Derrick Coleman has filed for bankruptcy, saying that he owes his creditors $4.7 million. Coleman was No.1 overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft. This is a sad day for the NBA and Syracuse University. Coleman played 15 years in the NBA and made tens of millions, but reportedly only listed $1 million of valuable assets to his name.

Derrick’s heart was in the right place as he invested heavily into the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown Detroit, but his trouble started when he began defaulting on payments for a mall (Coleman’s Corner). The area was in one of the worst areas in Detroit. What’s worst is that Coleman had to list his available assets, which included his NBA pension, which in it’s earnest amount came in at approximately $90,000. This is a former player that still has probably about 14 years before he can collect on that pension.

I hope the leagues, players unions, and the unversities are taking notes because everytime one of their marquee athletes has financial problems or life skills issues, it leaves a black mark on the leagues, the players unions, the agents, and the university where they starred. It’s not enough to supply an individual with a degree, you have to look at their future and if you provide an education to a star athlete, the university has an moral obligation to provide a life skills and financial counseling program for the athlete that they can use in their life.

These athletes should be involved in my Player Development program (PLADEV™).

On a consistent basis I deal with athletes that need financial counseling, but I thought this video from ESPN with former NBA players, Kenny Anderson and Antoine Walker was very interesting. I don’t think I need to justify it with commentary. The video speaks to the importance of having a firm like AG Life Coaching Solutions that can help players avoid these regrets at the end of their career. This was very telling.

Today was a day of reckoning for Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods apologized for his indiscretions to his wife, his mother, friends, and to his fellow mates on the PGA Tour. He seemed contrite and apologetic and even seemed at one point to hold back tears as he read his 7-8 page prepared statement. Many will agree that Tiger is the greatest golfer on the planet and many like me are waiting for him to get back to what he does extremely well. I am in the minority, in that I believe that Tiger did not need to apologize to me because it was a personal matter. I never purchased products because Tiger Woods endorsed those products. The media and some sports analysts believe that Tiger should apologize to the public because he has accepted public money and he portrayed himself as a family man and a role model. As the often misguided Charles Barkley often says, “athletes  are not role models.” I agree whole heartedly. Tiger Woods is not daily part of my life. In my opinion, Tiger suffered from the same disease that all athletes experience at the elite level and that is the spirit of invincibility. I like that he addressed that in his statement, in which he said, “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me…”

Hopefully Tiger can move on with the rest of his life and repair the relationship with his wife and family. He does not owe it to the public to give updates about his life or his marriage. It was a series of non-public events that occurred and because he is a public figure and the best golfer on the planet, his situation is magnified at the highest resolution.

What does it mean for Tiger Woods? I think Tiger will continue getting therapy and working on his marriage. He has already started working out and practicing on the golf course again. I look forward to seeing an intense focused Tiger in the near future. I think he will win and win big. All of the sponsors that did not back him, will have to pay double for his services. I’m not sure if he has changed his ways and only time will tell.

What does this have to do with discovering your blueprint? In his statement, Tiger mentioned several times how he strayed away from his values and his faith during this time of “temptation.” He conformed to the way that the world does things and did not stay true to his beliefs and values. It is during these times of self-reflection Tiger will get back to his roots.

Mark Ingram is the star sophomore running back of the newly crowned National Champions of the University of Alabama. That’s an amazing feat considering that many collegiate athletes don’t win the Heisman as a Sophomore especially under his personal circumstances. I had a conversation with my cousin one day and we were talking about my company and the work that I do with professional athletes and he said do you know Mark Ingram’s story and I said no. He said, that is former New York Giants wide receiver, Mark Ingram’s son.

As I begin to do some research, I discovered an article in Sports Illustrated that shared his story. Mark Sr. was sentenced to serve 92 months for money laundering and bank fraud. He was due to report to federal prison in Kentucky on December 5th 2008 and he failed to report and a month-long manhunt ensued as his son prepared to play in the Sugar Bowl. Two-hours before the kick-off of his son’s biggest game, Mark Sr. was found in a hotel in Flint, Michigan.

I remember Mark Ingram Sr. as a wide receiver for the New York Giants. I remember the catch that he made in the Super Bowl to extend the drive down the field to win it all. He was a good wide receiver and had a good 10 year career in the NFL, but as I see so often with NFL, NBA, and MLB players, some are good people, but they make bad decisions. Those decisions have affected his family, put a shadow over his son’s college career.

I watched a video titled Mark Ingram: In His Own Words and I could see how Mark Sr. wanted to help other young men understand that they are held accountable for their actions. My perception is that most athletes realize the mistakes they have made when it is too late. The other issue that I have is that these piranas that are out here preying on collegiate and professional athletes enticing them into troublesome situations. We have all heard the stories about many athletes and the trouble they have found themselves in during and after their professional career.

