'Cowboys' David and Dana Pump Take Stand Against NCAA

Dana Pump (left) and David Pump (right), pictured with Cedric the Entertainer at the 10th annual Harold Pump Foundation Gala on Aug. 12.

LOS ANGELES -- David and Dana Pump: The Pump brothers or "Double Pump Basketball," if you prefer. Others have called the 43-year old identical red-headed twins the two most powerful men in college basketball. Their latest moniker isn't as flattering: The NCAA's Public Enemy No. 1.

David Pump's description?

"We're cowboys," he told FanHouse. "We do it our way."

Maybe so, but was this weekend's Collegiate Business Conference coaching clinic, held by the Pumps, their last rodeo?

The National Association of Basketball Coaches, based on the current rule interpretations by the NCAA, certainly says so. The Pumps, not surprisingly, have a different opinion.

In their first extensive interviews since the NABC and NCAA basically ostracized them from having any dealings with collegiate athletic directors and coaches, the Pumps told FanHouse about the frustration of dealing with the NCAA and their future plans -- and it doesn't include riding quietly off into the sunset.

This weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the Harold Pump Foundation. On Thursday, a celebrity golf tournament and dinner was held followed by Friday's coaching clinic.

While Thursday's $500-a-plate dinner drew a celebrity star-studded crowd of about 1,600, Friday's free coaching clinic, touted by the Pumps as "college basketball industry's leading professional development seminar and networking event," drew only about 150 coaches -- or nearly 400 fewer than last year.

"That really upsets me," David Pump said.

The reduced attendance was apparently because the NCAA declared dealing with the Pumps off-limits. Last month, the NCAA designated the Pump brothers, who finance elite summer prep basketball teams, as "individual(s) associated with a prospect," making any financial relationships impermissible between the Pumps Foundation and Division I schools and their coaching staffs, Yahoo! Sports reported.

Executives from the NABC notified its membership of the policy, urging coaches in an email to "Please review this advisory CAREFULLY and THOROUGHLY."

Apparently, the coaches' organization's all-caps warning worked.

Just two weeks ago, Kansas' Bill Self, Texas' Rick Barnes, Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg, Tennessee's Bruce Pearl, BYU's Dave Rose, Kansas State's Frank Martin and Marquette's Buzz Williams were listed on the Pumps' website as presenters for Friday's coaching clinic. Of the seven college coaches, only Rose and Martin showed, along with SMU's Matt Doherty.

Spokesmen at Kansas and Marquette, respectively, said Self and Williams had "other things" this weekend and couldn't make it.

"I don't know if the NCAA is trying to scare people," David Pump said. "But you know what, that's not going to affect us. People that know David and Dana know what kind of people we are."

"It makes me sick when people just say things about us. For the NCAA, instead of coming here, seeing, feeling and touching it ... Who are they to say?"
-- David Pump What especially irks the Pumps is the NCAA determined that because they are involved with AAU teams -- they have several "Pump 'N Run" 15-17 year old teams -- and also conduct the Harold Pump Foundation that has raised $3.7 million for cancer in honor of their father, who died from cancer 10 years ago, coaches can't be involved with the Pumps after this year.

"How do you knock people when they want to give to a charity for cancer, and they know David and Dana Pump, and they were affected by cancer, and they knew my dad?" David Pump said. "How do you tell coaches that? How do you tell a coach you can't do that, if they knew Mr. Pump or David and Dana gave me a chance and got me into coaching? Why can't I send them a check [for cancer research]?"

Added Dana Pump: "The NCAA supports Coaches vs. Cancer. Why don't they let all the coaches write their checks to Coaches vs. Cancer and then they can come here?"

In a statement to FanHouse, NCAA spokeswoman Stacy Osburn said Friday the NCAA in October "passed new rules interpretations" to "address the growing concerns over the funneling of money issues occurring in the men's basketball recruiting environment and to remind the NCAA membership that NCAA legislation mandates the recruiting process be kept free of undue influences."

