NC State responds to its NCAA Notice of Allegations
N.C State submitted a contentious response to the NCAA on Monday to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, which outlined four violations connected to former basketball star Dennis Smith Jr.
In its 66-page response, N.C. State questioned the evidence of a $40,000 payment by T.J. Gassnola, a former Adidas associate, to Smith and the veracity of Gassnola’s testimony during a federal fraud trial in New York in 2018.
The alleged payment to Smith is at the center of the NCAA’s case against the university. N.C. State originally received the NOA from the NCAA in July. Its response was delayed by the NCAA. The most severe of the violations are tied to former head coach Mark Gottfried and former assistant coach Orlando Early, while the lesser violations concerning ticket distribution are tied specifically to the school.
The NCAA has 60 days to respond to N.C. State’s response, which was prepared by the Bond, Schoeneck & King law firm. After that, a hearing with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions will be scheduled. That hearing could happen as soon as March and the NCAA will rule after the hearing.
“When this process started, we promised accountability where appropriate and vigorous defense where necessary, and our response does exactly that,” Chancellor Randy Woodson said in a statement released by the school on Monday. “We look forward to a thorough and accurate review by the panel of the committee on infractions and a fair resolution of this case for the university and the NCAA.”
As a part of N.C. State’s response, it has suggested self-imposed sanctions of:
▪ The loss of one scholarship for the 2021-22 recruiting class (or if one comes open before then).
▪ The reduction in the number of official recruiting visits during the 2019-20 academic year.
▪ The prohibition of unofficial visits during a two-week period during the 2019-20 academic year.
▪ A $5,000 fine.
A postseason ban, scholarship reductions, vacating the 15 wins from the 2016-17 season and a fine are all possible punishments N.C. State could get from the NCAA.
NC State questions the evidence
Of the four violations — all connected to Smith’s recruitment and tenure from 2015-17 — outlined by the NCAA in the NOA, the alleged $40,000 payment is the most serious. As a categorized “Level I” violation, the payment would carry the most severe punishment.
Smith, who was a first-round NBA draft pick after his lone Wolfpack season in 2016-17, has since denied that he was paid during his recruitment. In an interview with N.C. State’s compliance office this past April, Smith said he did not know who Gassnola was and that “he nor his family ever received any cash from anyone at N.C. State.”
N.C. State is disputing the facts surrounding the payment and the motivation of the payment and has rebutted the NCAA’s assertion that it should qualify as a Level I violation.
“N.C. State strenuously disputes and is contesting the NCAA’s most serious Level I allegation based on a lack of evidence of a recruiting violation, combined with the improper use of information from a criminal trial,” Fred Demarest, a senior associate athletic director, said in a statement released by the school. “As a result, we assert that this infractions case should be viewed as, at most, a potential Level II case.”
Gassnola, a grassroots coach for Adidas, testified during the federal trial of former Adidas executive Jim Gatto in Oct. 2018 that he provided $40,000 to Early in Oct. 2015. That trial was tied to the FBI’s investigation into fraud and pay-to-play schemes in college basketball.
The NCAA’s primary evidence in its case against N.C. State is Gassnola’s testimony. During Gatto’s trial, Gassnola provided receipts from a trip to Raleigh to deliver the $40,000 to Early and a bank statement that showed he withdrew the matching cash amount.
Gassnola testified he gave the money to Early, who was supposed to deliver it to Shawn Farmer, a former trainer for Smith. In turn, Farmer was supposed to deliver the money to Smith’s father, Dennis Smith Sr.
In its response to the NCAA, N.C. State argued that, despite Gassnola’s testimony, there’s is no evidence that shows that Farmer or Smith actually received any money.
“There is no evidence in the trial record, including Gassnola’s testimony, nor evidence developed by the NCAA enforcement staff, that: Early provided the money to Farmer or that Farmer provided the money to the Smith family.”
Early, who was Gottfried’s top assistant for six seasons, has not cooperated with the NCAA’s case and is out of college coaching. He is working as a scout for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.
N.C. State also wrote in its response the veracity of Gassnola’s testimony must be “stringently evaluated” and cannot be accepted without independent corroboration.”
The school characterized Gassnola, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to the Gatto case, as “not a credible witness” and one with a “long history of dishonest and criminal conduct.”
Martin Fox and the money source
In addition to the issues connected to the evidence and Gassnola’s testimony, N.C. State in its response to the NCAA has highlighted the source and motivation of the $40,000 payment.
Gassnola testified that he received the money from Martin Fox, a middle man for agents and financial advisors. Fox has been connected to sports agent Andy Miller but is not an associate or employee of Adidas. Fox, a former president of a private tennis camp in Houston, was also involved in the FBI’s “Varsity Blues” college admissions sting. He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charge in November in that high-profile case.
N.C. State argues that Adidas didn’t pay Smith as an inducement to go N.C. State (which has a multi-million contract with the sneaker company), rather that Fox was trying to help Smith so that once Smith went pro, he would potentially sign as a client for Miller.
Under NCAA rules, there’s a difference between being paid as a “recruiting inducement” by a booster or affiliate of the school (in this case, Adidas) and an “impermissible benefit” from a third-party not related to the school.
In 2012, N.C. State sent a disassociation letter to Miller for his ties to a former AAU coach in Georgia. In 2018, Yahoo Sports published documents that showed Smith owed Miller’s sports agency $73,500 for loans.
Ticket problems
In N.C. State’s notice of allegations, there were two lesser “Level II” violations connected to Smith and his family receiving an excess of complimentary Wolfpack basketball tickets and the failure to monitor the ticket distribution process.
The school wrote in its response that the former basketball staff ignored rules and “well-established processes” with the ticket distribution protocol.
The athletic administration has since “implemented corrective actions to ensure the same or similar conduct will not occur now or in the future.”
Among the ticket problems, which the NCAA totaled as $2,119 in impermissible benefits specifically for Farmer and $4,562 to Smith’s family, was how the tickets were assigned.
There are separate lists for players and coaches and Early’s list went over certain NCAA limits. If some of the names had been put on Smith’s list, it would not have constituted an NCAA issue.
The school wrote in its response that of the 160 ticket-related issues, only 10 could not otherwise have been permissibly provided.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 4:40 PM with the headline "NC State responds to its NCAA Notice of Allegations."
