• Loading stock data...
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Tune in on Dec. 11 at 1:05 p.m. ET for our last Future of Sports virtual summit of the year – Future of Sports: Marketing! Register Now

Pat Kondelis, Director of HBO’s New Documentary ‘The Scheme,’ On Christian Dawkins And The College Hoops Scandal

  • 25-year-old Christian Dawkins, the subject of a new HBO documentary, was at the center of hundreds of thousands of dollars that were funneled to college basketball recruits.
  • “All of this is done under the table, and it’s all secretive. So it’s really difficult to try to get an accurate number,” Kondelis says of how much money was circulated in the scheme.
hbo-the-scheme-pat-kondelis-christian-dawkins-documentary

HBO’s new documentary, ‘The Scheme’ tells the behind-the-scenes story of how 25-year-old Christian Dawkins ended up at the center of the biggest criminal case in collegiate sports history – with Dawkins himself serving as the film’s first-hand narrator. 

The film, which will debut on HBO on March 31, chronicles the two-year undercover FBI investigation into college basketball corruption that came to a head in 2017 when Adidas executives and assistant coaches at major college programs were arrested in a pay-for-play scheme in which Dawkins served as the facilitator for dozens – if not hundreds – of deals. 

FOS REPORT: 54.5% of industry executives believe that it would be at least 60 days before leagues resume play.

In his first interview about the scandal, Dawkins details the ins and outs of the scheme in a raw, corroborated and, candidly, compelling narrative that showcases just how much money was moving around in the seedy underbelly of college basketball.

Front Office Sports spoke with the film’s Emmy-winning director – Pat Kondelis – about what he learned about the scandal and its central figure during the making of the movie. 

This interview has been condensed for clarity.

Front Office Sports: How long did this whole project take from starting research to finally finishing production?

Pat Kondelis: Right at a year, which I think it’s the fastest that we’ve ever done a project. And that’s because when we started this project, Christian was right in between his first and second trial. I wanted to start as this was real, [as] everything was unfolding so you can get a clear opinion, and clear answers before verdicts have come in so you can get an honest reaction as opposed to waiting until afterward and then going back and looking at it. If Christian had been completely acquitted, his whole opinion would have been completely different. Or if he had been found guilty on everything, it would have tainted his honest feelings in the moment. So it was really important that we started right away with that.

FOS: When you were talking to him, what were your takeaways from how he looked back on everything that transpired?

Kondelis: He didn’t hold back, which was surprising to me. I pressed him on a lot of things, and there were certain things he didn’t want to say, but the things that he did say, I mean, he didn’t absolve himself of anything. He could say, ‘No, I did this, but I don’t think it was wrong because of these reasons.’ That’s a very interesting person to get a chance to interview. I hadn’t come across that before Christian. And I found him to be very, very credible. We could corroborate just about everything that he said.

FOS: Were there any particular things that you pressed him on that you heard from him in response that surprised you? 

READ MORE: Without Live Events, Social Media Takes Center Stage For College Athletes

Kondelis: I don’t know if [any of] it surprised me. I mean, Christian thinks that the players should get paid. He said that unequivocally multiple times in the doc, and it’s a hard position to argue with. The one thing that did surprise me was how much money is going around for these kids. I’m a basketball fan. I know the stories and follow it and was not delusional to think that these players weren’t getting paid money, but I had no idea the sums that were going around to some of these players – players that I had never heard of, that I would not necessarily have considered as being top recruits – getting crazy sums of cash. Multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars to play basketball for one year, maybe two years. 

And it also surprised me, to be quite frank, that [Christian] continually claimed that he didn’t think that Rick Pitino knew anything. I struggled with that for a long time.

FOS: That’s interesting because that’s not the narrative that’s out there.

Kondelis: That was probably one of the more contentious moments between him and I when we did the interview. I said that was bullshit. How can you tell me that he didn’t know? And we would go back and forth to the point where we were almost kind of yelling at each other [but] every time I was around him, Christian’s story on Pitino never changed. He said, ‘Look, he didn’t know.’ or ‘I don’t think he knew.’ And I talked to other people that have said the same thing that were involved in the case. And that was surprising to me because you just kind of assume that he knew what was going on.

FOS: Louisville was the first big domino to fall in this whole scheme, but several other schools were implicated. Did you try to get an understanding of how much money across all of those schools was funneled into these payments to athletes? 

Kondelis: We did as much as we could – and that’s the problem is all of this is done kind of under the table, and it’s all secretive, and nobody wants to rat somebody out. So it’s really difficult to try to get an accurate number on it. The best resource on that really was the people that testified in both trials. They walk into a federal courtroom and they get under oath and they start saying these numbers like Brian Bowen Sr., in the first trial. I wasn’t there for it, but reading the transcripts and talking with people that were there. It’s unbelievable how much these schools were offering his son. The one that shocked me the most was what Oklahoma State offered. I think it was $100,000, an $80,000 car, and a house. That’s unbelievable. Other schools they said were astronomical numbers, like $200,000 and over for some of these guys. 

It’s really difficult though to find out which schools exactly offered which kids how much money and there’s not one way they do this. Some of it goes through shoe companies to the AAU coaches, some of it goes from financial advisors to the players, some of it goes from agents to the players, some of it the schools are doing directly. So there are a million different ways that they were getting this done. So it was very difficult to kind of track it all accurately.

FOS: I can imagine there were some roadblocks there. Once you finished putting this together, would you say finding those numbers and trying to get a grasp on the actual process was the most challenging part? 

