Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Just days before the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team was slated to face Duke in the Sweet 16, they received a major blow when Tyrone Khalil Outlaw was served a citation for misdemeanor possession of marijuana after a search of his Blacksburg apartment.
According to court records, police entered the forward’s apartment on March 21, a day after the team left for a game on the West Coast. He was officially charged last Wednesday.
In the apartment, the search warrant lists one white pill, two yellow capsules, an electronic vape cartridge and green plant material were found.
Outlaw appeared on CBS Sports just days before this story broke speaking about the excitement of playing Duke one more time this season. Nothing was mentioned during that interview about his arrest.
In last weekend’s win over Liberty, Outlaw scored 10 points and has been one of the team’s leaders from behind the arc, shooting over 40 percent and hitting 78 of 171 of his three-pointers.
His mother, Patricia Bumphus, posted on her Facebook page her son had passed a recent university-administered drug test. She questioned the charges since her son was out of town when the search took place. Bumphus said a roommate of her son’s, who was present for the search, was also charged in the case.
So far, police have not released details in the incident and did not confirm or deny whether another person was also charged.
Earlier this month, Outlaw was presented the Bob Bradley Spirit and Courage Award for what he had overcome in the past, which included two medical hardships.
He suffered a torn ACL and missed the entire 2017 season. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility. He did not appear in a game in the 2015 season also due to a medical condition and earned a medical redshirt.
Outlaw played at Lee College, a junior college program in Baytown, Texas before coming to Blacksburg. He had also y been at UNC-Greensboro graduating from Virginia Tech last year with degrees in sociology and criminology.
At Lee College, he scored 21.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was 12th in NJCAA. The North Carolina native was all-state as a senior and earned one of five spots on the All-USA North Carolina Boys all-state team. He was also the most valuable player of the East-West all-star game.
Virginia Tech will travel to Washington, D.C. to face Duke in the East Regional Semifinals Thursday afternoon.
Coach Buzz Williams said, after gathering more information, the school decided that Ty should take a drug test administered by an outside agency before the team departed campus on Wednesday.
“After discussion with our Director of Athletics, Whit Babcock ,and our athletics administration in accordance with our policies and procedures, we are following our departmental protocol involving misdemeanors,” he said.
That test came back negative.
According to the university news release, there was a disturbance at Outlaw’s apartment while the team was in California. The incident led to a search warrant. The Tech player became aware of the situation upon his return to Blacksburg on Monday evening.
Williams said Outlaw was fully cooperative and transparent with local authorities and the coaching staff. His court appearance is slated for April 11 in Montgomery County General District Court.
The Virginia Tech Student-Athlete Handbook governs the student’s privilege and permission to participate in any aspect of NCAA sports competition. Included in the handbook is the Policy on Student-Athlete Conduct.
According to the policy, the university has clear expectations for off-the-field student-athlete behavior. The university Athletics Director or designee will clearly communicate to prospective and current student-athletes Virginia Tech’s institutional values and expected behaviors of a student-athlete.
“Any student-athlete who is arrested, charged and/or convicted of a misdemeanor charge (other than gambling or game fixing which are addressed above and other than minor traffic infractions) will be subject to a review process. The Athletics Director or designee will review the charges and all of the surrounding circumstances.”
Sanctions for misdemeanor charges may be delegated as the Director of Athletics sees fit. Factors to be considered include, but are not limited to:
- Nature of charge (violent or non-violent)
- Prior behavior
- Self-disclosure of the violation
- Cooperation during the investigation
- Alcohol and/or drug use
- Stated Team Rules
- Consistency with regard to handling of other cases.
Athletics Department sanctions may include, but shall not be limited to:
- Warning
- Probation
- Restricted use of athletic services or facilities
- Suspension from play and/or practice for a stated period of time. Particular attention will be paid to those offenses that result (or are likely to result) in extended trials or continuing legal circumstances that will require the undistracted attention of the involved student-athlete. These offenses, once identified as such, may incur an automatic suspension from practice and/or playing privileges until the charges are dropped, dismissed or otherwise resolved to the satisfaction of the institution. Or in severe cases, dismissal from the team.
