Football Articles
More on Street Agents in College Football
Posted by TaylorTRoom on July 3rd, 2009 under Football, Recruiting
Interesting topic.
CloseToJumping on Street Agents
I’ve written about the freakonomics of recruiting before,
Taylor T On Cheating in 10 Parts
…so this really caught my attention. The fascinating thing about it is how much information about the increasing role of street agents in college football is readily available via google, and how so little is reported. Look, I’m not an insider at all, but I googled some key words from CTJ’s post, and discovered that all you need to understand the system is readily available. The dots are very close together, it’s not hard to connect them, and yet few of the sports media websites or TV channels are interested in talking about street agents in their reams and hours of recruiting coverage.
The street agent is a new twist on the cheating game. In the past, if a recruit was for sale, it was because the recruit (or his family) put him out there for sale. With street agents involved, a recruit might be for sale and not even know it. More on that later. First, let’s review the ethics and mechanics of traditional cheating, and then get into this new form of cheating.
If we’re really being honest, as Texas fans, do we want recruiting cleaned up because we are just more interested in fair play than our competitors? Or is it because in a recruiting world that only permits competing schools to offer identical packages (tuition, meals, books, housing), Texas’ package is perceived as being more valuable than most of our competitors? I think the latter is probably the main driver, and that’s OK. In a world that strictly follows the rules of recruiting, Texas will always do well unless the head coach is perceived as a football-dumb, and stand-offish jerk (and we have had that before).
Texas only suffers in a world where recruits are bought by rivals, and Texas doesn’t reciprocate. That’s the fatal flaw of the cheating strategy- it depends on others playing by the rules. If Texas, with a Longhorn Foundation that raises $24 million per year and more sold luxury suites than any other team, decided to start courting street agents, the game would be over. As Darrell Royal said, “If I had turned the Texas boosters loose on buying players, there wouldn’t have been any left for anybody else.”
So, Texas prospers in two situations- one where everybody plays by the rules, and one where nobody plays by the rules. The only recruiting environment we suffer in is one where our rivals cheat and we don’t. If forced to choose, we should prefer a recruiting system that doesn’t call for illicit payments to recruits. For one thing, it’s the right thing to do. For another, our faculty and Athletics Council have a very low tolerance for scandal, and there would be too much crap to go through if we decided to cheat.
By the way, I don’t blame the recruits for wanting money. I have often wondered what Vince Young felt at home games, seeing a sold out stadium where 10,000 fans are wearing his jersey. They paid $55 each for it, and he didn’t get a dime. If somebody is offering money for services, it’s hard to blame recruits for accepting. However, this leads to a completely different topic- the NFL’s need for a minor league system. We’re not getting into that here, although I will note that UT would prosper in a college football shakeup that resulted in relying real student athletes, as well.
I do blame recruits’ relatives and hangers-on for wanting money. They just don’t have the same long-term interests in the recruit’s well-being as the recruit. It’s one thing for a recruit to decide to commit to Podunk U., instead of Flagship State U., because he’s getting $20k and a promise of ready walking around money. It’s shortsighted, but it’s his future. It’s quite another thing for a family friend to pressure him to go there so the friend can get paid.
Before talking about what can be done, let’s break down the mechanics of how cheating traditionally works. A coaching staff decides what players they really, really want. The player, or a rep, indicates that the player expects to be paid, or for some other illicit benefit such as a job for a family member (this may actually be first suggested to the player by a recruiter). This step eliminates honest programs as a competitor. The less scrupulous coach lets a trusted booster know that he needs the booster to get involved with the kid (Do coaches have cash to distribute? In the ’50s, Wilkinson and some PAC-8 coaches were busted for having large cash slush funds, and 20 years ago FedEx envelopes with four figures were leaving the TAMU and Kentucky athletic offices, so maybe they still do. I think the big, six figure and higher payments are handled only by the boosters). Traditionally, this step involved only a little cash to the player, with a promise of more to come upon committing.
At this point, the illicit recruiting traditionally went one of two directions. Either the kid takes his required payment from the school he likes best among those offering, or he starts a bidding war. There are some programs that are willing to pay players, but not to enter bidding wars. This may be due to them having standards, or it may just be concern about the size of their payroll. Bidding wars seem to be more common in basketball than football, and that may be due to football’s larger roster size, and the greater uncertainty of a super blue chip panning out. Also, only a few elite players are deemed worth a bidding war.
The introduction of the street agent has changed this process somewhat. Typically, the big time street agents (that deal with lots of recruits, as opposed to having a connection to just one) have a business (like a recruiting consulting service) or non-profit foundation (say, for the support and development of youth) that can receive payments or donations. From boosters. Think about that a minute. Boosters can pay third party street agents that may have contractual agreements with recruits to provide services to them. And it looks exactly like a legitimate transaction. There is no direct linkage between a program and a recruit.
How does a street agent get involved with a kid? They introduce themselves to the family, represent themselves as experts in the recruiting process, and offer free advice. You have to remember that for some of these families, the recruiting decision may be the most important decision ever made. It’s an intimidating process. Can you think of any other business where executives that earn millions of dollars each year and are constantly on TV (the coaches) will travel and visit teenagers living in inner city rent houses? You can imagine how receptive a parent or kid might be to a personable “consultant” offering help navigating this process, especially if this person also seems able to relate to their life situation. The street agent tells the kid that he will help vet the recruiting schools, and weigh the pros and cons of competing offers. He tells him that he will advise him on which camps to visit, and which to decline, all as part of a grand marketing strategy. The agent might build up his relationship with the recruit by buying him some shoes or designer jeans.
