If Seton Hall gets into any trouble over the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball, it will have nothing to do with former assistant coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton, he told The Post on Monday night.
The Lincoln High School basketball coach, who spent 2014-15 as an assistant coach at Seton Hall, said the accusations he was on an agent’s payroll are inaccurate. On Friday, Yahoo Sports released the expense reports of former ASM Sports employee Christian Dawkins from the Feds’ Sept. 26 raid on former NBA agent Andy Miller’s agency’s office, and it included an alleged payment to Morton of $9,500.
“The Yahoo reports are false about me receiving payments from Andy Miller,” said Morton, who spoke in measured tones and clearly was angered by the position he finds himself in. “Furthermore, my relationship with Andy Miller began and ended with Sebastian Telfair.
“I’m more offended than anything because it’s not true. I got kids who look up to me. A lot of these people are just writing things they want to write.”
Morton came to Seton Hall as part of a package deal with superstar player Isaiah Whitehead, the biggest recruit of the eight-year Kevin Willard era. The spreadsheet alleges Whitehead received $26,136 during his freshman year at Seton Hall in 2014-15, and another document listed Whitehead as being given $37,657 and stated he was “setting up a payment plan.” He signed with Miller shortly after his sophomore season at Seton Hall, in which he led the Pirates to the Big East Tournament championship. He recently switched agencies, joining Roc Nation Sports. Whitehead has yet to comment, and neither has his mother, Ericka Rambert. Morton also declined to comment on the allegations regarding Whitehead.
In the wake of the Yahoo report, Seton Hall has brought in New York City law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. to head up an internal investigation.
Morton, who also teaches middle school math, said he has never met Dawkins and doesn’t even know what he looks like. When asked then why he would be on the expense report, Morton said: “I can’t answer that. I don’t know what’s going on on that side.”
Morton said he encouraged Whitehead and his family to hire Jeff Schwartz as an agent, and not Miller, saying it’s a misconception that the two had a working relationship in past years.
“As I have stated many times before, I never received a dime from anyone outside of my day job,” he said.
Morton doesn’t expect the report to impact his job at Lincoln as its basketball coach. Higher-ups at the school haven’t discussed it with him, he said. Lincoln is the fifth seed in the upcoming PSAL Class AA playoffs and will play its first-round game Thursday at home in Coney Island.
“I’m going to continue to do what I’m usually doing, which is helping the kids out,” he said. “I didn’t do anything, so why should I be concerned about my coaching job?”