Former Cal State Bakersfield assistant coach Kevin Mays awaits trial on criminal and misdemeanor charges, including felonies such as pimping. Mays was also charged with possession of automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to sell.
Further, Mays was charged with possession of more than 600 images of youth or child pornography and distribution of obscene matter involving someone under 18 years old. Mays was arrested in September 2025. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 13, per ESPN. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mays focused on players at Cal State Bakersfield during his time on the men’s basketball program’s staff. He was hired in 2019. At the time, the school ran a background check on him, but did not find any troubling information.
On Aug. 29, 2025, CSUB head men’s basketball coach Rod Barnes received an anonymous email. The stunning message claimed Mays was a pimp across four states.
“FIX IT OR THE WHOLE STAFF WILL FALL,” the email read, per ESPN. “… HE IS TRAFFICKING A GIRL BY THE NAME OF [redacted].”
Barnes relayed the concerning email to the school’s human resources department. The department reported the email to the police.
Less than a week after Barnes received the anonymous email, Sacramento police ran a sting operation to meet with the alleged victim. The woman referred to Mays as her “boyfriend,” but police reportedly saw messages between the two that exhibited Mays’ “involvement and control” over the alleged victim’s sex work.
Before joining the program’s coaching staff, Mays played at CSUB from 2014-16. He averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in his senior season to lead the program to its Western Athletic Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
In his two years at CSUB, Mays was named to the All-WAC First Team once and the All-Defensive Team twice. Mays is originally from Queens, New York. He played high school basketball at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy.
Only a few days after Kevin Mays’ arrest, the school announced the firing of athletic director Kyle Conder. In response, Conders filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging he was actually fired in August after he’d found “potential crimes and misconduct” at the university.
Conders’ lawsuit claims he attempted to warn the school’s administrators about the potential misconduct and was fired in retaliation. The school has denied Conders’ claims.