I hope that my firm can make a difference working with athletes to help them make better decisions. I was once told when I was 15 years old that, “the decisions you make from here on out will affect you for the rest of your life.” Looking at this story has made me realize the truth of that statement. I am glad that Mark Sr. & Jr. had a great relationship and I am hoping that his son has learned and will learn from his mistakes.

Gilbert Arenas, the Washington Wizards star player was suspended indefinitely today by NBA Commissioner Dave Stern because of three reasons:

1. He brought four unloaded guns to his office at the Verizon Center.
2. He allegedly pointed the gun at teammate Javaris Crittenton.
3. He made light of the situation by mocking the incident to the media and on his twitter account.

Let me briefly recap and try to understand. Gilbert Arenas made a conscious decision to bring guns to his place of employment because he didn’t want them in the house with his daughter. He did not put them in a lock box, he brought them to his job. In addition, he allegedly pulls a gun on a teammate after a heated argument or in his words, plays a joke on his teammate. Someone out there, please help me understand this nonsense. I think the reason that Commissioner Stern suspended Gilbert indefinitely was due to the comments that Gilbert made to the media and on his twitter account. He poked fun at the allegations and appeared to not take them seriously. For example, in a game played in Philadelphia on January 5th, some Wizards players participated in a pre-game gun celebration. I do not believe the Commissioner could stand on the sidelines and allow the legal process to conclude before making the decision to suspend Gilbert Arenas.

Gilbert Arenas is in the second year of a $111 million contract. Due to the suspension, he will lose approximately $147,000 per game that he misses, which will amount to approximately $9 million. That is $9 million that he will never see again because of poor judgement and decision-making. In addition to money, what kind of example is he setting for his family and for his NBA peers? Another issue that I have is that the New Jersey Nets guard, Devin Harris, when asked about the Arenas situation, says that, “I’d say between 60 and 75% (of players own guns).” Are you kidding me? If 60-75% of your league is carrying guns, I think there is a larger issue at hand.

I read the statement by both Commissioner Stern and Gilbert Arenas and I have a problem with the apology by Gilbert Arenas. At the game in Philadelphia, he was just in a pre game gun celebration and then he is apologizing. My issue with athletes saying sorry is that they say it all the time and expect to receive sympathy as a result of their actions. If athletes would just think about the repercussions before they enjoy the moment, then perhaps they will make better life decisions.

If your reading this blog, know that I am out there working to change the mindset of these professional athletes to avoid future situations like the Gilbert Arenas situation. I hope that the word gets out about AG Life Coaching Solutions for professional athletes. It seems like every month there is an athlete that is making poor decisions because of their mindset and attitude. When does it end?

Additional Stories:

Yahoo, NY Post, Huffington Post, and the NY Times.

One of the most prolific scorers in NBA history has decided to walk away from the game of basketball. Was it because of frustration? Or, was it because he wanted to walk away from the game of basketball on his own terms. AI has played the game only one way since entering the NBA 14 years ago. He was one of the most fiercest competitors in the game for his size and stature. I can remember when he first entered the league and he played against my favorite player, Michael Jordan. There was this buzz around the country on this particular night, people were going crazy over the “killer crossover” move on MJ. I must admit it was hard to make MJ look bad on the basketball court, but on this night, AI made it happen. Although I was never an Allen Iverson fan, I had the utmost respect for him on the basketball court. I think most people either loved Allen or they hated him. I do not believe many fans straddled the fence about Allen Iverson.

He was also known for one of the craziest rants in NBA history too. To this day people reference “practice” in the form of humor to pay homage to Allen Iverson’s rant. Iverson also has the unofficial title as the Ambassador of the hip hop “thuggish” era in the NBA. He was the first NBA athlete that I know of that had multiple tattoos across his body. He was the first to ignore the NBA dress code in favor of the fitted cap and the saggy jeans. He was the first to have cornrolls. He was an icon on and off the court for many fans, except for me.

The issue that I have with Allen Iverson is that it seems that he is unwilling to change his position as basketball player in the NBA. For years he was the superstar on the Philadelphia 76ers and while he was exciting and dominant at times, he never made any of the players around him better. That is the case for every team that he has played for in his career. As a matter of fact, Allen Iverson’s career field goal percentage is 42%. I can remember more Sixers games in which he shot less than 50% in the majority of the games he played. He always looked for his own shot first and passed later. Iverson was also a liability on defense. He managed to be a league leader in steals through out his career, but he gambled too much and in many cases paid for the gamble by being exposed by his counterpart. Most people in NBA circles will say that while he is a competitor, he has never changed his game and that he isn’t the same player that he was in 2001 when the Sixers played the LA Lakers for the NBA Championship. Most superstars have the ability to make players better and Allen has never, in my opinion been able to do that. This past summer when he was a free agent for the first time in his career, he was not heavily courted by NBA teams. It was reported that only the Grizzlies and the Clippers had mild interest in Iverson. We’re talking about a bona fide NBA scorer that has scored over 24,000 points. No one had interest in signing him because he wasn’t willing to accept a lesser role. Iverson wasn’t willing to change his game in order to be picked up by a contending team. He decided to go to the Memphis Grizzlies, an under achieving team so he could continue to try to be the player he isn’t anymore. After 3 games with the Grizzlies and coming off the bench, he started chirping about his time and role with the team.

