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How Notre Dame football plans to learn from gambling scandal that shut down men’s swimming

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How Notre Dame football plans to learn from gambling scandal that shut down men’s swimming

SOUTH BEND — When Notre Dame suspended its men’s swimming program for at least one year, in part due to internal gambling activities, Thursday’s announcement hit home for Marcus Freeman and his Notre Dame football team.

“It’s a great reminder for you as the head coach to make sure your student-athletes, your coaching staff, everybody a part of your program understands the rules and the expectations,” Freeman said after Saturday’ scrimmage at Notre Dame Stadium. “This is in football, and this is the example you’re mentioning (men’s swimming): We have to learn from the mistakes of others. We can’t always depend on the mistakes we make to learn from.”

For an Irish football program that cultivates a “competitive spirit” at every turn, the stark reminder is that even competition has its limits.

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“We have to be able to utilize the mistakes that other football teams make, other sports programs, other students, other adults,” Freeman said. “We have to utilize those opportunities. This is another great example of that.”  

Online gambling scandals have sullied college sports programs at Temple (men’s basketball), Alabama (baseball), LSU (football) as well as Iowa and Iowa State. County prosecutors in both Iowa City and Ames charged 14 male athletes (including football players and wrestlers) with aggravated misdemeanors last August.

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “All the prominent (television) networks have their own thing that you can go on a mobile device with your little mini-computer and do something that could cost you your career as a football player.”

Former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, now with the NFL’s New England Patriots, was arrested on Jan. 25 and charged with one felony count of computer fraud and one misdemeanor count of gaming prohibited for persons under 21.

Boutte is alleged to have created a fraudulent online gambling account that made nearly 9,000 illegal bets. That included six bets on the LSU football team and himself as an active player in 2022.

Investigators alleged Boutte wagered that he would personally score at least one touchdown and have more than 82.5 receiving yards in a Sept. 4, 2022 game against Florida State. LSU lost 24-23 in former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly’s debut as Boutte finished with two catches for 20 yards and no touchdowns.

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That game, the first for Denbrock in his two seasons as LSU offensive coordinator, was played in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome. Caesars Entertainment, which includes an online sportsbook, purchased the naming rights for the New Orleans Saints’ home stadium in July 2021 for $138 million over 20 years.  

“It’s absolutely something that we do what we can to make sure we’re all out, we’re all over it,” Denbrock said, “as far as our communication with the players, with the staff, with everybody to make sure that we’re doing things the right way.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and the South Bend Tribune. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.

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