Football Articles
The History of College Football Recruiting Cheating- Part 8
Posted by TaylorTRoom on July 21st, 2008 under Football, Recruiting
This is the one I’ve dreaded writing.This is the one about the Longhorns.
All through these posts, I’ve adhered to the idea that if a school were penalized by the NCAA, it was breaking the rules. I’ve also subscribed to the idea that if a school were not penalized, it’s not fair to say it was cheating (recognizing that some schools cheat and are not caught or penalized, it’s a silly position to call a rival a cheater without reinforcing findings by the NCAA). So before looking at Texas, let’s review some of the things we’ve learned.
1. The standards on what constitutes cheating have evolved through the years. Many old practices that shock us (boosters with formal roles in recruiting, players scalping game tickets) were legal at one time.
2. Not all scholarship offers from different schools are equal in value (value of degree, value of experience). Cheating serves as a way of equalizing the values.
3. To have an NCAA violation, you need a broken rule, and somebody to report it to the NCAA. Lacking one or the other, you don’t have a violation.
The questions we have to deal with here are- Has Texas been a clean program? Has it ever been dirty, and if so, how dirty? Has Texas ever had its success tied to cheating? Let’s look.
Darrell Royal was the coach at UT for 20 years, from 1957 to 1976. In that time, he won 3 MNCs, won the SWC 10 times, and finished ranked in the Top 5 nine times. His program was put on probation once, in 1964. In his book, Kern Tipps tells of how SMU coach Hayden Fry was so upset that the Ponies were turned in (by Texas and others, he assumed) to the NCAA for recruiting violations that he turned Texas in as a response.
Texas’ violation was providing recruits with meal money on visits, which they could keep after charging their meals to their room. Royal claimed that he started handling recruits’ meals that way because when he gave the player-hosts the money ($10 in 1964, equivalent to about $50 today?), they would take the recruits to cheap hamburger joints and keep the rest of the money themselves (not exactly the sign of a program where players are receiving extra benefits). The NCAA didn’t think it was a big deal, and merely put Texas on probation, without any penalties.
Royal took pride in running a clean program. One of the first things he did as coach was to distance the boosters from recruiting (primarily because he didn’t want their participation in deciding which prospects to chase, or their opinions of recruits’ places on the depth chart). However, many of his penalized rivals (Fry, Switzer) said that they weren’t doing anything that Texas wasn’t. The problem with their claims against Royal is that there isn’t much evidence to support them. It’s hard to prove a negative, but let’s try.
1. NCAA violations during the Royal era. Texas was penalized once, in ‘64, and the penalty shows the NCAA thought it was minor. In that same period, OU, UH, and TAMU were penalized three times, and SMU twice (their “best” days were ahead of them). This is not a perfect record (only Michigan has a perfect record wrt football recruiting in major programs), but it’s certainly better than his peers.
2. Did Texas have talent out of proportion to its peers? No. Strangely, for such a dominant program, Texas did not produce many NFL players during the Royal era. He achieved his results with a bunch of good, and not very many great, players. Royal recruits were eligible for the NFL draft from 1961 thru 1980. He had 58 players drafted in that time period. For comparison, OU had 92 drafted in the same period, TAMU had 69 drafted, Houston had 70, SMU had 35, and Rice had 29. Royal was not grabbing all of the difference-makers, far from it. Most of his players looked elite while they played for him, and not so much after. Royal was one of the few coaches who actually did more with less. His peer programs, Alabama and USC, had 63 and 147 players drafted in the same 20 year period. If you’re going to accuse Royal of cheating, you have to ask why he didn’t get better players.
3. Specific accusations of cheating. Gary Shaw was an unhappy player in the Texas program in the ’60s, and wrote an expose- “Meat on the Hoof”, outlining the abuses he saw. He accused Royal of cruelty and callousness; he accused the program of covering for the players’ academics. He did not accuse Texas of paying players or recruits. If Texas were paying players, and Shaw knew of it, it would have been reported.
