Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
In every locker room, hallway, weight room or academic center across the country, you're likely to find one of the NCAA's posters titled "Don't Bet on It."
It's the NCAA's campaign -- and has been some time -- to steer student athletes away from gambling, especially on games they play. They even show the freshmen a video about it at orientation when they first arrive on campus. Sure the video is kind of lame and ridiculous (I sat through it and laughed as a frosh), but it makes its point.
At Toledo, the slogan went out the window.
Six former Toledo athletes, including three football players, were charged with conspiracy to commit sports bribery on Wednesday.
The alleged betting took place between 2004 and 2006 on football and basketball contests with players giving gamblers intimate knowledge of games and personnel.
From a football perspective, the alleged gambling took place after Toledo's power seasons in coach Gary Pinkel's heyday of 2000-02, which is good because those are the years that really put Toledo on the map and made that coaching staff an overnight sensation.
However, the ringleader of the alleged gambling operation, Adam Cuomo, was part of those teams and was recruited by Pinkel, who now coaches at Missouri, and former Toledo offensive coordinator and current Wyoming coach Dave Christensen.
Now obviously, the school has been cleared of all wrongdoing, as have any of the coaches involved, including Tom Amstutz, who was the coach of the Rockets when all of this was occurring. Cuomo more or less took responsibility for starting the gambling ring, but it does make you stop and think about the importance of doing your homework during the recruiting process.
Star players get a lot of press and the media or the public usually knows about any suspicious activity from the past (like Tennessee's new recruit). But it's the lower level guys that require the most digging. And back then when there was no Facebook or MySpace or rap videos on YouTube as telltale signs of troubled youth, coaches just had to go on instinct. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out the way they plan.
Cuomo was a scrub. He posted minimal stats during his time at Toledo (I mean, the team had Chester Taylor). But in that idle time, he found a way to supplement his income.
Players gamble. This is an undeniable fact. It happens at nearly every school in the country. Be it poker, at the casinos, whatever. Players gamble. And maybe this point-shaving scheme is just the tip of something bigger. I know there have been times -- and we've all done it -- where we question that last-second field goal or maybe some lax coverage on a touchdown.
Are we naïve in thinking this is an isolated incident? That's something I'd bet on.
Watson joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the Missouri Tigers and the Big 12 Conference for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She also covered college football recruiting for the Dallas Morning News.