Osburn also said the NCAA has not made a determination regarding whether it will be legal for coaches to be involved with the Pumps' foundation next season.

The Pumps aren't waiting to find out. They said they asked NCAA representatives to attend this weekend's festivities. UCLA assistant coach Scott Duncan, the moderator for Friday's coaching clinic, said he personally invited LuAnn Humphrey, the NCAA's director of basketball enforcement, to attend the Pumps' function. However, the NCAA officials did not attend the two-day event at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, just blocks from Beverly Hills.

"It makes me sick when people just say things about us," David Pump said. "For the NCAA, instead of coming here, seeing, feeling and touching it and talking to us about it , instead of saying 'David and Dana we commend you for what you're trying to do, but we want you to do a couple of things' ... Who are they to say?

"We're just trying to make a difference. Because we're trying to leverage relationships, that's the way life is. If you don't think when Barack Obama was raising money, he leveraged his relationships to raise money. That's the way, the world round. Dana and I are just cowboys in the basketball world, and you know what? There are people out there that are jealous of me and Dana."

The Pumps already are considering their options for next year if the NCAA's stance doesn't change. One possibility is having the Pumps' discontinue their association with their AAU programs.

"I would think about it, but that's our love," said David Pump, who denied influencing his AAU players to attend any specific colleges. "We're never going to own a team like Mark Cuban."

The other possibility is a little more complicated.

"Let me ask you something: Dana and I are very unique," David Pump said. "Dana Pump cuts ties with David Pump. Dana Pump is going to run the charity and I'm going to run the AAU teams. We're two different individuals. What do you have to say about that? Just because we're twins, we're two different individuals.

"It's a thought for the day: two different individuals."

Yahoo! Sports also accused the Pumps of being a conduit for Final Four ticket scalping, including the recent basketball ticket scandal at Kansas. However, the Pumps deny the Yahoo! Sports report, and the Pumps were not named in Kansas' investigation into its ticket scandal.

"It's just another hurdle that the Pumps will have to overcome," Dana Pump said. "We're fighters and survivors; nothing's going to stop us. If we did it, fine. But we didn't do it. That's what aggravates me."

Martin said he attended the Pumps' function because they've raised "a gazillion dollars" for cancer research.

"It's always been an event you get to come coexist with coaches that you compete against," Martin said. "A great two days where you can evolve as a person and professionally.

"I was invited, and it's an opportunity to sit in a room with coaches and talk basketball -- for me to learn from them and maybe for me to say something that can impact somebody that can help make them a better teacher. And the last time I checked, this world needs teachers.

"They've been good to me, they've been good to basketball, and they've been good in the fight against cancer."

Duncan was present at the first event 10 years ago and believes the NCAA has the wrong impression about the Pumps' business dealings.

"There are bigger problems out there than David and Dana Pump running a coaching clinic," Duncan said. "But if you're on their side of it, they are affiliated with an AAU program, they are putting a blanket on AAU programs and they get clumped in there by guilt-by-association. If the NCAA was to come and observe this weekend, they would go back with a far different perspective."

The Pumps said they hope to meet with NCAA officials in September.

David Pump said besides running Double Pump, the Harold Pump Foundation and the California Cage Report, a recruiting service that costs subscribers $700 a year, the brothers also are consultants for Adidas and other companies. They also ran a search firm -- ChampSearch -- for universities conducting athletic director and basketball coach searches, until the NCAA determined last year it was illegal for schools to use their service, David Pump said.

"Dana and I have a gift to get people in front of people," David said. "If it's an insurance company, if it's a private plane. We're in the people business.

"I understand what the NCAA is trying to do. In every aspect, you have good and you have bad, but get to know David and Dana Pump. We're cowboys that have been going on for 20 years. We're just not a start up organization."

Contact FanHouse senior writer Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com or please follow on Twitter @BrettmcmurphY