3 ms·

I don't think he was forced to; he signed an $8M contract that same year. Here's some more detail https://vault.si.com/vault/1997/09/15/tangled-web-marcus-camby

• dghlsakjg 4y ago
  A young person from a disadvantaged background pays back an institution worth billions for “lost revenue”. How many times did the school sell out the arena with his name on the top of the player list? Umass lost nothing for having recruited him. He paid that money back because of media and social pressure, not an overriding sense of right and wrong. I don’t know many 20 year olds, of any background, that would turn down $100k of under the table benefits. If the NCAA thinks it’s wrong, they should go after the corrupting influences, not the poor kid.
  • acomjean 4y ago
    To be fair it was a pretty broke state university. Although it did build a new basketball/hockey arena at the time. Also basketball games for students were free (and about half of the seats were reserved for them). Amherst were the university is is quite far from any cities. I imagine it helped the university financially but it's a weird system UMass has. I photographed the team back then for the college paper..(I have signed photograph of him dunking I took) After the basketball program catered. As an alumni I think it's for the best. University sports are great till they turn into money making afairs. but the article makes clear he was making a huge amount in the NBA and was trying to be fair.