College basketball coach was moonlighting as a pimp, police say
By David Wasson
Published:
Former Cal State Bakersfield assistant coach Kevin Mays is still being held without bail after being arrested on 11 criminal and misdemeanor charges – including felonies such as pimping.
The former temporary assistant of head coach Rod Barnes, who has pled not guilty to the charges, is at the center of a saga that began Aug. 29, 2025, when Barnes received an anonymous email that alleged Mays was also working as a pimp across four states. ESPN reported that the tipster identified in the email a woman whom Mays allegedly had trafficked for several months.
Barnes forwarded the email to Cal State Bakersfield’s human resources, which then involved university police to trigger an investigation that led to Mays’ arrest.
Both Barnes and athletic director Kyle Conder left their roles in September – with Barnes ending a 14-year run at Cal State Bakersfield that included berths in the NCAA Tournament and a run to the NITs. The school did not explain the reason behind their departures, and neither have commented publicly on the matter.
According to school records, Barnes took the job as a temporary assistant coach in June 2025 at a salary of just over $3,000 per month. A former Roadrunners player from 2014-16, Mays later joined the athletic department as a player-development coordinator.
The scandal also came at a time Cal State Bakersfield was embroiled in harassment charges within the softball program. Mays was arrested in early September 2025, and Conder was fired by Cal State Bakersfield days later. Barnes, who coached at Ole Miss from 1998-2006 and also had a stint at Georgia State, then suddenly announced his resignation later in the month.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
