Column: Hearing LSU's Will Wade Wire Taps on "The Scheme" Didn't Sound Good But It Wasn't the Major Takeaway
HBO's new documentary “The Scheme,” starring hoops middleman Christian Dawkins, aired nationally last night for the first time, highlighting exclusive wiretapped phone conversations between Dawkins and LSU coach Will Wade and Arizona coach Sean Miller.
Let’s get one thing straight.
It goes without saying that Wade and Miller’s tapes didn’t sound good. Wade talking about compensating players “better than the rookie minimum,” and giving them “more than the D-League” was far and away the most egregious claim he made in the entire phone conversation.
But was it enough to force LSU athletic director Scott Woodward into making any moves? I don’t think so.
We already knew the details from what was reported by Yahoo last March. Last night was all about finally getting the opportunity to hear the physical tapes. Was it going to sound worse than what was reported in writing? How would each coach sound on the audio recordings? Would there be any new uncovered findings? There were certainly many questions to be answered.
But having finished the documentary in its entirety, my biggest takeaway from the two-hour film was actually not what I heard on the phone conversations after all.
We didn’t really learn anything new from this documentary, specifically regarding the coaches in the spotlight. That was something, for the most part, we expected heading into it. But one aspect did catch the attention of many.
So far, the biggest consensus on social media stands with the FBI’s handling of the case. And from the majority of tweets that I’ve read, people feel the FBI intentionally entrapped and set up those involved, whether justified or not. Many feel it gave the FBI a bad look, and made Dawkins and his lawyer look like the naive ‘good guys’ of this whole situation. For most, the ‘damning’ evidence that was thought to come from this was seen as underwhelming in the end.
In fact, many reputable sports writers who’ve been known to be harsh critics of Wade and Miller took to Twitter to provide their own thoughts on the documentary, starting with Dan Wolken of USA Today Sports, who said: “Congrats to HBO for sucking me into wasting two hours on this.”
Was it really a waste of two hours? To be honest, I thought it was well done, but if you were solely tuned in for the sake of a smoking gun, or to see someone get indicted the minute it ended, this documentary just wasn’t that.
However, in a slow news cycle due to the coronavirus, one would think something like this would become bigger than it really is. But frankly, I was surprised to see the aftermath on social media was pretty quiet when the documentary concluded. We often see in today’s media age that administrators make knee-jerk reactions based off social media noise and outcry, and in Wade’s case, no major conclusions were drawn hours after the airing, which is a positive sign for him and others.
Where do we go from here? The ball is now in the court of the respective ADs, but there’s a good chance -- frankly it’s likely -- that nothing will come from Tuesday’s documentary. Maybe this means that LSU and Arizona will have a shorter leash if Wade and Miller’s performance on the court don’t continue to go as course. Who knows.
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward released a statement Wednesday in response to the documentary.
“We are aware of the documentary first aired on March 31, 2020, on HBO," Woodward said. "There is no change to Coach Will Wade’s employment status at LSU and we will continue to cooperate with all reviews into this matter.”
We do know this. “The Scheme” was a two-hour documentary, and it took until the 1:45 mark to fully mention Wade’s involvement. It could've been much worse. For Miller, Book Richardson and Arizona, the case surrounding Deandre Ayton could make them the ones who take the brunt of it.
And if you want to put on your lawyer hat, think of it this way: there was no money trail, there were no bank statements, and there was absolutely no tangible evidence linking Wade or Miller to the payment of any players throughout the film. Just audio from a wiretap.
Time will ultimately tell. It always does. Admittedly, reading the initial reports, and listening to the audio definitely presented two completely different feelings. But in this instance, it appears like the film didn’t get the type of ‘bombshell’ response some within the business were hoping for.
“I try not to criticize other media. Everyone is trying to do a job,” said Aaron Torres of Fox Sports Radio on Twitter. “But the media who spent the last two weeks hyping that documentary as the downfall of Wade/Miller for clicks, as opposed to what it was -- an indictment on our criminal justice system -- should be ashamed of themselves.”
