USF Kills Deal for Manhattan Coach Steve Masiello After He Lied About Graduating from Kentucky

News broke Tuesday that the University of South Florida was going to hire Manhattan’s Steve Masiello as their next coach. However, as the Tampa Tribune reported later in the day, a search-firm hired by USF found that Masiello had a previously undetected discrepancy in his background check, which caused USF to kill the deal.

That background-check information was discovered by Eastman & Beaudine, a Texas-based search firm that was paid $60,000 by USF to find candidates to replace Stan Heath, who was fired on March 14.

Masiello, 36, had agreed to a five-year contract with USF and signed the deal, believed to be worth more than $1 million per season, leaving only final details to be worked out.

ESPN first reported on the details that Masiello claimed he had graduated from Kentucky. The lie cost Masiello $5 Million, the contract he had signed with USF. Masiello, a Rick Pitino disciple, nearly led No.13-seed Manhattan to the upset over his former coach in the second-round of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

[Tampa Tribune][ESPN]