On November 25th, Stephen A. Smith reported that Allen Iverson had decided to retire. His statement read that, “I would like to announce my plans to retire from the National Basketball Association,” Iverson said in a statement released to Stephen A. Smith, who first announced Iverson’s decision on his personal web site. “I always thought that when I left the game, it would be because I couldn’t help my team the way that I was accustomed to. However, that is not the case. “I still have tremendous love for the game, the desire to play, and a whole lot left in my tank. I feel strongly that I can still compete at the highest level.” Some how I have this feeling that this decision to retire has something to do with his ego because most respectable players and coaches, say that he has more in the tank. As a matter of fact, I find it interesting that coach Larry Brown is supposed to meet with Allen Iverson to discuss his decision, but if coach Brown still believes in Iverson, why isn’t he playing for the Charlotte Bobcats?

Lastly, I am concerned with Allen Iverson’s willingness to listen to people who want to help him. I hope that he has managed his money properly and that he won’t be another statistic that has become debt ridden and bankrupt. I’m sure he has had the opportunity to have knowledgeable people in his corner to provide proper education and advice, my only hope is that he listened and that he is only stubborn and egotistical on the court. I am sure that we have not seen the last of Allen Iverson in the league, but I believe this situation is just a microcosm of his career and personality.  Let’s just say that the “answer” has more questions to ponder.

Iverson Update as of 11/28.

Source for this post comes from Brian Carter.

The “Real Deal” is broke.

Former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is playing the real life game of Deal Or No Deal. It has been reported that his $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming the boxer failed to pay back more than a half million dollars for landscaping. Just one more high profile athlete having to scale back his lifestyle to the level to which you have I have been accustomed. Why is it that athletes who seem to have everything are often completely unable to control anything related to finances?

We all played our violins to death when we heard of Latrell Sprewell’s financial troubles. On Halloween 2004, Sprewell, who was in the final season of a $62-million five-year contract with the New York Knicks, said he was insulted by the Minnesota Timberwolve’s offer of a contract extension that was reportedly worth between $27 million and $30 million for three seasons. Sprewell stated, “I’ve got my family to feed.” That quote become a national moniker for the public perception of athletes as greedy, out of touch individuals. Apparently, Sprewell still can’t feed his family. His yacht was recently repossessed and his multi-million dollar mansion is about to be foreclosed on.

While there is certainly the stereotype of the financially irresponsible NBA athlete, no professional sport is immune.

Let’s take a look at some high profile athlete financial sob stories over the years:

1. No one my age can forget Jack”The Ripper” Clark , star player for the Boston Red Sox who filed for bankruptcy in 1992 in the middle of his second year of a three-year, $8.7 million contract with Boston; he listed $6.7 million in debts. Jack was a master of financial planning and prudent asset acquisition. His bankruptcy petition listed assets such as 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717,000 and three 1992 Mercedes Benz cars costing between $103,000 and $143,000. He owed money on 17 of the automobiles and was liable for about $400,000 in Federal and state taxes. He had also lost about $1 million in a drag-racing venture. Sounds like Jack would have been more at home in the NBA. You can read about it here

2. Johnny Unitas, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, filed for bankruptcy in 1991 citing numerous failed business ventures in his petition These failed bits included bowling alleys, land deals and restaurants. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991.

3. Mike Tyson The name speaks for itself. Mike’s bankruptcy was highly publicized. Despite earning hundreds of millions during his boxing career, Mike kept it simple. His bankruptcy petition simply stated: ” I am unable to pay my bills”. According to federal court records, his liabilities totaled about $27 million. You can read that story here.

4. Dorothy Hamill, the women’s figure-skating gold medalist in the 1976 Winter Games, filed for bankruptcy after a series of financial setbacks. Hamill said she has experienced financial setbacks as a result of poor financial investment advice and management.

These are just a few of many athletes’ tales of woe. It is not a phenomenon limited to professional sports — just ask M.C Hammer. Prior to his declaring bankruptcy, it was made public that his day to day living expenses far exceeded his income of $33 million. If I am going to veer off to celebrities, I certainly have to mention Kim Basinger and Michael Jackson.

