Former KU forward Billy Preston alleges Jayhawk coaches knew about payments from Adidas

Former Kansas men’s basketball forward Billy Preston, who never played in a regular-season game with the Jayhawks due to an ongoing NCAA investigation into his eligibility, said he believes KU staff had knowledge of payments made by Adidas representatives to Preston’s mother, Nicole Player.

Preston’s comments came on an ESPN 30 for 30 podcast titled Bag Game. It delves into Preston’s story as a top high school basketball player, his commitment to KU and the discovery of payments made by Adidas representatives to Player that ultimately kept Preston from playing for the Jayhawks.

The Star contacted Kansas Athletics on Wednesday evening regarding several topics that Preston discussed with ESPN. KU Athletics declined to comment, citing the ongoing NCAA investigation. KU coach Bill Self also declined comment.

Preston’s comments date to his recruitment to KU, which coincided with the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption. During a 2018 trial surrounding that investigation, former Adidas associate T.J. Gassnola testified he paid Preston’s family $89,000. Preston’s mother disputed that number on the podcast, saying she was only paid around half that.

Gassnola also testified those payments were made without knowledge of the KU coaches, and that he aimed to conceal them from the coaches.

The trial concluded in 2018, finding Adidas executive James Gatto, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and former sports agent Christian Dawkins guilty of seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

“The jury determined beyond a reasonable doubt that Gassnola’s and Gatto’s payments and promised payments were concealed from the University and that the University was a victim of Gassnola’s and Gatto’s crimes,” read part of KU’s response to the amended notice of allegations it received from the NCAA, released on March 5, 2020.

Preston and Player disagreed with that language, specifically taking exception to the word “victim.”

“They ain’t no victim; they knew what was going on, too,” Preston said in the podcast. “They put the whole thing together. They set it up. Like, KU was the whole reason we even met.”

With that last comment, Preston was referring to meetings between his mother and Adidas representatives. Preston shared one example, claiming KU assistant Kurtis Townsend directly told him he would “introduce” Player to Gassnola and “link them up together.”

“Victim? If anybody was a victim it was the family that Adidas preyed on,” Player said. “We left the school and weathered the storm and never one time did I come out and say we’re victims. When the reality is, if anybody is a victim here, we’re victims of a corrupt system. We’re a victim of college corruption, corruption that has gone on for decades before us and will continue to go on decades after us.”

Although the trial ended in 2018, the NCAA alleged Kansas had committed five Level I violations in September 2019. The case has been under review by NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) since July 2020.

KU issued a program-imposed four-game suspension for Self and Townsend before the 2022-23 season, among other self-imposed sanctions.

On Wednesday, SI’s Pat Forde reported Kansas had its IARP hearing this past weekend.

Throughout the four-episode podcast series, Preston made other allegations regarding KU’s relationship with the former Adidas representatives. Self has not disputed having contact with those representatives, though he has maintained in previous interviews that such interactions are commonplace in college athletics and, in context, can be acceptable.

“I can say that we all know shoe companies have influence on all levels of basketball. They work hard to develop brand loyalty with top high school prospects, and they have some influence with them, which is totally permissible under NCAA guidelines, just like a high school coach could, an AAU coach, a trusted adviser, and especially a parent,” Self said in 2018.

Later, Self added: “You should be able to have relationships and talk to people you want to talk to obviously in the proper way.”

Preston, again, maintained KU wasn’t a victim.

“As soon as we got to KU, I’m an Adidas kid now that I play for KU,” Preston said. “He (Gassnola) is an Adidas rep. They’re an Adidas school. They put us together just off the strength of them being an Adidas school and them having that type of power where they can be like, they can tell him, ‘Oh yeah, we want you to get in contact with Billy. We want you to tap in with Billy and get that whole process rolling.’ Yeah, that’s the only thing I’m going to say about that. KU wasn’t no victim.”

Preston was asked directly on the ESPN podcast if KU coaches “knew that Gassnola was giving your mom or giving other people money.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Preston began, repeating the word “yeah” four more times. “They wasn’t blind to that. They weren’t blind to that at all.”

Kansas Jayhawks forward Billy Preston (23) watches from the bench during the second half of a game against the Toledo Rockets at Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 28, 2017.
Kansas Jayhawks forward Billy Preston (23) watches from the bench during the second half of a game against the Toledo Rockets at Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 28, 2017.

Self, in a statement made in 2018, sharply disputed that allegation.

“When recruiting prospective student-athletes, my staff and I have not and do not offer improper inducements to them or their families to influence their college decisions, nor are we aware of any third-party involvement to do so,” Self said at the time.

The ESPN podcast states the payments to Preston were initially uncovered by KU after Preston was in a single-car accident while driving back from Kansas City with teammate Marcus Garrett. Speeding to make a team meeting, the podcast said, Preston lost control of his vehicle and hit a curb. He called Townsend after the accident, and, after it was reported to the university, questions arose about how Preston had acquired the vehicle in the first place, the podcast said.

It is worth noting Preston did not play in the game before the apparent car accident.

KU withheld Preston from competition in the meantime. He didn’t play for the team, leaving in the middle of the 2017-18 season to play pro basketball in Bosnia. After an injury cut short his time overseas, Preston went undrafted, which he said was partially due to how the last year had played out.

“It was impacted a lot,” Preston said. “If I was able to play that whole year at KU it would’ve been a whole different outcome.”

Preston did stay “on good terms” with Kansas and Bill Self, the podcast said, and even received a ring after the 2017-18 season culminated in a Big 12 title and Final Four appearance. He would later play for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G League affiliate, the Canton Charge.

He was cut after a few months.

“It did mess me up, though — seeing everybody that I played with, they on the stage where I was supposed to be,” Preston said. “I was depressed about it for a while. I couldn’t accept where I was at in life, knowing where I was supposed to be.”

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