly against both written and unwritten rules. Nobody really would have known anything hinky happened, but Izundu was caught on camera attending a SDSU NIT game. When confronted, Izundu gave an implausible alibi that he just happened to decide to visit SDSU while on break and someone just happened to hand him free tickets to the NIT game as he was walking by the arena.

The WSU coach at the time wanted to block the transfer to SDSU for tampering (which coaches could do at the time) but the school insisted that a panel of faculty and students review the evidence and only block the transfer if it was clear that tampering (impermissible contact through a third party) had taken place. The panel looked at the evidence and said "hell yeah, that's tampering!"

It's one of those things that since the rules have changed it doesn't make sense to care about, but it was absolutely a violation of the rules. Tampering is still against the rules and the rules are still impossible to enforce because everyone has agents and the schools just reach out to the agents and everyone maintains deniability.

[u/lazergator → u/Koppenberg]

Interesting. I find it odd they never submitted their evidence to the ncaa if they were so certain illegal tampering occurred.

[u/NoReallyItsJeff]

To me, he'll always be the Cuse player who wore high socks.

[u/I_AM_DEATH-INCARNATE → u/NoReallyItsJeff]

I went to a game during his only season and there was a group of people in the third level with a big sign that said "Tony Bland Land".

[u/MasterFussbudget]

Looking to up their recruiting game out west, I see.

Coach Self and his lifetime contract are going nowhere, but the team needed a shakeup in the coaching ranks and they're getting one.

[u/kc_kr → u/MasterFussbudget]

Yep. Jacque + Bland is just the shakeup the staff needed, IMO. I appreciate continuity but Self's staff was getting old and composed mostly of his old buddies that failed and came back home to Bill.

[u/BigD994 → u/MasterFussbudget]

Hiring was announced and immediately Tajh Ariza locked in a visit. Hitting the ground running.

[u/kirkismyhinrich → u/MasterFussbudget]

Yep, from Thamel:

"Bland helped Washington put together the country’s No. 6 NCAA transfer portal class this year, per ESPN’s rankings,. Bland brings strong West Coast ties from growing up in Los Angeles and working as a skill development coach in Southern California."

I think it's a good hire.

[u/slee29 → u/kirkismyhinrich]

You know it. Those SC connections are vital in the portal battles.

[u/LighTMan913 → u/MasterFussbudget]

You really don't think Self will be gone in a year or two? The continuous health struggles have me worried. I'd completely understand if he decided to retire after this year.

[u/Logz94 → u/LighTMan913]

I don't think he wants to go out with these last couple seasons as the end. Health stuff has to come first so hopefully that doesn't prevent him staying as long as he wants but it's a big possibility. I feel like we have Bill left for at least 2 years and then it's up in the air depending on how successful those seasons are and his health status. If we had a deep tourney run I could see him leaving on a high note

[u/Worldly-Jury-8046 → u/MasterFussbudget]

Bland + David Booth 300M

[u/Soterios]

I’m just here for the pearl clutching.

Good hire. Hopefully he helps with recruiting and navigating the portal a bit better than we have been.

[u/Koppenberg → u/Soterios]

No, Pearl was Chuck Person's boss.

This is Enfield clutching. </s>

[u/Soterios → u/Koppenberg]

Are these Enfields cultured or natural?

[u/Koppenberg → u/Soterios]

TV broadcasters keep retelling the story about how he took his wife (who was then a model) on a first date to Taco Bell, so I'm going out on a limb and saying he's not cultured.

[u/AccomplishedRainbow1]

Good for him, that FBI stuff was bullshit

[u/angryyrdnome]

He will good for recruiting out west, so it's a good hire.

[u/tdestito9]

He was one of only three players to stick around after practice and give us autographs in 2000. So I always appreciated him for that

[u/Sometimesmaybegay]

Getting a $300 million dollar donation and immediately hiring the best bagman in the game. I fuck with the vision tbh that’s a statement of intent.

[u/mastap88 → u/Sometimesmaybegay]

No more bags needed tho.

[u/Sometimesmaybegay → u/mastap88]

The bagman will always be needed. He has the connections and let’s be honest the rest of the family needs a lil something on the side too.

[u/mastap88 → u/Sometimesmaybegay]

Not really a bagman. These people are just paid now, no bags.

[u/tripsd → u/mastap88]

With the house settlement, I would think we are back to bagmen depending on how the Deloitte clearing house plays out

[u/Natural-Customer3943 → u/Sometimesmaybegay]

the $225m is going into a fund to annually return a significant portion of the house settlement payments, so we're paying what youre paying

[u/SaveHogwarts]

Kansas west coast recruiting 📈

[u/iLikeApples116]

There is no such thing as morals in college basketball anymore

[u/Trilliam_West → u/iLikeApples116]

Pretty sure morals in College Basketball died when Bobby Knight was chucking chairs and choking players.

[u/iLikeApples116 → u/Trilliam_West]

An old lady needed a chair. Is chivalry dead too?

[u/AccomplishedRainbow1 → u/iLikeApples116]

Bland did nothing wrong

[u/Ok-Enthusiasm-255 → u/iLikeApples116]

Haven’t been for a long time. Especially with Bill

[u/tyrannyofwillsasso → u/Ok-Enthusiasm-255]

that larry brown education. i'm not making fun-- illini fans, including yours truly, are still living off the fumes of the 2005 team he put together. he got charlie villanueva to commit to illinois before he took off for lawrence.

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/tyrannyofwillsasso]

It's wild to remember the spectrum of what got punished and what didn't. Kansas immediately after Brown left was punished with a post-season ban for a recruit receiving a plane ticket home from a visit to go see his dying grandmother. A recruit that didn't even end up at Kansas.

So I don't really have the patience for the people talking shit when on the other end you have what Kentucky and Duke have clearly done unpunished. But whatever, it's talk.

[u/lurk4ever1970 → u/cheeseburgerandrice]

It probably didn't help that football was already on probation for dropping bags in the early 80s. Don't piss off the NCAA a second time when they're just 30 miles down the road.

[u/Briggity_Brak]

Preparing them for their move to the Pac-10

[u/idoma21 → u/Briggity_Brak]

Wrong! I heard from my sister’s mechanic’s girlfriend’s dad who heard in a barbershop from the cousin of a guy who smokes weed with a guy who knows a lady who is sleeping with the pool cleaner of a Big 10 administrator that KU is a solid eighth on the list for additions to the Big 10. All we need is for California to fall into the ocean and a few more dominoes to fall and we are good.

[u/Fly_Rodder]

lol. KU doing KU things with no concern.

[u/lurk4ever1970 → u/Fly_Rodder]

Our Chancellor was added to the NCAA DI Board of Directors and the NCAA Board of Governors yesterday.

Party time!!!

[u/Natitudinal]

He still has a tad of the SCCC stench on him but going to a program like KU and a HC like Self should take care of that quick.