I feel pretty confident that Texas was clean under Royal. It didn’t have Michigan’s record, but who does (besides Michigan)? While railing against Switzer, late in his career, Royal referred to the hyper-competitive Frank Erwin and said, “If I wanted to buy players, all I would have to do is turn him loose, and there wouldn’t be any players left for anybody else.”
There is a common myth that in the era before NCAA scholarship limitations, Royal loaded up with huge signing classes to keep players from other schools. That is hogwash, and can be easily disproven. Before NCAA scholarship limits, the SWC had a limit of 115 scholarships per team. An examination of the recruiting classes listed in Dave Campbell’s annual Texas Football shows that Texas had no larger recruit classes than the other state schools in the SWC (the Ags had the largest classes by a small margin).
What about after Royal left? Well, … uh. Although he stayed as AD for a few years, Erwin made it clear that DKR was not hiring the next coach (Akers), nor running the football program in a truly supervisory manner. Using the standards that were applied above to Royal’s program, it appears that Texas wasn’t lily-white after Royal retired. This was a wild time in SWC recruiting. Integration had doubled the talent pool, and every program in the SWC was recruiting the whole state. There were a lot of competitions and a lot of bidding wars. In that time period, Texas competed for talent as well as anybody.
In this era, there were bidding wars.
Let’s look at NFL draft picks from 1981 (when the first post-Royal class was eligible for the draft) thru 1989 (when the SMU death penalty had a chance to scare local programs straight). In that period, Texas had 55 players drafted. OU had 53. TAMU had 42. SMU had 26 (many of their draft-eligible recruits finished at other programs, post-death penalty). Houston had 23 drafted. In other words, after Royal left, Texas collected as much elite talent as anybody.
Now some of that recruiting success can be attributed to the program’s stature, the university’s reputation, and the wonderfulness of an Austin with a population less than Arlington has today. But could it be that Texas was playing it a little fast and free with the rules? The NCAA reports indicate so. Texas was found guilty of infractions in 1985. The report follows the typical format from the NCAA Compliance Commitee – excessive benefits from boosters (trips, meals, ticket scalping) during recruiting, Texas cooperated with the investigation, penalties were assessed, yadda-yadda.
Texas was probably turned in by Marcus Dupree, because the highlight violation was a pair of cowboy boots he received on his trip. Dupree tried them on in a store, walked out wearing them, and the recruiting coach was stuck with the tab. He told Dupree he wouldn’t pay for them, but when Dupree walked out he was faced with either forking over the cash or allowing the best running back in the nation to be arrested on his visit. Unfortunately, he chose the former. The NCAA was keenly following Dupree’s recruitment (see “The Courtship of Marcus Dupree” by Willie Morris), and interviewed Dupree after signing day to discover violations.
This was very embarrassing to UT. The university was in a period where its national reputation was growing, and did not want to be known as a sell-out for football success. Then, a couple of years later when SMU was given the death penalty, bitter Pony boosters hire PIs to dig up what they could against all rival schools they felt betrayed them. Texas was one of them, and the NCAA began a new investigation (censured SMU alum Sherwood Blount issued a public letter gloating about this investigation). There were allegations of ticket scalping, payer payments, and gifted cars. This time, Texas responded differently.
The final 1987 infractions report is different from the standard template. Typically, these reports find no violations beyond the initial allegations. In this case, Texas’ internal investigation turned up several other violations, including payments to active players. It was nickel-and-dime stuff (loaned cars, loans for bail bonds, $20 for gas, often repaid), but until now schools usually used internal investigations to determine what goods the NCAA had on them, not to truly investigate their sins. Texas actually revealed several more violations, proposed several corrective actions, including requiring players to provide detailed records of their automobile purchases or leases, and the NCAA said that the 2-year probation could be reduced to one if these actions were actually taken (they were). UT lost some scholarships and some allowed recruit visits, but overall the NCAA took it easy on them for fessing up. Note- the NCAA was not so understanding when TCU self-reported paid players, and gave the Frogs what Jim Wacker called “the living death penalty”.
