CHICAGO — In late March, after the University of Tennessee fired Coach Bruce Pearl, a talented high school guard from the Atlanta area named Kevin Ware decided to rescind his commitment to the Volunteers. Considered one of the nation’s top 100 high school players, Ware drew interest from high-profile suitors like Georgia, Louisville and U.C.L.A.

Ware ended up picking the University of Central Florida, which has never won an N.C.A.A. tournament game and plays in a second-tier league, Conference USA.

Central Florida, it turns out, had an ally in its recruitment of Ware: Kenneth Caldwell, a Chicago man with a substantial criminal record and apparent ties to a prominent sports agency. Ware said Caldwell called him repeatedly to talk up Central Florida, traveled to Atlanta to meet with his family and even arranged joint phone conversations with the university’s basketball coach, Donnie Jones, and his staff — contact prohibited by the N.C.A.A.

“He was pushing for U.C.F.,” Ware said of Caldwell in a telephone interview Thursday.

Informed of Caldwell’s background, Ware on Thursday said he would not attend Central Florida.