I am in no way shape, form or fashion an LSU fan, Saban is cleared according to Lang. This is from the article. Michigan State: Brad Lawing recruited Means for Michigan State. In January of 2000, he came to Memphis to make his pitch. "Lawing wanted me to get into his car and ride around with him," Lang said. "That's when he started telling me -- now this is when Nick Saban had left and Bobby Williams took over -- that he had a new coach in town who was willing to pay money, and he was asking me how much it would take." Lang said he told Lawing it would take $100,000 plus enough cash to pay back Young. Not long after that, Michigan State ceased its recruitment of Means.
When Chris Perry was recruited to Michigan, his mom moved from North Carolina to Ann Arbor and was fully financed by a local bank (no up-front investment needed) to start "Ann Arbor Magazine". A few months after Chris graduated, mom sold the magazine and moved on. No harm, no foul. Maurice Clarett provided a list of "free car" contacts to NCAA officials, plus verified the money he earned for "kinda" working at a landscaping company (along with other players)... nobody knew what he was talking about. The NCAA isn't a monopoly, it's a cartel. Every once in a while, a team will become the sacrificial lamb for the sake of the flock... just to prove the cartel is just, worthy and beyond reproach. Bama has been the lamb of late.
Do I beleive Lang? Hell yes. If he is/was lying, why would he agree to pay taxes, penalties and interest on the 150k he received from LY? This to me is the most important piece in the hole picture.
Bama has been the lamb of late. The whole problem with this is that they cheated. I do not think the NCAA nailed everyone they could have. I think it is harder to prove that someone offered to pay you, than it is to actually generate proof when there is a transaction. How can you have comeone who has season tickets, has to make a contribution to the school's athletic fund for the right to buy these tickets, and has UT paraphernalia all over the place not be a booster. They have the transfer receipts from Western Union and a statement from a writer for the Mobile paper, and UT not get hammered. I beleive in the theory that UT was cleared for ratting on Bama. Bama is just a bunch of idiots. I am not talking about their fan base. I am talking about their athletic administration. Did you know that Mal Moore (their current AD) walked into a hotel room and present were Logan Young, a highly sought after recruit and his parents. The man did nothing. He turned around and walked out of the room. He did not tell anyone, not even his own compliance staff. That is the definition of lack of institutional control. That and the fact that Bama had 2 different sports on probation 3 times in 10 years. How in the hell did UM not get the death penalty after the Chris Weber/Fab 5 thing? How did Notre Dame not get hammered after an employee of the school was buying crap for the players?
I agree.... you've gotta be pretty dumb to be "the Lamb" on a regular basis... even villages change their town drunk every so often.
You nailed much of it blutotiger. Offering recruits though is just as much a rules violation as actually paying it. Furthermore, if it’s the coaches that are offering thats a definite lack of institutional control far surpassing what this drunken rogue booster did. The NCAA didnt pursue those allegations and while it may be more difficult to prove an offer took place vs. an actual payout, you are thinking of it in terms of court and that doesn’t apply to the NCAA. I could go on and on about a ton of cases, least of which those absurd cases LSU has been involved in, where the NCAA found institutions guilty based on a preponderance of “he said”, “she said” testimony. Its not about reasonable doubt with the NCAA…its all about reasonable guilt. The NCAA in its current form needs to be completely restructured. There are far too many special interest groups with dull axes to grind and selective enforcement that would embarrass the mafia. This Bama case is the most obvious form of quid pro quo Ive ever seen. Get a bunch of schools to cooperate because they were implicated and probably guilty and have them rat on the lamb. Its sickening. The SEC has even evolved into a bunch of cannibals with attitudes largely fostered by Phat Phil, Visor Boy and Roid Krammer. Make no mistake here; this booster is guilty based on the evidence of cash transfers but others should have been prosecuted. Alabama has received severe punishment and its mostly because they bent over and said “do me” while supplying the NCAAZI’s with the lube and broom stick for the job. :cuss:
I left out the part that I think all of the SOBs should be prosecuted. They are just as guilty as the ones that made offers with no transaction. Albeit a different charge but they are guilty. I was not taking up for the NCAA, but I am opposite the poor Alabama opinion. I also understand that the NCAA prosecutes when and where they want. I am an Auburn fan and we were busted for basketball last year. We have a coach who is being blamed for visting a recruit outside the allowable timeframes set forth by the NCAA. Their proof. His cell phone records. He made cell phone calls that happen to be off the same cell phone tower that would be used if he were in the kid's area. His alibi is airtight except for a specific time frame. I think it is a 3 or 4 hour window. What was he doing in that 4 hour period? He was in a dentist's chair. The coach grew up in the area and has never changed dentists. We provided affidavits from the dentist, his assistants, other patients and insurance claim forms. They reply that this is not enough evidence.
The problem I have with what y'all have been saying is about the NCAA. Who makes up the NCAA? It's not some separatist group who took power through a coups de etat. The NCAA is made up of its member schools! I was bitching about the NCAA one day about something similar and that's when my AD asked me the same question. So if a school doesn't like something, then they should try to change it. Look at all the stuff stirred up by Scott Cowan from Tulane and it's not like Tulane was a major power broker in the NCAA. Alabama booster Logan Young got busted and the assistant coaches who directed Mean's coaches to Young were the culprits. Lang is trying to throw himself on the mercy of the court and try to save his ass before sentencing. Oh and by the way hiring a guy as an assistant coach and paying him $80K isn't illegal. High school coaches with big time recruits are hired by colleges all the time as long as they deliver the recruit.
I know, I know... the NCAA is made up of member schools. The Plastics Council is made up of Glad, Hefty, etc. (give them a moment to tell you how plastic bags are actually good for the environment), the AMA is made up of doctors and so on... It doesn't mean they can govern themselves. It doesn't mean they have the public's best interest at stake and it doesn't mean we should trust them just because they have entrusted themselves. The NCAA is a self-serving lot...just like the others... and the more money there is to watch over, the more self-serving they will become.
Hell, that was a major weapon in Dale Brown's recruiting arsenal. Ron Abernathy (Rudy Macklin's HC at Male HS in Louisville) and Rick Huckaby (Howard Carter, Derek Taylor and Tom Curry's HC at Redemptorist) ended up on the LSU staff in just such a manner. Curry ended up following Huckaby to Marshall when he got the HC job there.
