University of Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller held an impromptu press conference Thursday to read a statement that doubled down on his denial of allegedly paying a high school recruit $100,000 to come to the school.
Arizona Athletics and Arizona men’s basketball head coach Sean Miller meet with the media. https://t.co/8BbToFCsZ5
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) March 1, 2018
“I have never knowingly violated NCAA rules while serving as head coach of this great program,” Miller said. “I have never paid a recruit or prospect or their family or a representative to come to Arizona. I never have and I never will.”
The reports that detailed allegations against him and five-star recruit DeAndre Ayton were “inaccurate and completely false,” Miller said.
“I also want you to know the one time that someone suggested to me paying a player to come to the University of Arizona, I did not agree to it,” he went on to say. “It never happened, and that player did not come to the University of Arizona.”
Miller then said he would turn his attention to basketball and not address the scandal further while an investigation was ongoing. He did not take questions from the reporters gathered in Tucson, Arizona.
ESPN previously reported that an FBI wiretap caught Miller discussing a $100,000 payment over the phone to secure the signing of Ayton, a highly sought-after high school recruit.
That report came on the heels of an investigative story published by Yahoo Sports, which revealed that an FBI investigation implicated at least 25 players and 20 Division I programs in an underground operation including impermissible payments to recruits.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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