It appears that UT actually did bow out of the recruiting wars of the ’80s in the SWC, maybe a few years after some schools but certainly a few years before some others (Texas never recruited Hart Lee Dykes!). The quality definitely dropped, and Texas had losing records three of the next four years. When I reviewed the Dave Campbell Texas Football magazines from the late ’80s, I was surprised to see that Texas was generally the consensus #2 recruiting class in the state, behind TAMU.
There were comments about Texas that were very similar to what is written today about TAMU recruiting (”Although Texas missed out on the consensus #1 RB, the Longhorns did sign Joe Dropfoot, who many experts feel could end up being as good”). Of course, a lot of the high rankings of the Longhorns’ classes may be an over-rating of the recruits simply because they committed to Texas (”If Texas is recruiting Sidney Bigcigarson, he must be better than we thought”). The classes certainly didn’t perform as if they were in the upper echelon of talent.
If Texas did put itself at a disadvantage by cleaning up its act, it was only for a short time. The SMU death penalty frightened every regional program, as almost all were only one more major violation away from receiving similar treatment. One disgruntled player, one bitter ex-wife of a booster, one investigative reporter…and any program could be hit hard and maybe shut down. That’s why you saw programs like OU and TAMU drop their coaches at the first sign of trouble in the late ’80s. In the past, they might have rode out the scandals, but now…
My suspicion is that the SWC of the early ’90s was quite a bit cleaner than it was 10 years prior. I think this may be why we saw so many more blue-chip recruits leave the state (from about 40% in the ’80s to about 60% in the ’90s). I think the out-of-state schools were still able to offer the benefits that the SWC schools dared not.
Texas is at no significant disadvantage now. The current staff is good enough at selling the school, the city, and the program to make up most of any disadvantages caused by a poor benefits package. If we are less competitive with grade risks, it’s by our own choosing. So, let’s answer the questions at the top.
Has Texas been a clean program? Mostly, but we have been on probation, and for a reason. In the ’80s we let our boosters get too close to recruiting.
Has Texas ever been dirty, and if so, how dirty? Yes, a little dirty, during the ’80s. You might say that we weren’t as dirty as several rivals at the time, and I’d ask if “being not as bad as our rivals” was the standard we aspired to. I don’t believe we ever participated in bidding wars, because we never signed the guys who famously put themselves on the auction block (Marcus Dupree initially committed to us, but he was using us as a “stalking horse” to gin up the other offers; he wouldn’t give the assistant recruiting him to Texas the time of day the last two months before signing day).
Has Texas ever had its success tied to cheating? The great successes of Darrell Royal are not tied to cheating. The successes of the ’80s were achieved in a period when we were stepping over the ethical line. We were on probation twice, and we brought in a lot of talent. If we had run the program then as we do now, it’s quite possible we would not have had a team in ‘83 talented enough to provide 20 draft picks to the NFL.
My opinion is that the success in the early ’80s is partially a result of breaking rules. We can debate how much all day, but because we were found guilty by the NCAA we can’t deny the debate altogether. That’s the trap you fall in when you break the rules. Any successes post-’87 are clean.
There you have it. That’s my take. If anybody wants to make any contrary claims or allegations, please supply attributions or sources (let’s not have any blanket “Come on, everybody cheated”; it’s unseemly).
We’re going to wrap this series up later this week (real football discussion should pick up soon), with a review of one of the weirdest recruiting scandals ever (the George Smith kerfuffle), and the most wheels-off NCAA infractions report ever (the Houston report).
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RRR wrote a new blog post: Victory in Jersey 55 minutes ago
Big East intimidation? Pff, whatever.
Halftime Thoughts
Except for some sloppy ball-handling from Darko, Davis, and Tairu, I couldn’t be happier with the way we’re playing. Obviously Herb Pope’s punch to Darko’s groin and subsequent ejection was the defining event. Tech went on a 13-0 run after the play, and that equals our lead at this point.
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post A Wake Before The Funeral 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
When your stick is bigger then the carrot.
Now that was a title to draw your attention for you prevs that troll this site.
In all sports its a bragging point to have a bigger stick then your rival, or at least think its bigger then most.
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Bush Paves the Way for Henderson? 3 hours ago
Raoulduke,
Don’t be a tool. I kid, I kid. Who’s said I was qualified? Last time I checked this is the internet and everyone who can type can offer an opinion. Shit, half the folks offering up opinions on this blog and most sport blogs have no clue what they’re talking
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I.M. Hipp commented on the blog post State of the Union – NU Basketball, Part 1 (or Why We Are Where We Are) 3 hours, 25 minutes ago
If NU really wants to win they need to take a page from TO’s coaching career.
1. Never let great talent leave the state, Nebraska is desolate for talent so when a good player comes around you have to land him.
2. Develop a “system” where talent can flourish and help the team.
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Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Want to plant my feet on Rampart Street… 4 hours, 18 minutes ago
I am so irritated you guys are so good yet I am rooting for you. Saw the BC/MTM guy predicted you to final four.
That would be awesome.
Sic em and shit.
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whiskey commented on the blog post Jack Swarbrick Causes Server Meltdown 4 hours, 28 minutes ago
Nate, I think your argument is pretty solid for the SEC, Big 12 and Pac 10 but not so much on the Big 10. If you look at the 2009 Sagarin strength of sked: ND-37, Ohio St-50, Iowa-41, Penn St-73. Not so sure joining the Big 10 really helps ND’s chances. With
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Raoul Duke commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams 4 hours, 32 minutes ago
The NCAA, apparently, could fuck up a soup sandwich. Piss on Myles Brand’s greedy grave.
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Raoul Duke commented on the blog post Bush Paves the Way for Henderson? 4 hours, 38 minutes ago
Mr. Bateman – First let me say I’m not trying to be an asshole or pick a fight. This is a great column and great fun to read.
Re this:
I think Kiffin’s staff is competent enough, particularly Papa Kiffin (DC), John Baxter (a pretty good ST coach), and Todd McNair is a decent RB
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bigdukesix commented on the blog post Bush Paves the Way for Henderson? 5 hours, 25 minutes ago
Kiffin’s father is a great coach, but the rest of that staff isn’t. Orgeron and Kiffin are both good, dirty recruiters and mediocre to poor gameday coaches.
How important is that in college football? How good of a gameday coach is Mack Brown? Greg Davis?
Orgeron is actually a damn fine defensive line coach,
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Tim commented on the blog post NIT Preview – Seton Hall 5 hours, 29 minutes ago
How much longer to football season?
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Bush Paves the Way for Henderson? 5 hours, 50 minutes ago
CTJ,
Always impassioned. I agree with you that his delay had to do with not being eligible to sign rather than awaiting for the smoke to settle. However, the point is not with motive but with opportunity. Maybe the kid and his family don’t know anything and just trudged along with his planned
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CloseToJumping commented on the blog post Beat the Barkers NCAA Tourney Bracket 6 hours, 42 minutes ago
I am angling for the weekend with SizzleChest. I am hoping to channel his evil in the right directions.
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Casey Heathcott commented on the blog post Want to plant my feet on Rampart Street… 6 hours, 51 minutes ago
Interesting read by a Kentucky writer: Apparently Kansas and Baylor are the only two teams with a shot at winning it all. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100316/COLUMNISTS01/303160023
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Mister Mike commented on the blog post State of the Union – NU Basketball, Part 1 (or Why We Are Where We Are) 7 hours, 9 minutes ago
I get what you’re saying, but honestly, it’s a cop out. Period. If the AD was to actually commit some resources into building a program, we would be competitive and probably would even give K-State a run for its money. We may never be a KU, but we sure as hell wouldn’t
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J Rog commented on the blog post Bienvenidos a Miami: Heat Preview 7 hours, 58 minutes ago
Totally agree re: RJ. I’m hesitant to shout it from the mountain tops until he does it against a contending team. So far his success has been against 2nd tier teams.
Ginobili is just incredible to watch right now. Just goes to show how hurt he really must have been last season.
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09/05/10 at Texas Tech
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James commented on the blog post Things To Do While Not Watching OU in the NCAA Tourney 8 hours, 16 minutes ago
Nate, agreed on the buying players. What does the NCAA do? Oh yeah, you “vacate wins”. I vacated my bowels this morning.
I was busting your balls on Oklahoma. I have had some good times in some of the surprisingly scenic areas. Also, Maker’s is my poison and who would ever
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Burnt Orange Wookiee commented on the blog post Bienvenidos a Miami: Heat Preview 8 hours, 20 minutes ago
The emergence of RJ being what we thought he would be seems pretty big. Oh, and that Ginobili guy is playing pretty good right now. Seeing Manu be Manu always brings a smile to my face.
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Nordberg commented on the blog post Texas finishes sweep of Iowa 9 hours, 44 minutes ago
Green and then Workman I’d imagine.
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Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Things To Do While Not Watching OU in the NCAA Tourney 9 hours, 59 minutes ago
coloradoag:
First of all, I’ve very seriously thought your proposal #9 over. See: Calipari, John. People don’t seem to care if you buy basketball players. Only if you do it blatantly (USC) or you call/text them too much.
Oklahoma (outside of Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas) is a lot of fun if you’re
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket 10 hours ago
Ha ha ha ha! It’s Joel Osteen’s world. You just live in it.
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admin commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket 10 hours ago
Ha ha ha ha! It’s Joel Osteen’s world. You just livesin in it.
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admin commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket 10 hours ago
Ha ha ha ha! It’s Joel Osteen’s world. You just live sin in it.
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ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Beat the Barkers NCAA Tourney Bracket 10 hours, 8 minutes ago
I will own that tote bag. And it will hold my porn.
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James commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket 10 hours, 23 minutes ago
Baylor has the horses to make it to Indy, but Scott Drew is the Mike Gundy of college hoops. He’ll find a way to blow it.
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Facebook User said:
July 21st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Richard Peavy #4 DB 6-0 180 Houston, TX (Washington)
Beergut said:
July 21st, 2008 at 10:34 pm
“The NCAA was keenly following Dupree’s recruitment (see “The Courtship of Marcus Dupree” by Willie Morris), and interviewed Dupree after signing day to discover violations.”
I believe it was reported in that book that Fred Akers had Dupree offered $40,000 if he would come to Austin and play. That would be participating in the bidding war.
“I think this may be why we saw so many more blue-chip recruits leave the state (from about 40% in the ’80s to about 60% in the ’90s). I think the out-of-state schools were still able to offer the benefits that the SWC schools dared not.”
You have to remember that prior to the formation of the Big 12, Big 8 schools could accept and admit partial and non-qualifiers while the SWC couldn’t touch them. As wild as the SWC was in the ’80s and ’90s, they did have academic standards.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:00 am
Beergut, you are wrong. There is no such offer mentioned in Willie Morris’ book. You can easily verify that by using the google book function and searching the book for “40″ or “forty” citations. I did find that my edition, on page 97, has an archetype recruiter named “Temple Drake” referring to some past unnamed prospect he lost getting forty thousand from a unnamed rival recruiter. Perhaps your source took that out of context? Is this something somebody told you, or you read on an internet board?
“The Courting of Marcus Dupree” is a terrific book, and is well worth reading.
Black Scholes said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:48 am
I have never heard that claim that Akers offered Dupree $ until now. I call bullshit.
SlickStreet said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
Great stuff, Taylor. I somehow have missed your previous entries on this–I have some catchin’ up to do.
While it’s evident we were doing some of our own “bad stuff,” it paled in comparison to the likes of SMU, TCU, Houston, A&M, and OU (generally speaking). That is a significant reason why our teams started sucking so bad, especially once Sherrill came on the scene in ‘82. It took him a couple years or so to get caught up, but he surpassed before long. As you note, our huge ‘83 NFL group exited shortly after Sherrill arrived.
Buddy of mine was friends with SMU’s Ron Morris, who chose the Ponies over the ‘Horns. I asked him if Morris ever talked with him about the inducements from said schools. He flat said Morris got such-and-such from SMU (I don’t recall the details, just remembered it was not an insignificant sum). I asked what, then, did Texas offer, and he deadpanned, “nothing.”
Not sure whether to fully believe that, but I do think we were easily outbid by most of the competitors in those days, leading to such a dearth in talent that McWilliams inherited Metcalf and a pile of shit.
98horn said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:18 am
For those of you who do not frequent BON, Beergut is completely full of s**t. He’s an Aggie homer, and hates all things Longhorn. We chased his dumb a$$ away, and now, like a bad case of crabs, he’s infested your site. We sincerely apologize, and will gladly pay for your bottle of RID(tm).
srr50 said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Royal had been doing this for a couple of years, and didn’t hide it among his peers. Only Jess Neely at Rice had voiced a problem with it. Royal was pissed at Fry for making this an issue the rest of his career.
A couple of points on this: For Royal’s first 10-12 years the NFL was not the be all and end-all for recruits. In other words colleges were not seen as a “minor league” feeder system to the riches of pro football. That meant that there were more top recruits who did not see College football as a means to an NFL end. The first Super Bowl was 10 years into Royal’s tenure at Texas, and most NFL player had to have off-season jobs since the game was not a full-time enterprise then.
The specialization of the game had not started and the emphasis on year-round training had not kicked in, and so the difference between a pro football player and a top-notch college player was IMO, not at dramatic as today.
And if we are going to be honest, then let’s not forget to mention integration. The schools on your list (USC, OU, Houston) that had many more players taken in the NFL draft integrated their programs well before Texas did. I would be intertested to see a breakdown of Royal’s NFL recruits post-integration and how the number stacks up agaisnt the other schools.
I’ll comment on playing fast and free with the rules in a minute, but here I want to mention another strong factor in the talent that Akers brought into the program from 1978-1982.
Out-of-State recruiting.
Akers first assistant’s staff was full of young, aggressive coaches who had Texas HS roots, but also had extensive connections out of State. Akers used those connections, along with the program’s overall stature to bring in a lot of talent.
A.J. “Jam” Jones
Rodney Tate
June James
Mike Reuther
Mike Baab
Jeff Leiding
Robin Sendlein
Mossy Cade
Adam Schrieber
Tony Edwards
There were others, but these are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Akers tapped into a talent supply that simply had not been used before by Texas. I don’t believe any of these players are mentioned in any of the investigations, and from my personal experience, I don’t think they fall under the “bought and paid for” catagory. Why the out-of-state pipeline dried up and why Akers eventually failed is another story.
“Lack of Institutional Control”
You can talk about falling into traps all you want, but to ignore a basic difference in what school’s were doing is to ignore reality. Was Texas clean? I don’t belive so. If a player had a hand out, he could find an alumnus who would be willing to pass something along — an easy summer job, petty cash, free rides, whatever. And to believe that wasn’t true everywhere is also to ignore the reality of those times.
That’s not an excuse, and it certainly doesn’t relieve Texas (or any other school) of its obligations to run as clean a program as possible.
But Texas never had cheating built into its instituional structure. It never had it overseen from within the coaching staff. It never had its alums working as CEO’s with an organizational chart that had clearly defined roles.
And for the record I have my doubts about how “clean” the game is today. The money is too spectacular, and the line between winning and losing too thin to think that college football doesn’t have some of the same problems it always has.
I just happen to believe that today’s steps over the line probably lean towards cutting corners in academics, and in other off-the-field issues.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:14 am
Thanks, SRR, for providing perspective better than I could.
As for the NFL draft thing- I have come to believe that Royal had mastered the single platoon game better than any other coach. He knew what kind of players he wanted (he loaded up on star HS running backs and moved them to the line often), and these players didn’t necessarily fit the pro game, as you mention. I might post in more detail on that next off-season.
8straight said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
I remember the Texas coaches coming back from recruiting trips in the early ’80s and telling stories about how brazen SMU was in their offers to recruits.
