The future of West Virginia basketball is up in the air after Bob Huggins resigned from the program on Saturday. A local car dealership is doing whatever it can to keep the Mountaineers together.
However, in doing so, there are some potential underlying concerns with its behavior.
Once Huggins, a Hall of Famer, stepped down from his role as head coach, there was an immediate expectation of a mass exodus. Typically, when a coach leaves a team — especially one of Huggins’ status — some, if not most of the players on said team seek opportunity elsewhere and hit the transfer portal.
In the case of West Virginia, Kerr Kriisa and RaeQuan Battle were among those who might depart. Kriisa transferred-in from Arizona in early April, Battle transferred-in after averaging 17.7 points per game at Montana State shortly thereafter.
With Huggins gone, the assumption was that Kriisa and Battle would reconsider their decisions. Perhaps they did. Perhaps they still will.
They are locked-in on playing for the Mountaineers as of right now. Part of that commitment has to do with new deals for their Names, Images and Likenesses.
Toothman Ford, a dealership located about 30 miles south of Morgantown, dropped a bag.
Toothman specifically stated that it is “pulling together to keep [WVU hoops] together.” That may not have been the best way to phrase it.
The post could lead to scrutiny from the NCAA for West Virginia.
Mit Winter, an NIL attorney and sports law expert, questions if Toothman Ford’s tweet could be a concern for the Mountaineers when it comes to operating under the NCAA. It’s a good question.
With the NCAA’s new presumption standard for cases involving NIL activities, these are the types of social media posts I’m worried about if I’m a school.
Would the NCAA cite this as circumstantial evidence?
Education is needed for everyone in the NIL ecosystem.
— Mit Winter, attorney at Kennyhertz Perry LLC in Kansas City
Winter is referring to a bylaw that the NCAA implemented in February. It is to rein in rogue NIL collectives.
The amendment states the following:
In cases involving name, image and likeness offers, agreements and/or activities in which related communications and conduct are subject to NCAA regulation, the infractions process (including interpretive requests) shall presume a violation occurred if circumstantial information suggests that one or more parties engaged in impermissible conduct.
— 19.7.3 – Violations Presumed in Select Cases
Pay-for-play remains illegal under NCAA rule. Financial behaviors of that nature may occur on a daily basis, but they’re not allowed.
And the bylaw states that the infractions process “shall presume a violation occurred if circumstantial information suggests that one or more parties engaged in impermissible conduct.” That gives the NCAA a lot of leeway.
Where definitive evidence needed to exist in the past, that isn’t necessarily the case anymore. Hence the term “circumstantial information.”
Does Toothman’s post, which essentially says that the dealership paid Kriisa and Battle to stay at West Virginia, fall under that label? If not, then what does?