Longtime University of Arizona basketball assistant coach Emmanuel “Book” Richardson was one of four coaches arrested Tuesday by the FBI.

Richardson’s arrest was for allegedly receiving more than $20,000 in bribes from former sports agent Christian Dawkins and financial advisor Munish Sood, in exchange for recruiting prospective and current Arizona players, according to the FBI’s documents.

The University of Arizona’s athletic department suspended the ninth-year coach Tuesday, releasing a statement that said in part:

We became aware of the situation involving one of our men’s basketball coaches Emmanuel Richardson this morning. We have been working in conjunction with the University, and have confirmed that Richardson has been suspended effective immediately. We will cooperate fully with authorities as they move through their investigation.

Richardson, along with University of Southern California‘s Tony Bland, Auburn’s Chuck Person and Oklahoma State’s Lamont Evans, were among the 10 people charged Tuesday with federal crimes.

According to the FBI reports, Richardson agreed to take the money to guide his player’s to use Dawkins as a manager and Sood as a financial adviser once their careers in Tucson ended.

Acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon Kim announced the charges Tuesday, laying out the charges facing the coaches, as well as financial advisors and representatives from an unnamed sportswear company.

According to the complaint, Richardson on June 20 agreed to take a $5,000 bribe in a meeting with an undercover FBI agent and Sood.

Richardson, according to the same complaint, also requested $15,000 more from the officer to lock down a player, identified by Richardson as a “top point guard in the country.”

Richardson faces upwards of 60 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted of all charges, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2017.

Christopher Boan is a cocksure smartass of a writer that mainly focuses on sports, music and the hellscape in-between. He's a four-time Arizona Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Award winner, and...

10 replies on “Sports Scandal Rocks UA Basketball Program”

  1. …and… what about the recent Teacher tire slashing incident at TUSD’s Santa Rita High School during a Parent/Teacher Conference? The Teacher is African American…and…the incident may be a Hate Crime. The Editor of the Tucson Weekly was given the details of the incident but apparently never reported!!

  2. “We became aware of the situation…..this morning.”
    Oh really, what gave it away?
    The handcuffs or all those men wearing blue jackets w/ FBI on the back?

  3. After reading a lot of fine print and coverage from a number of sources, I have to warn Wildcat basketball fans that we’re probably in for a long dry spell. Maybe not right away, depending on what else the FBI comes up with. But soon, because this isn’t just about $20,000 and a player who won’t come play for us next year. Nor about having a player who apparently accepted money and is already on our team. To put this thing in proper perspective, consider that Arizona and Miami were in a bidding war, apparently for, Nassir Little–espn’s #14 recruit for 2018. Miami needed $150,000 to get him and a coach there had asked for that sum. Word was Little would probably attend Arizona because Adidas wasn’t prepared to go more than $125,000. The player Book is alleged to have paid $15,000 is believed to be Quentin Grimes–espn’s #13 recruit for 2018. If Grimes services could be bought with $15,000 paid to his mother, isn’t it likely he got more from other sources? Something similar to what is said Little needed to commit. Arizona was probably in competition with Louisville for Brian Bowen (espn #14 for 2017) who is believed to have received $100,000 from Louisville (costing Rick Pitino his job). If Bowen was worth that much, how much might DeAndre Ayton (espn #3 this year) have been worth to UA? Not that I’m accusing Ayton of wrongdoing. I’m sure there are players out there who aren’t accepting bribes to decide where they’ll play. But it’s the players who are the source of all the big TV money that allows these astounding salaries for assistant coaches, to say nothing of head coaches. Most of these kids don’t come from wealthy homes. They risk their professional careers to injury every time they go on the court. It’s hard to blame some of them who take an insurance policy if coaches, agents, shoe companies, and investment counselors are dangling the money in front of them. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s hard to imagine that those who oversee Arizona’s basketball and other profitable athletic programs aren’t aware of college sports’ black market. With the FBI hunting investigation continuing, our Wildcats are likely to see some players and personnel leaving the program and recruits with likely NBA futures no longer coming to play in Tucson. Remember the quality of basketball played here under Ben Lindsey? It could get worse–much worse.

  4. Good points Mike. I know I was a bit snarky earlier, it was just the language of the response that got me, That good old “We became award….” just felt a little too phony to me. A main item no one has gotten much into is Sean Miller. How long is he here for? Hard to believe a micro-manager like him could not have known. Not impossible, but…….So yeah, the whole program is in the deep end.
    BTW, hearing Jim Calhoun express total shock about this and acting so sanctimonious was something to hear. When I lived in CT, his program was known as the “Dirty Calhoun”.

  6. so dd, you’re the victim here? U of A basketball has and will continue to be great,
    and….broaden your view, if embarrassment is the thing you choose to feel as an alum, meh!

  7. Despite rampant misspellings in the media, Book Richardson’s name is Emanuel–one m, one n.

    If you read the dates and circumstances given in the actual complaint, it’s almost certain that he passed $15k to Jahvon Quinerly (not Grimes, and not his mom). In fact, the complaint explains that his mom demanded more money from Book, apparently unaware that her son had already cashed in, or yes, maybe upset that he didn’t get more.

    Yeah, yeah, Lute is a Hall of Fame coach, all the respect in the world. But under his leadership, Jason Terry was busted taking money from an agent 20 years ago, and later Arizona was busted for what were admittedly relatively minor infractions, but there were penalties assessed and they did have to vacate victories and an NCAA tournament appearance, which punched a hole in Lute’s consecutive NCAA tournament appearance streak.

    The point is that college basketball has been corrupted by the enormous sums of money swirling around it for decades. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry in which the principal employees get paid nothing, ostensibly–a recipe for corruption if I’ve ever heard one.

    This will turn out much like the steroid scandal in baseball. The open secret will become a painfully clear fact–cheating and corruption are business as usual, especially for the high end schools.

    In order for this problem to really be addressed, the mighty must fall. Louisville is obviously down already, but Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and yes, even the saintly and untouchable Puke University, must be exposed and punished. The truth must be revealed in order to find a way out of this mess. MLB did not address steroids until some of the best players of all time had been exposed and punished.

    Very sad that Arizona appeared at the tip of this iceberg and a great guy like Book took the first blow. No doubt he did it to compete in a culture of corruption and impunity that was created by the big programs mentioned above (and many others) and tolerated by the NCAA, which had no interest in staining its own brand by prosecuting its own legends. In such a climate, it’s not surprising that even good people like Book got sucked into the sewer in their efforts to compete at the highest level and win championships.

  8. The Athletic Program at the University of Arizona, as with other Universities in this Country, creates the environment for Corruption that we are currently witnessing. This is Big Business!!… providing millions of dollars for the University and, as well, are Feeder Programs for Professional Sports. The Athletic Programs, as such, must be dismantled and restructured.

    The University, Board of Reagents and University Administration, kowtows to Alumni that support the Athletic Programs as they current exist. Why?…the $$$$$ that the “donate”….and…their Identity as a Person is inextricable linked to these Athletic Program providing an opportunity to participate in Home Game “tailgating”…a euphemism for a University sponsored Bacchanalia!

    It remain to be seen, if the new UofA President, Dr. Bobby Robins, has the Interest, Courage, and Clout to dismantled and restructured the Athletic Program. The University is First and Foremost an Academic Institution…NOT a Feeder Institution for Professional Sports!!!

  10. just pay the players already, in terms of revenue to the U of A, the cachet of having a big time mens BB program in Tucson making season tickets more expensive than most broadway plays, they deserve it. The old school mantra of they get a free education, just doesn’t make sense with billions in TV contracts in play.
    Student athletes add value to the school and to the community, pay all scholarship players, whatever the market determines they are worth!

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