New Documentary to Shed Light on Scandal That Involved Former Clemson Assistant
The college basketball corruption scandal that rocked the sport and involved former Clemson men’s basketball assistant Steve Smith is about to be seen in a new light.
HBO will air a documentary called “The Scheme” at 9 p.m. on March 31 about the relationship between handler-now-felon Christian Dawkins and some of the game’s widely-known coaches, according to Yahoo! Sports.
While the report doesn’t name Smith as one of the coaches highlighted by the documentary, so far it’s known that it does provide insight into the involvement of former Louisville and current Iona coach Rick Pitino, LSU coach Will Wade and Arizona coach Sean Miller.
The three-year case ended with the arrest of four former assistant coaches, former Clemson basketball player and amateur coach Merl Code, Dawkins and four other men involved in the scandal.
Dawkins, who is appealing his prison sentence, and an undercover FBI agent met with Smith in July of 2017. A video wiretap of that meeting was played during the trial, and three men discussed the recruitment of Zion Williamson at their meeting.
“That’s why football is so successful, is if you do it and use resources at Clemson, like you can really keep everything tight,” Smith said on the wiretap.
Smith was let go after his contract ran out in May of 2019 and Clemson investigated the comments. Athletic director Dan Radakovich said neither head coach Brad Brownell nor the football team was implicated in any wrongdoing.
“We feel very strongly that those were unfortunate comments and we are doing our due diligence, but there is no reason to believe – and nothing that we’ve been able to find at this point in time – that implicates the football program in any of that,” Radakovich said in May of 2019.
Smith joined Leonard Hamilton's staff at Florida State last year.
