Ex-ESPN NCAA Hoops Reporter: I Was Told to Stand Down on FBI Stuff By Higher-Up

It didn’t impact teams on Selection Sunday, but an FBI probe into corruption in NCAA basketball did put a slight damper on the annual March Madness tournament this year.

Led by Yahoo, the probe was covered by most major media outlets including ESPN. However, the Worldwide Leader’s coverage of the probe was fairly minimal in proportion to the amount of coverage it usually devotes to NCAA hoops.

According to Jeff Goodman, a former ESPN college basketball reporter who left for a job at Stadium earlier this summer, there’s a reason for that.

While appearing on a podcast from The Big Lead, Goodman explained he was told by a higher-up at ESPN not to cover any of the FBI stuff in order to avoid ruffling any feathers.

Goodman continued to pitch ideas and pointed out he had plenty of sources he could contact for information, but was told to stand down on covering the story.

“For me, I’m a reporter! It’s what I am at the heart of it,” Goodman said. “I was taught at the Associated Press by some really good people. I pride myself on the fact that I can be versatile enough to write a feature, to break news, to write an investigative piece, to be honest about what I’m doing no matter what the relationship is with a coach, a player, whoever. And I was surprised at that, and it frustrated me. I certainly wanted to cover it; it’s been the biggest story in college basketball over the last year.”