Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo refused to pay for Brian Bowen

Christian Dawkins testified in court that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo refused to pay for top recruit Brian Bowen despite his efforts.

Saginaw-native Brian Bowen shuffled through his college choices, changed his top schools often and new leaders were named seemingly every day, but Michigan State remained a constant.

There were some who believed Bowen would stay close to home and pick the Spartans who had built a relationship with him since he was a kid. He stayed in contact with Tom Izzo over the years, but Bowen’s eye was wandering.

Other programs were more attractive to him for some reason or another and there was speculation that his recruitment was dirty, especially when he committed to Louisville out of the blue, shutting down the process for good. That ended up costing Rick Pitino his job.

Christian Dawkins was responsible for helping Bowen maximize earnings for him and his family through shoe companies and manipulating the system. He helped Bowen’s family earn tens of thousands of dollars thanks to his Louisville pledge, but the FBI probe was quick to shut it down.

Months after his recruitment was over, reports surfaced about a specific recruit being shopped by Dawkins and it turned out to be Bowen.

Many around East Lansing without close ties to the basketball program were worried that Izzo got caught up in the pay-for-play landscape and his offer to Bowen just wasn’t attractive enough — I mean, why else would Bowen consider the Spartans as a potential landing spot throughout the whole process?

Those doubts were washed away when Dawkins’ lawyer stated that Izzo was one of the only coaches that wouldn’t pay. Still, people doubted.

On Wednesday, Dawkins testified in court and even admitted that he wanted Bowen to play for Michigan State, which was close to home for him, but Izzo refused to go dirty.

All doubt is gone now. For those saying “Dawkins has a history of telling lies, so why should we believe this?”, consider what he would actually get from lying about this. Why would he lie about MSU not paying recruits? He won’t get exemption from jail time. He won’t get money for lying. He’s already dug his grave, he’s best served by telling the truth.

For Michigan State fans, all you can do is rest easy knowing that your head coach won’t sink to the level of paying for recruits, even if that means winning another national title.