On paper, Renardo Sidney looks like a star…The next big thing.  ESPNU has the McDonald’s All-American power forward from Fairfax High School ranked as the #7 player in the country.  A 2007 Sports Illustrated article even predicted Sidney to be the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.  In the last few weeks, this high school phenom hit some roadblocks in his path to becoming an NBA powerhouse.  Recruited heavily by UCLA and USC, the 6’9”, 265 pound forward had verbally committed to accepting a scholarship to play for USC, but towards the end of April, both schools pulled out from recruiting Sidney.  After the two California schools backed out of the race, Sidney signed a letter of intent with Mississippi State, possibly the only other recruiter offering anything at that point.

Anonymous sources at both UCLA and USC told the L.A. Times that they did not want to take the risk of attracting NCAA scrutiny because of sketchy issues with his family and camp.  The family moved several times to upscale homes while Renardo was in high school, despite purportedly having a limited income.  Sonny Vaccaro, a name familiar in the basketball world, admitted to financing the family’s move to the Los Angeles area.  At the time, Sonny was still working for Reebok, but now is no longer with Reebok or in a favorable position with the Sidney family.  Renardo’s AAU team, which happens to be coached by Renardo Sr., also raised some questions.  The team was given some financial backing by Reebok and current Reebok rep Chris Rivers, but the overall financial situation of the team added to the list of concerns.  Perhaps the most troubling issue was the rumor that Renardo Sidney Sr. was expecting some compensation for his son’s services.

While most of the claims against the Sidney family have yet to be substantiated, they’ve caused a lot of problems for the young player.  The Sidneys hired Alabama-based sports attorney Donald Jackson to help them through these troubling times.  No stranger to dealing with athlete controversies, Jackson has denied the existence of any wrong doing or NCAA violation by Renardo or his father.  In fact, he claims that USC and UCLA didn’t stop recruiting Sidney, but that the high school star notified them first of his intent to sign with Mississippi State.  I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Jackson at a Sports Law conference several months ago, and he seemed like a pretty stand up guy.  My personal feelings aside, the veteran attorney has had years of experience in dealing with these sorts of controversies, and is well prepared to give due diligence to Sidney’s problems.  Mississippi State is also being extremely careful in dealing with the Sidney situation.  After the young hoops star committed to attending the university, the school retained sports attorney Mike Glazier who has aided several other schools during NCAA investigations.  Glazier currently leads the Collegiate Sports Practice Group at the Kansas office of law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLP.

Renardo will enroll at Mississippi State in July, just a few weeks after graduating high school.  Assuming he doesn’t run into any eligibility problems, this young man could make Mississippi State a contender in the SEC and possibly the NCAA tournament.  Will he be a one-and-done, or allow his skills to develop thoroughly under Coach Rick Stansbury? Either way, UCLA and USC might be missing out on a great opportunity if this controversy turns out to be nothing.  I watched Sidney’s Fairfax High School play on ESPN2 several months back and this kid is dynamite.  In an 86-47 victory over San Diego High School and Jeremy Tyler, Sidney put up 28 points and 10 rebounds.  He’s been compared to players like Kevin Garnett and Chris Webber.  If he plays his cards right he could become an NBA great in the future.

The Curious Case of Renardo Sidney from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Recently, I pondered

Brian has been on the bench along with Dwon, coaching John Wall to become one of the top prospects in the country.  Four months ago, he was a licensed sports agent. In the post mentioned at the beginning of this topic, I also thought about how ethical it would be for a sports agency to bring on an AAU coach to help recruiting efforts.  But what about a sports agent becoming an AAU coach?

Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com says no can do:

The NCAA’s newly implemented online coaches approval program…features the following question:

Are you a licensed sports agent, runner/recruiter or representative/agent/employee of a sports agency?

Answer “Yes” to that question and you are automatically ineligible to be on the sideline for a summer league/AAU team. There is no gray area. So the only way for Clifton to honestly answer “No” was to withdraw his license, and doing that allowed him to spend the entire summer coaching prospects — just like he did in the summer of 2007, when he still was a licensed agent — and nurturing a relationship with the best prep point guard in the country.

Again I beg the question: ethical?  Become a licensed agent, then withdraw your license only to become licensed again after you get some one-on-one access with a top recruit?  Without assuming anything, this story sounds a little fishy.  To Brian Clifton’s defense, he says that he will not reapply to be an agent once Wall declares for the NBA and that he will not take any handler’s fee from an agent looking to sign Wall up.

The Wall/Clifton Connect from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Usually, we hear about covert relationships between NCAA coaches/NBPA agents and AAU coaches.  Rarely are such relationships thrown out for the public to view as fact.  Baylor University obviously has little concern about any sort of backlash that may result from open wheeling and dealing with an AAU coach.  The University just hired Dwon Clifton, head coach of AAU team, D-One Sports. Forget about open discussions, an AAU coach was overtly hired by a university to head its basketball player development.  You better believe that the #1 point guard in the nation, John Wall, will be heading to Baylor in the future.  The cost of hiring Dwon pales in comparison to the gain of signing one of America’s top recruits.

I am happy for Baylor University and all of those involved in the transaction.  I am left wondering; however, just how ethical this hiring is for a university that is part of an organization that stresses amateurism (the NCAA).  Additionally, if it is alright for a university to hire an AAU coach with the hidden hope of signing one of the nation’s top recruits as a consequence, may a sports agent do the same?  Would it be alright for a sports agency to start going around and offering internal positions to some of the country’s top AAU coaches with the hope that their former players (or current players, if the agency allows said coaches to continue to head up their teams) would heed advice that tells them to sign with said agency?

Realistically, Dwon Clifton may have been hired by Baylor because he happens to be an excellent coach.  An agency may hire an AAU coach because he would be an excellent addition to the agency above and beyond the value of a potential referral of former clients.  What are your feelings on this issue?

Making An AAU Coach Part Of The Team from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules