Joe Puetz-USA TODAY Sports
A new HBO documentary titled "The Scheme" involving the FBI's investigation into basketball middleman Christian Dawkins features a wiretapped phone call with LSU coach Will Wade.

During that call, Wade discusses a "strong-ass offer" regarding a "Smart thing" back in June of 2017.

The audio in the documentary, which aired Tuesday night, is the first time that these wiretapped conversations have been played publicly.

Filed Under: LSU Basketball

Comments

33 Comments
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Why not just disband the NCAA? We all know this happens everywhere, they just pick a school every once in awhile to make an example of. What a joke they are.
Reply44 months
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A strong offer for tuition, room & board, and a meal ticket?
Reply44 months
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Lol
44 months
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ostrich
44 months
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I'm glad we finally found a coach that will do it like all the other coaches that win big.
Reply44 months
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You’re right about that. Plenty of these types of coaches on the football staff and you all are winning championships. now you’ve got one on the b-ball staff, let’s see if you get the same results.
44 months
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That's it? Are you kidding me? They sound like there joking
Reply44 months
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Nothing about specifics is mentioned so therefore it is left to interpretation. Strong arse offer could mean anything.
Reply44 months
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I've been all Will Wade the whole time and still hope he weathers this, but there's more here than just interpretation. He uses the word "compensate" and says that we could compensate them more than the rookie minimum and more than the D-league. I mean ...
44 months
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Yeah, college sports are corrupt as frick and not shocking that LSU is just like every other university. The whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt...pay the players.
Reply44 months
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schools already pay the players. They get free tuition, room and board, the use of billions of dollars worth of facilities, massive TV exposure under a massively-valuable university and conference brand, elite coaching, the chance to make extremely valuable contacts for future opportunities, etc. All of that is worth a shit-ton of money.
44 months
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The NCAA already heard this recording, this is all old news to the investigation.
Reply44 months
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Wow, obviously, there's a lot going on than meets the eye. There's so much corruption in college sports, i guess, unless you have an actual hand-off of money or items, you have nothing, nothing but a conversation, even worse, or better, you may have a case of entrapment. And thus, Will Wade remains the enigmatic LSU coach.
Reply44 months
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That's awful for WW
Reply44 months
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LSU athletic director Scott Woodward's statement on "The Scheme:" “We are aware of the documentary first aired on March 31, 2020, on HBO. There is no change to Coach Will Wade’s employment status at LSU STTDB
44 months
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seconded. STTDB.
44 months
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Play neck!
44 months
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I see no issue. The deal he speaks of is tuition, room and board. Boom. Geaux Tigers.
Reply44 months
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sure it is
44 months
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As long as there's nothing else, there's not enough on that tape to convict him of anything.
Reply44 months
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Did he do it, yes. Is there enough to find him guilty in a court of NCAA? That's the question. But that conversation sounds terrible, lol.
Reply44 months
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Someone needs to send WW a DVD of season 1 of the wire... BUY A BURNER PHONE WILL
Reply44 months
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Though he said nothing wrong to me.....never, ever say anything open to interpretation over the phone
44 months
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Ruh roh
Reply44 months
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It’s obvious what he’s talking about, anyone that says otherwise is just using semantics. However, we all know this goes on at every major school, in every major conference, in every major sport. I know saying “everyone does it” is just as poor of an argument as “he didn’t specify”, but common sense tells you that this is something that has and will go on as long as college sports remains instituted the way it always has been.
Reply44 months
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Nothing to see here, MOVING ON! Signed Matt Moscona
Reply44 months
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opinion has not changed at all..no idea if they are talking about directly or indirectly PAYING a player here. NONE.
Reply44 months
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lol. Every coach in America may be doing the exact same thing Wade is talking about here, but that just means they are all cheaters.
44 months
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Not "may be doing the exact same thing", every coach on the P5 level in football and basketball is absolutely 100% paying players directly or indirectly.
44 months
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Basketball wont be played again, so there is that.
Reply44 months
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I don't know what it is about this guy but I fricking love Will Wade. I want him to be the LSU basketball coach until he retires from coaching.
Reply44 months
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"Will Wade is a gangsta...If you ain't paying kids, you really don't care about them." This documentary displayed the full hypocrisy of the NCAA rules. I'm all for fair competition but there has to be a middle ground somewhere...
44 months
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Leave it alone. It's over!
Reply44 months
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