Fred recruited Big 8 country; Rodney Tate/Oklahoma and June James/Kansas City to name two. I don’t think Fred worried about out of state rejections like Mack does. Like SRR said, out of state recruiting paid some big dividends.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
[quote]And for the record I have my doubts about how “clean” the game is today. The money is too spectacular, and the line between winning and losing too thin to think that college football doesn’t have some of the same problems it always has.[/quote]
Taylor and I have had discussions about this very thing. I think schools have reached an “understanding” of what types of things are acceptable and which are not. And schools refuse to engage in “bidding wars”, which are the collegiate football equivilent of the Doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Help with getting the new car – the summer job – deals on the off campus condo – that sort of thing – will likely always be part of the seedy underbelly of college football until we start paying the players (like we ought to).
J.R.69 said:
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
IMO, if the UT asst coach had allowed Dupree to be arrested for stealing boots instead of (the coach) paying for them, many of the later events (probations, death penalty, etc) may have been avoided.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 am
A couple more notes-
The recruiting of Dupree was remarkably similar to the Perriloux fiasco. In both cases, a highly talented out of state recruit commits to Texas in the summer before their senior year, giving the reason that the depth chart, scheme, and surrounding talent makes it a great choice (all true). Then, in the fall, they visit other schools, all the while stating that they are committed to Texas. Late in the game, as the Texas coaches start to suspect they are being played, they find they can’t get the recruit to return calls. They realize too late that the recruit never really intended to come to Texas.
Second point- I was aware that Texas responded to its second investigation of the ’80s by coming clean and instituting corrective measures that exceeded baseline standards for D-1A programs. Until recently, I had never looked at the timeline before. Texas’ 2nd investigation, in 1987, occured just months after SMU’s death penalty judgement. In other words, Texas may have been scared straight (Texas had last been found a violator in fall of ‘82, and may have been eligible for the death penalty).
As a comparison, when TAMU and UH were investigated for the first time in the ’80s, after the SMU death penalty judgement, the response was much more defensive. They were not at risk of the death penalty (it required two violation judgements in a five year period), and could risk stonewalling and antagonizing the NCAA.
dedfischer said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:50 am
The seediest thing I see going on now days, and I’m not sure if there’s anything illegal about it, is a star recruit’s parents, or single mom in a lot of cases, up and moving to the town where her baby is going to school. I think it would be tough to prove that an institution played a significant role in landing a recruit’s dad or mom a nice job that they might not have been qualified for. Seems like a legal way to funnel money back to a recruit.
dedfischer said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 am
Also, on the academic side, Oklahoma State has an accredited program where they do testing on individuals to declare identify students with learning disabilities such as ADD and dyslexia. If the diagnosis is positive, then the admission’s standards for that student are lowered and the student receives special tutoring, oral exams, etc. throughout college (someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I read on their website and it seemed like something to this effect). Now dyslexia is one thing, but an ADD diagnosis can become very subjective. Just so happens, that Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter are ADD.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 am
I chuckled when you said they could “lower the admission standards” at an Oklahoma state university.
Seriously, just think about that statement.
J.R.69 said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:02 am
OSU’s standards couldn’t be very high to begin with…..didn’t Dexter Manley graduate from OSU, then later reveal that he couldn’t read? That’s right, COULDN’T READ!!!
How is it even possible to lower that?
Beergut said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
“For those of you who do not frequent BON, Beergut is completely full of s**t. He’s an Aggie homer, and hates all things Longhorn. We chased his dumb a$$ away, and now, like a bad case of crabs, he’s infested your site. ”
How old are you, 12?
I’m still posting on BON, so I don’t know where you get this “we chased him away” crap.
You FAIL at the Internet.
Black Scholes said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I think you should post less. Or not at all. Not at all would be good.
Crazy Joe Clark said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Did Dexter Manley have ADD?
He definitely couldnt spell it.
ChrisApplewhite said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Michael Goodson got into A&M despite not graduating high school. Let’s be careful here.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I guess that explains why he didn’t go play at Penn.
dedfischer said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
“I guess that explains why he didn’t go play at Penn.”
That made me chuckle a bit.
Facebook User said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Go Quakers.
Black Scholes said:
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
The Quakers haven’t been the same since the demise of the four corners ‘offense’.
