Before his move to Sports Illustrated, the New York Times’ Pete Thamel has dropped a bomb on college basketball, and it has nothing to do with Kentucky.
Thamel writes about Jonathan Hargett, a former basketball star now in prison, who says he was paid when he was at West Virginia.
Thamel also writes about Dan Dakich, who took the WVU job and left eight days later after finding out what was going on inside the program.
An excerpt:
Dakich said Hargett told him that he had been promised $20,000 a year for three years, and that he had not been paid the full amount. Dakich also said that Hargett said he was tired of people “owning” him.
“I’ll never forget the sad look on his face for the rest of my life,” Dakich said of the moment Hargett said those words. Hargett, now serving a prison sentence for drug possession with intent to sell, did not recall telling Dakich that, but said the statement was an accurate reflection of his feelings then.
Dakich says that WVU told him they would “destroy” Dakich if he left Morgantown.
Will wonders never cease…must have been a solar eclipse or something.
It’s a start…now all Petey has to do is write another 25 stories, visit player relatives, former high schools, a few other states and an overseas country and things will be equal.
Maybe his good friends Pat Forde and Gary Parrish can tag along and make it a threesome. LOL.
Mark Liptak