Steve Masiello Lied About Graduating From Kentucky, and it Cost Him Over $5 Million

Steve Masiello, the in-demand coach of the Manhattan Jaspers, went from being one of the coveted young coaches in college basketball to losing out on a $6 million contract, all because he lied on his resume.

Masiello, 36, claimed he graduated from the University of Kentucky. That piece of information was on the University of Manhattan’s website, and the University of Louisville’s, too (he was an assistant there). Except it wasn’t true. And here’s how it cost him $5 million, which is what the new contract would have paid him: The University of South Florida was all set to hire Masiello. The school made him an offer, and the Tampa Tribune reports he actually signed it. But the search firm that USF paid to “find” Masiello uncovered that he had not graduated from the University of Kentucky.

[Aside: Isn’t the search firm supposed to do the background check first?]

So they pulled the offer.

George O’Leary. Eddie Jordan. You’d think coaches would have learned by now that it’s just not worth it to lie about something so easily verifiable. I suppose the counter argument is this: What if I go back to take that one last class to get a degree, and word gets out? Then what? I’ll have coached all these years without a degree! I was a liar! The school will have egg on its face!

Now Masiello is probably sweating. The USF offer is gone. Will Manhattan – he told the players he was leaving – take him back? If not, is there a school out there – Houston? Boston College? – that might say, ‘hey, get your degree this summer, we want you as our coach!’