Kondelis: The most challenging part I think was filling the story in a way that it could be comprehensible for an audience that has never heard of the story that might watch it and be able to follow it because it is such a spiderweb and it’s crazy. It is so complicated – putting the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that the audience could experience a picture that made sense to them. 

The second part was that nobody would talk to us. Christian is the person at the center of this, but I don’t think I’ve ever done a documentary that had this few interviews before. We reached out to everybody and nobody would talk. That’s always a challenge on every project, but that was a very big challenge on this project in particular.

READ MORE: Spring Sport Athletes Face Complicated Decisions as NCAA Extends Eligibility

FOS: Something that’s always fascinated me about this whole story is how young Christian was and how caught up in some pretty high-level stuff he got. 

Kondelis: What Christian was able to do at such a young age is pretty astonishing. But he did some really stupid shit as well. He’s an incredibly impressive guy, and he was very, very different from the person that was being described in all of these articles that were being written about him. I was very surprised, to your point, how mature he is for being such a young guy. He’s highly intelligent – pretty much a walking encyclopedia of basketball information. He really is. 

FOS: You mentioned earlier, trying to convey him and this to the audience. What audience were you targeting? 

Kondelis: I wanted this to be watched by people that were not just sports fans because I don’t think this is just solely a sports story. This is such a big story that’s so much bigger than just college basketball. There are lots of themes within this that apply to lots of other areas in life right now that are not just sport. I mean with the criminal justice element, the FBI, the selective prosecution, the corruption that’s involved in this case – it’s far bigger than just a sports story. So we definitely intended this to be for an audience that was not just a sports audience. And I hope that’s the case. 

Whether they agree with certain things that happened in it, that doesn’t matter to me. Ultimately when people get a chance to see, they can make up their minds, but ultimately I hope they enjoy spending two hours watching it.

FOS: And I’m curious, have there been conversations with people now stuck at home about expecting more people to tune into this than maybe you were a few months ago?

Kondelis: I hope so because all of this obviously is unprecedented and crazy, and nobody saw this coming. So I hope so. But God, I don’t know. I mean, it’s not the rollout that we were hoping for or expecting. At the end of the day, as long as people see it, we want people to make up their own minds after they see it.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

CFP Era Redefines Bowl Season: Tradition Meets Transformation

The 12-team College Football Playoff is changing Bowl Season.

Conference Title Games to Shape CFP Picture: High Stakes, Wild Scenarios

The ACC, Big 12, and Mountain West title games have big implications.
Nov 2, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Rhett Lashlee leads SMU on to the field before the game between the Southern Methodist Mustangs and the Pittsburgh Panthers at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Every Power 4 Championship Game Will Have a Conference Newcomer

Oregon, SMU, Texas, and Arizona State will all play for titles.
Nov 30, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils wide receiver Derek Eusebio (83) drinks out of the Territorial Cup at the end of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium.

IRS Says Tax Enforcement of Nonprofit NIL Collectives Is 2025 Priority

Many NIL collectives are registered as tax-exempt organizations.

Featured Today

Nov 2, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Detailed view of a Wilson NBA basketball held by a referee during the second half between the Utah Jazz against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena

‘Obvious Weak Point’: Refs Remain an NBA Gambling Concern

A season after Jontay Porter, the biggest risk may not be players.
Nov 2, 2024; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines cheerleader runs with a flag before the game against the Oregon Ducks at Michigan Stadium.
opinion
December 7, 2024

College Football’s Billionaire Backer Era Begins

Is this the new normal in CFB recruiting?
LA Galaxy forward Dejan Joveljic (9) celebrates with midfielder Riqui Puig (10) after scoring a goal against Seattle Sounders FC in the second half in the 2024 MLS Cup Western Conference Final match at Dignity Health Sports Park
December 6, 2024

With or Without Messi, Major League Soccer Is Barreling Into the Future

After the Cup final, the league looks to accelerate its growth.
Dec 18, 2022; Lusail, Qatar; FIFA president Gianni Infantino claps during the awards ceremony after the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium.
December 2, 2024

FIFA Wants More Matches. Resistance Is Growing Inside the Global Soccer World

Resentment and frustration over expanded schedules is nearing a breaking point.

College Football Playoff Teams Paid $27M for Non-Conference Schedules

Texas led the way with three games that cost $4.9 million.
December 8, 2024

Big Ten Tops SEC With Four College Football Playoff Bids

The SEC ended up with three CFP teams after Alabama was left out.
December 8, 2024

ESPN, ABC To Simulcast First Non-NBC Notre Dame Home Game Since 1990

The Fighting Irish will play the first game of the College Football Playoff.
Sponsored

How UBS Crafts Impactful Partnerships Across Sports, Arts, and Culture

As UBS continues to expand its impressive array of sports and entertainment partnerships, the company solidifies its position as a leader in wealth management.
December 8, 2024

TNT Will Broadcast Clemson-Texas, SMU–Penn St. CFP Games

The network will broadcast Clemson at Texas and SMU at Penn State.
December 8, 2024

SMU Awarded Final College Football Playoff Spot, Booting Alabama

The Mustangs qualified despite losing the ACC championship game.
December 8, 2024

Boise State First, Only Group of 5 Team in Expanded College Football..

We very much consider ourselves the Power 4,” Boise State’s AD said.
December 8, 2024

One Year After Pac-12 Dissolved, Two Former Members Will Reach CFP

Arizona State and Oregon won the Big 12 and Big Ten championships.