Text messages at the center of Georgia Tech recruiting allegations

ATLANTA — Recruiting text messages between a Georgia Tech basketball coach, his wife, a former friend and a former colleague are at the center of a legal response to the coach, who said he’s being targeted in an extortion attempt.

Josh Pastner filed a defamation lawsuit against an Arizona couple in January. The couple, Ron Bell and Jennifer Pendley, are former friends of the coach. They said Pastner violated NCAA rules, as he tapped Bell to help orchestrate in-season recruiting efforts.

In late 2017, Pastner said he self-reported to the NCAA, after finding out two players accepted gifts from an unidentified source. It led to a multigame suspension for the players.

Soon after, Bell identified himself as that source, in an interview with Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr.

By February, Bell and Pendley had countersued Pastner for sexual assault.

Part of an Aug. 13 response to Pastner's suit dealt with a DNA testing request for a shirt Pendley said she wore during the alleged hotel assault. The couple's credibility has been challenged by Pastner's legal team, with the release of phone recordings, in which the couple
argue over the lawsuit.

The other portion of the court filing deals with Bell’s original allegation that Pastner was well-aware of and personally involved in recruiting former Memphis player Markel Crawford, violating NCAA rules during the 2016/2017 season.

The filings allege and messages suggest  this was done with the help and knowledge of Pastner, and two others, Pastner’s wife, Kerri and former Memphis basketball staffer Mike Ekanem, who had hopes of landing a job at Tech.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS:

• Nov. 8, 2017: Man says GT coach knew he bought flights, meals, clothes for players
• Jan. 13, 2018: Georgia Tech's Pastner files suit, claims fraud, extortion
• Feb. 8, 2018: Ga. Tech basketball coach: 'Zero truth' to sexual assault allegations
• July 10, 2018: Jail recordings suggest false sex assault claims against Georgia Tech's Pastner
• July 18, 2018: Judge denies request from accusers of Georgia Tech coach Pastner to delay case

On Feb. 10, 2017, Bell wrote to Ekanem:

“Please have Markel call. I will fill you in, Just hung up with Josh. He's all in 'with both feet' is exactly what he said. Call me if you have a few minutes. It concerns you."

The concern was allegedly a position at Tech if the recruiting of Crawford went well, court documents allege. In the messages, Bell also talks to Ekanem about helping him buy a car during the recruiting process.

Messages between Bell, and Pastner’s wife are highlighted, too.

“At one point he (Bell) even mentions to Mrs. Pastner about receiving his 'Markel instructions' from coach Pastner,” said Bell’s Arizona-based attorney, Brian Weinberger.

Pastner’s attorney, Scott Tompsett, told Carr that the coach did not attempt to contact Crawford about transferring to Georgia Tech until April 11, 2017, when Tech received permission from Memphis to recruit the player.

Less than two months earlier, the following exchange with Kerri Pastner, was pulled from Bell’s phone records:

“K. Pastner: "I enjoyed watching the game tonight, Markel is not going to go around saying anything about next year will he?"  

Bell: "No. Not a chance. We've been talking about this since November. He's smarter than you think." 

K. Pastner: I know he is. I just don't want anyone thinking Josh is stealing their players. 

Bell: I am the only one who is allowed to talk to Markel. Josh or his staff cannot until the Memphis season is over. . . . I have been on this for months. I just recently told Josh ...”

Kerri Pastner offered her take on the communication with Bell during a deposition in Atlanta last week.

Those records were not immediately available, as both parties head back to court in Arizona later this week.

Tompsett called the claims "old news" in a statement to Channel 2 Action News, saying Tech, its compliance office and the NCAA had determined there was no merit to the allegations.

He also said Bell contradicted himself in subsequent messages online and via text to Pastner.

“Bell’s allegations that Georgia Tech and Pastner impermissibly recruited Crawford are the opposite of what Bell stated before Bell became angry with Pastner and started his blackmail and extortion campaign on Oct. 2, 2017,” the statement read. “On Aug. 23, 2017, Bell sent a message on his Twitter account about Crawford’s decision to transfer to Ole Miss and stated, “Coach Pastner will not cheat or break NCAA rules. This I guarantee (emphasis added).”

“On Sept. 15, 2017, Bell texted Pastner and told him: You honestly might be the last Coach running a clean program” the statement continued.

Pastner’s attorney points to the earlier in-season communication involving the Pastners, Ekanem and Bell.

“Those texts exists, those are facts, not opinions and it doesn’t matter what anyone’s credibility is -- they say what they say,” Weinberger told Carr.

Crawford would eventually land at Ole Miss.

Ekanem was hired  as a multimedia specialist at the University of Nevada last month. The Wolf Pack athletic department said they were not aware of the allegations involving the new hire until last week, when an ABC station reported on the contents of the court filings.

They were examining the matter at the time. Last week, a spokesperson for the department told Carr the school has no further comment on the allegations.

Georgia Tech did not offer their compliance department’s conclusion to the allegations, nor would they confirm they were aware of all the text communication submitted to the court.

The school offered this statement in response to the story:

“Georgia Tech athletics takes all allegations of NCAA violations very seriously. We have examined all allegations that have been brought to our attention very carefully and will continue to do so if new information comes to light.”

Cox Media Group