Report: Adidas gave Indiana a lift in adding top recruit Romeo Langford over Vanderbilt, others

Interesting

When top 5-star basketball recruit Romeo Langford made his college decision on April 30, picking Indiana over other finalists Vanderbilt and Kansas, the announcement may not have been much of a surprise to many after all.

The decision may have also been made based on something outside of basketball.

According to a to a story in the Washington Post, Langford picked Indiana because the school is sponsored by Adidas, which beat out Nike and Under Armour in getting Langord to play for its sponsored AAU team. Langford’s father, Tim, made it known he wanted to run his son’s team, which ended up happening under the Adidas-sponsored umbrella.

“The way they phrased it, it was whoever [shoe company] was going to pay the dad’s AAU program the most money, gets it,” former Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who was recruiting Langford at the time in 2017, told The Washington Post.

Adidas’ league eventually added a new team, Twenty Two Vision, which featured Langford on the court and his father, Tim, serving as team director. According to The Washington Post, shoe company sponsorships can reach $100,000-$150,000, and team directors who limit expenses can pay themselves salaries from that amount.

“That’s the way that world works,” Pitino told The Washington Post. “Which is completely legal, by the way.”

Tim Langford told The Washington Post he didn’t take any pay as team director and that his son’s decision to play for the Adidas team had no impact on his college decision, although Indiana was the only Adidas-sponsored team among the three finalists.

The connection between apparel companies and college basketball programs has been the subject of a Justice Department probe that produced criminal charges against 10 men, including two Adidas officials who met with Pitino to discuss Langford.