Cal State Northridge says no 'red flags' in Mark Gottfried hiring
Cal State Northridge, which recently named former N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried as its new basketball coach, said it did its due diligence and there were no “red flags” associated with the hiring.
A federal grand jury in New York in January issued a subpoena to N.C. State in conjunction with the FBI’s investigation into corruption and fraud in college basketball. Among the allegations are that former N.C. State guard Dennis Smith Jr. received $73,500 in loans from Christian Dawkins, an associate of former agent Andy Miller, while Gottfried was the coach.
The subpoena, made public last week, requested personnel files for Gottfried and former Wolfpack assistant coach Orlando Early, who handled recruiting. It also asked for any forms of communication between NCSU athletic officials and Smith, Smith’s family or representatives.
In a university statement, Cal State Northridge said: “Compliance was an important issue for us in the search for our next men's basketball coach. The great thing about bringing Mark Gottfried to CSUN is that we had a 20-year track record to review. Coach Gottfried has an excellent compliance record and understands how to build winners the right way. We did our own due diligence and, as both Coach Gottfried and officials at North Carolina State have said, there are no red flags whatsoever."
Gottfried, who was fired by N.C. State during the 2016-17 season, declined to comment when an interview request was made by the News & Observer to Cal State Northridge. Smith is in his rookie season with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
Ten people have been arrested in the FBI case, including assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern California. Charges were later dropped for an AAU ex-director. Dawkins was among those arrested.
No one connected to N.C. State has been charged.
This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Cal State Northridge says no 'red flags' in Mark Gottfried hiring."