College Basketball Coach Resigns from Texas University After Being Linked to Admissions Scandal

A Texas basketball coach has resigned after being linked tothe national college admissions scandalthat also implicated numerous other athletic coaches and Hollywood celebrities includingLori LoughlinandFelicity Huffman.

Lamont Smith was the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Texas at El Paso before he resigned. Previously, Smith had been the head men’s basketball coach at the University of San Diego, where he allegedly participated in the college admissions scheme. Smith left USD in March 2018.

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According toABC10in San Diego, the initial indictment from earlier this month alleged that real estate developer Robert Flaxman paid around $100,000 to get his son — who did not play basketball — into the school as a basketball recruit with the help of a USD coach. The outlet reported that the indictment also said that Flaxman paid a similar bribe for his daughter, but she declined to attend the university.

USD has not yet announced whether the student will be expelled, but said, “as with any students, falsifying or making misrepresentations on an application for admission can be grounds for disciplinary action under USD’s Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities. Students who violate the Code can be subject to various sanctions, up to and including expulsion.”

Smith wasamong the 50 people named earlier this monthin an alleged conspiracy to defraud and undermine competitive student admissions at elite colleges and universities including Yale, Georgetown, the University of Southern California and Stanford, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

Many other athletic coacheswere allegedly implicated in the scandal, including Michael Center, the former head coach of men’s tennis at the University of Texas at Austin, and Laura Janke, the former assistant coach of women’s soccer at the University of Southern California.

source: people.com