When the Toronto Star ran an article alleging that a shocking 60 percent of NBA athletes “go broke” five years after retiring, did we not all pull out that very tiny violin we have reserved for such occasions? The NBA players union and the NBA have both disputed that assertion. The article goes on to talk about all the people taking advantage of and “scamming” these athletes. While I have no doubt there is truth to this, I can also understand how such a generalization would make the NBA uncomfortable. It leaves you with the impression that 60 percent of NBA players are not only financially inept but also idiots in general. This is simply not true. While good business sense is often lacking, I view many of their mistakes as being more mistakes of trust, credibility and lack of life experience than anything else. Smart, busy people who can afford it, hire people with targeted expertise to help them. This allows them to focus on their expertise. Sometime mistakes are made and bad judgment is used in who we hire and hang out with. That is not unique to the NBA or professional sports. This happens to everyone. That is life. It happens all the time. It just does not make front page when we screw up. If there is any question at all as to how badly we as the general public screw up, just look at the personal bankruptcy filing statistics.

In order to get a perspective from the inside, I contacted Jordan Woy, a highly respected sports agent and a principal in the sports marketing/management firm of Schlegel Sports. Jordan has represented numerous high profile athletes

Here is what Jordon had to say:

I think there are several reasons why so many athletes “go broke”. First, whether it is a lottery winner, an athlete or a star entertainer, if they are not equipped with the knowledge on how to make and save money they are in trouble. When they didn’t earn it through disciplined business practices and they don’t have those skills they usually go through it quickly. Most lottery winners or athletes make a great deal of money in a short period of time. They start spending it on things that only go down in value (cars, jewelry, partying, entourage, etc) and start to evaporate the money they do have. They can carry this off until they stop earning big money. This is when the trouble starts. It is hard to believe that MC Hammer, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and now Ed McMahon are broke. These are people who earned hundreds of millions over time and it disappeared. Lavish spending and entourages were probably the downfall for the first three for sure.

Most athletes play for four to ten years if they are lucky. After they pay taxes (can be 40 to 50%) and agent fees and buy their first homes, cars, outfits, jewelry (plus, cars, clothes and jewelry for friends and family), they are left with very little. When they first “strike it rich” all of their longtime friends and family expect help. Most athletes feel obligated to help everyone out at first then they wise up. They also want to keep up with their teammates. If someone buys a Bentley, they have to buy one; if someone buys a $75,000 watch, they have to buy one to keep up the appearance. Then, of course, when the career ends and they are still living in a multi million dollar house, driving 3 expensive cars (and insurance), traveling in private planes and taking Limo’s when they go out on the town, reality sets in. The money dries up very quickly.

However, if athletes educate themselves, learn money management skills and make smart, safe investments along the way, they are usually in very good shape. After representing athletes for over 20 years, we call this our “life plan”. We take out clients on working vacations in the off season to places like Las Vegas, Cancun and on a cruise to the Bahamas to learn business networking. We have people from industries such as real estate, oil and gas, financial planning, credit repair, asset protection/estate planning, etc come to educate the players and their wives so they can learn about these business and also determine if they are interested in any of these industries for life after sports. One of the financial planners who comes always says most people die coming down from Mt. Everest not going up. The goal is for these athletes to get to their Mt. Everest AND to get down safely.

So, what do you think? Are the financial mistakes that athletes make any different than your mistakes or mine? They are certainly mistakes made with a higher downside. When we hear these stories are we just unable to comprehend that someone could have that much money and spend it all? Can we learn lessons on how to live our lives from their highly publicized financial gaffes? Do we even care at all?

With all due respect to Latrell Sprewell, we have our own families to feed….

©2008 Brian Cuban

Ok, so I have been away for a while building my business trying to pursue new clients and getting closer to some of the athletes that I am seeking to help. It feels great to be writing again and this story about former NBA player Antoine Walker made me want to get back to writing so I can get my message out.

There was an article online at Yahoo Sports today about former Boston Celtic Antoine Walker. The title of the article is, “Former Celtics star Antoine Walker is broke and in debt.” The article talks about all the cars that he had and the different toys that he purchased. In addition, he has an open balance of $4 million with his creditors and is being investigated for check fraud in Las Vegas. How insane is this story. We hear all to often about how these athletes live like megastars, but don’t do anything to preserve the wealth to reap the rewards after they are done playing. It is estimated that Antoine made $60-65 million over the life of his career, but the sad reality is that now he doesn’t have anything to fall back on to get him back to that lifestyle. It is also reported that Antoine had an entourage of 70 people in which he cared for and took care of during his career. My question is where are those people now?

As I have approached the leagues about working with these athletes regarding their financial situation, I have been consistently told that the league has programs in place to handle these types of situations, but in reality the leagues don’t have a vested interest in the players life after the sport. That is what I am seeking to do. Those that read this blog, support me in my attempt to counsel and coach these athletes on how to manage their money and make better life decisions.