Scipio Tex said:
July 24th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Taylor:
I just want to say props, man. I found this whole series fascinating and totally informative. I learned a lot. And that, aside from porn and telling people they suck, is what makes the ‘net cool.
dedfischer said:
July 24th, 2008 at 3:50 am
The academic side of things like easy classes, athletic friendly professors, and especially tutors is something that I think every university that is competitive at the D-I level partakes in. However, I think once some of these guys get on campus and realize that only 4 or 5 of their classmates will make it in the pros, they begin to realize they’re only a knee injury away from operating a ferris wheel and academics become more of a priority. Funny story, when I was at Tech, we had to take 2 poly science classes for my major and the 2nd one had a professor that was known for being a hardass. So, I went to my advisor and asked which class I needed to take at Claredon College to get credit. She checked on it, gave me the class number and I signed up. Apparently, the class numbers are vise versa at Tech/Clarendon, so the first day I show up for class at Clarendon for Poly Science 2, they’re covering the same material I covered in Poly Science 1 at Tech. Showed up for all the tests, made an A, never heard anything, got credit on my transcript, and 3 years later got a degree from Tech.
Mike Baab said:
October 28th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I was a highly sought after prospect in 1978. The ONLY schools that didn’t offer me bags of money was Rice and Texas. I didn’t know of anyone on my UT teams that got cash. We mostly starved and were kinda embarrassed when our buddies from ATM or SMU would show up w. cars and cash. Cash was NOT the reason we went to Texas.
HenryJames said:
October 28th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I remember watching you with the Browns, Mike.
Can you still do the splits?
Scipio Tex said:
October 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for the input, Mike.
For our younger reading audience: Mike was probably the best center in Texas history, an All-American, and had a long NFL career.
Nice to have you on here.
srr50 said:
October 28th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Thanks Mike.
Alfred Jackson is a couple of years before you, but he tells the same story. He also talked of being in NFL locker rooms and when the talk of who got what from their colleges rolled around, other players were incredulous over the lack of Longhorn bling
TaylorTRoom said:
October 28th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Thanks, Mike. I was in the student section rooting (well,…drinking mostly, but rooting some) while you played. Your comments make me feel better about those early ’80s teams that first made me a fan. I apologize for impugning them.
callkevin said:
October 29th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Amazing timing. There’s a Mike Baab article on the TexasSports web-site today.
James said:
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Steve Worster, Jim Bertleson, James Street
Paid for NOT working
UT had two administrators on the infractions and enforcement committees of NCAA. No penalty, no problem, just an oops it must have been a mistake.
mike baab said:
November 15th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Nice to be remembered . Yep , can still do the splits at 48. Some of my SMU and Aggie teammates took cuts in pay to go to the pros – I’m not kidding at all. That’s why we have new rules and no SWC anymore. Credit Darrell Royal and Fred Akers and Mack Brown for staying the course on not cheating. The type of players Texas wants DO NOT make decisions like where to go to school based on $ or how good they look in the uniform. An education from UT can open doors to lifelong respect and enormous life changing possibilities.I believe the college game is much cleaner than it was in the wild ole wooly days. However , I am still a proponent of providing a basic NCAA stipend for all sport scholarship athletes – the colleges reap huge $ windfalls and athletes spend 40 hours + a week “working” in their sport for their scholarship and can’t get jobs. I remember selling blood at different places so my girl(future and still wife)and I could go out. But it was a grand adventure. Hook ‘em.
troutbum said:
June 24th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Besides Michigan, Penn State is another major school that has never committed an NCAA recruiting violation. In fact, Penn State has never even been investigated under Paterno.
Here is a handy database that reveals infractions.
Major Infraction Case Search
Rocko said:
July 17th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Maybe the reason that UT didn’t have as many NFL players under Darrell Royal is that he ran the Wishbone offense, which no NFL team ran. So no WR,TE or QB would even be considered and I doubt if any kid coming out of H.S. with aspirations to play in the NFL and played any of those positions would even consider UT. The running back seldom had to block under the Wishbone. He had great college teams and was a great coach but his style of play on offense didn’t carry over to the NFL.