Michael Center, a multi-sport standout at Manhattan High in the early 1980s, is in the middle of a federal investigation in what prosecutors call “Operation Varsity Blues.”
Center, now the University of Texas men’s head tennis coach, was indicted Tuesday. He will plead not guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, his attorney said. Federal prosecutors accused Center of taking a bribe to help a student falsely disguised as a tennis recruit get into UT in 2015.
Center was one of 50 people indicted across six states Tuesday as part of a wide-sweeping college admissions scandal.
Hours before the UT tennis team was scheduled to host Rice in a dual match, Center was standing in a federal courtroom in Austin with chains around his waist. A federal judge set Center’s bond at $50,000 and ordered the coach to pay 10 percent, or $5,000.
Texts sent by The Mercury to Center did not receive a response Tuesday evening.
Center, who graduated from MHS in 1982, was a star on both the tennis and basketball courts. He averaged 11.4 points per game during his senior season, and owned “the highest field goal percentage” among the team’s starting five.
But he was even better with a racket in his hands.
Center won an individual state title — the last Indian to do so — in 1982. Even more impressively, he didn’t lose a single match, finishing the year 31-0, capped by a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Topeka High’s Doug Gleason in the championship match.
He went on to play collegiately at Kansas, becoming a four-year letterwinner (1983-86) for the Jayhawks. In 1985, he captured the Big Eight No. 2 singles title, and became the first player in school history to win 40 matches in a single season.
Center’s coaching career began in 1989 with the women’s tennis team at KU. He later coached the men’s teams at KU and TCU before becoming the Texas tennis coach in 2000.
He’s won four regular-season Big 12 titles and three conference tournament titles, as well as five Big 12 coach of the year awards.
The complicated story about wealthy parents — including a CEO, a fashion designer and two Hollywood actresses — cutting corners for their children captivated the nation’s attention. One U.S. attorney called it “the largest college admission scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”
According to a legal complaint filed March 5, William “Rick” Singer was charged with racketeering, money laundering and fraud for organizing a scheme whereby 33 parents paid him to help their children get into schools like Texas, Georgetown, Yale, Stanford, UCLA and USC.
Documents claimed that Singer made approximately $25 million from 2011 to 2018 to bribe college coaches and create fake athletic profiles, some with staged photographs. In exchange, coaches would designate the clients’ children as recruited athletes, thereby helping them gain easier admission. College athletic entrance requirements are typically lower than those for regular students.
Actresses Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” and Lori Loughlin of “Full House” were the two most high-profile names unveiled by federal prosecutors.
Center, now in his 19th season of guiding the UT tennis team, agreed to accept $100,000 as a bribe in 2015 in exchange for designating a student as a UT tennis recruit, according to investigators. The applicant, according to the FBI affidavit, “did not play competitive tennis.”
UT awarded the scholarship on April 13, 2015, and the student was added to the tennis team roster, according to the affidavit. UT officials would not identify who the student was or if he was still enrolled. Investigators identified the student as being from Los Altos Hills, Calif., but not his name.
Center, who earns about $232,000 annually, has been placed on leave by UT.
Investigators used a cooperating witness to approach Center again in October 2018, according to federal documents. The coach was recorded as saying he was paid “in the nineties” for the 2015 scheme and was willing to do it again.
Eight federal agents in tactical gear came to Center’s home in northwest Austin around 6 a.m. Tuesday to arrest him, said Center’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, of Houston.
Still wearing the burnt orange T-shirt and gray Longhorns sweatpants he was wearing at the time he was apprehended, Center stepped into a federal courtroom in the afternoon with chains around his waist. As he stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin, the 54-year-old coach turned to the gallery several times and made eye contact with his wife, Allison, whose expression never changed. The couple’s two teenage sons were not present.
In addition to setting the $50,000 bond, the judge also told Center to surrender his passport and restricted his travel to the Austin area pending permission from pretrial services to go further for work.
Center was scheduled to meet with pretrial services at 10 a.m. Wednesday to confirm the conditions of his release.
The next key date is March 25 when Cogdell said he and the coach will travel to Boston where Center will plead not guilty. The case is expected to stay in Massachusetts, where the federal prosecutors initiated the complaint against Center and the other defendants charged in the scheme.
“I don’t know how it’s going to play out in the university context, but I know how it’s going to play out in a courtroom — with a two-word verdict,” Cogdell said.
Multiple sources said UT officials were blindsided by the news, but the school put Center on administrative leave almost immediately. UT officials said they would cooperate with federal investigators as the allegations “run counter to the university’s values.”
The bribe was arranged by a third party, Martin Fox of Houston, who knew both Center and a cooperating witness, according to the affidavit.
On Feb. 27, 2015, the student’s father made a stock donation of $455,194 to Singer’s company based in California. Then on March 2, 2015, Center notified the father and told him that UT would be sending a letter of intent for a partial scholarship covering books. UT awarded the scholarship one month later, on April 13.
On April 22, 2015, an employee for the cooperating witness purchased a cashier’s check for $25,000 made payable to “Texas Athletics,” the affidavit states. More money was exchanged between the parties, and the witness told investigators he flew to Austin in June 2015 and paid Center $60,000 “in a hotel parking lot.”
The FBI chronicled Center’s bank records and said that on Sept. 4, 2015, the student began classes at Texas. He then voluntarily withdrew from the tennis team, renounced his books scholarship but was still enrolled at UT.
