College basketball's 30 biggest cheaters that tainted the game

College basketball’s 30 biggest cheaters that tainted the game

ATHENS, GREECE - APRIL 23: Rick Pitino, Head Coach of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens react during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Play Off game 3 between Panathinaikos Opap Athens v Real Madrid at Olympic Sports Center Athens on April 23, 2019 in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Panagiotis Moschandreou/EB via Getty Images) /

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24 Feb 1994: Head coach Todd Bozeman of the Cal Golden Bears talks over a play selection with point guard Jason Kidd during a break in the action of the Golden Bear’s 92-88 victory over the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, California. Mandat /

13. Todd Bozeman

There are a lot of coaches on this list, but perhaps none took a bigger fall than Todd Bozeman. Bozeman was a rising star at California in the early 1990s, taking over as head coach in 1993 and making a quick impact for the Golden Bears.

Cal advanced to the NCAA Tournament when Bozeman was the interim coach and pulled off an upset of Duke, the two-time defending national champions, in the second round. Bozeman became the youngest coach ever to advance to the Sweet 16, quickly receiving the full-time job in the offseason.

Things went well for Cal in the next few years, but Bozeman quickly found himself in hot water with the NCAA. Bozeman had paid the parents of one of his players, Jelani Gardner, $30,000 over two years so they could see their son play.

Once their son’s playing time diminished, Gardner’s parents turned Bozeman, launching an NCAA investigation into the coach. Bozeman didn’t help his cause by lying to investigators, leading to heavy penalties for both him and the program.

Cal was forced to vacate just over a year’s worth of games and its appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Bozeman was hit an eight-year show-cause penalty, making him essentially a persona non grata in NCAA circles until 2005, killing what had been a rapidly rising career.