Earlier this week, former Adidas Executive T.J. Gassnola confessed in court that he had sent money to different well-known recruits to play at top tier schools. One of the teams included the Kansas Jayhawks. Although Kansas’ head coach Bill Self and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend were accused of being aware of the payments sent to recruit Silvio De Sousa, they denied all accusations.
New evidence shows that Kansas coaches gave false testimony and had been in contact with Gassnola via text message. The messages presented in court show conversations between Self, Townsend and Gassnola about the recruitment of, Angola native, Silvio De Sousa.
According to ESPN’s Senior Writer Mark Schlabach,
On Aug. 26, 2017, Townsend forwarded Gassnola a text message that he said he’d received from Falmagne: “Coach has been on the phone with Angola. We are good to go. We will commit tomorrow.”
Only four days after the messages, De Sousa made his commitment to the Kansas Jayhawks.
Gassnola testified to paying $90,000 to the mother of former Kansas Jayhawk basketball player Billy Preston. He also testified to paying $20,000 to De Sousa’s guardian to help them “get out from under.” Other messages showed that Preston’s mom had told him to keep quiet about the payments sent.
The government is expected to finish the court session as early as Tuesday.