Meanwhile, the agent is letting the schools know that he expects to be paid for a kid to get to a camp. For a top recruit, the price for a camp visit might be $3-5k. All it takes is for a booster to pay the street agent (via his “service”) and the agent drives the kid to the camp (he’s allowed to as a friend of the family). Are you starting to understand why some recruits say they like a certain school, but never visit it, and then go across the country to visit a school they had never shown interest in before? Can you see how a kid might think a school is not interested in him because his street agent is telling him they aren’t calling? In today’s recruiting microcosm, summer camp visits are everything. That’s where it all starts. If the kid refuses to visit, especially a local kid, you can’t, in all honesty, recruit him. The silver lining in this mess is that Texas’ early recruiting means that we find out which kids are for sale early on. In the old days, a guy like Marcus Dupree could string Texas along until it was too late to recover with another recruit.
How would you find out who the street agents are, and the businesses they launder the payola through? It will take some digging and sifting. There is a vast range of recruiting businesses that are not affiliated with schools. There are national subscription websites like Rivals, and Scout, whose business models are based on selling thousands of subscriptions to largely anonymous customers. There are sub-tier websites affiliated with schools. There are services like Randy Rogers’, who consults with schools looking for recruits and by all accounts is legit. There are other database services like Bluechip Athletic Services and Cybersports that market themselves to college coaches. In other words, it is very easy set up a recruiting website “front” business for an illicit street agent that is indistinguishable from a legitimate business. The schools have NCAA-set limits on contacting recruits. The services do not. The system is constructed so that it would be a very short step to go from recruiting information service provider to recruit broker. Most of these businesses are legitimate, but some aren’t, and there are others somewhere in between in shifting shades of gray.
So, what is needed to support these businesses in the shadows of recruiting? You need coaches that are willing to cheat, even though their contracts call for them to be fired if they do. Make no mistake- recruits are not being bought without the coach’s agreement. They are the ones who have to put up with the prima donnas, and live with any promises made. In the ’90s, with coaching contracts paying $500 – 800k per year, coaches couldn’t afford the risk of getting caught cheating and losing both their job and their buyout. In the ’00s, with coaches paid more than $1.5 million per year, the arithmetic has changed. Are coaches willing to deal with the shady characters? You tell me. Here’s Bill Snyder, talking about street agents. “I think maybe in some cases they are very meaningful people that are trying to help for the right reasons,” Snyder said …. “I think a lot of it depends on what your motive is.
“I’ve seen it taking place virtually everywhere. It’s catching on everywhere.”
Player reps make recruiting difficult
Note- Ron Prince had run-ins with Brian Butler, the 300 pounds “training consultant” (used to manage a Foot Locker) who marketed Bryce Brown, and discouraged Wildcat boosters from donating to Butler’s “foundation”. Snyder is now taking in two of Butler’s protégés as transfers, from Oregon and Minnesota. Mangino has taken a couple of Butler’s guys, but they aren’t super blues. Earlier this year, Thayer Evans wrote an article about Butler for the NYT, implying that OU couldn’t compete for Butler’s recruits.
New York Times: College Recruiting’s Thin Gray Line
He was premature. OU’s top QB commit Blake Bell is from Butler’s camp.
Listen to this clip, and hear a coach give a shout out to the guy who brought a recruit to his camp, about 35 seconds in…
To cheat, you also need boosters willing to fork over large amounts of cash to players that may never pan out, and also willing to deal with these players and/or their representatives. At SMU, in the ’80s, this was two groups- the big money guys who funded the cheating, and the low level boosters who ran the money to the players. SMU’s eventual problem was three-fold- they were engaging (and winning) in bidding wars, their “runner” boosters liked to brag, and they got cheap- they cut off payments to the recruits that busted on the playing field. Remember- you’re never really “buying” players; you’re only renting them. One more thing about the runners- the existence of street agents may make them unnecessary now, if a player is being paid. The street agents can go directly to the big money boosters, and you can be sure they’ll keep their mouth shut. Also, the initial payments, where a program shows its interest, may be accomplished through the street agent’s business’ website. Can you imagine? Paying for players with Paypal?
Do such people really exist? Are there really boosters that would fork over $5k to get a player to visit and $100k to sign? Yes, there are. Go to the stadium of any big time program and count the luxury boxes. Most modern stadiums have 50 – 100 of them. Every suite owner can afford to buy a player, and many boosters that don’t own suites but do own blocks of seats on the 50 yardlines can afford the payments, too. You only need 5 – 10 to be willing to pay. The amounts of money required are not the barrier you might think. In the ’50s, California’s top-rated schoolboy halfback got $50k, putting Reggie Bush’ 2005 salary to shame. SMU was paying stars $2k/month in the ’80s, equivalent to $4k/month today- tax free. College football is a bigger business than ever before, so it would be foolish to assume that the amounts paid under the table would shrink.
What do they get out of it? They get to be insiders, and feel like partners with the head coach- because they actually are partners. When their school wins a game, they get the satisfaction of knowing they helped. Also, they truly love their alma mater, and believe they are doing the work of the angels in helping it to compete at the highest levels. You have to understand that a crooked booster buying players to keep his school competitive against the more desirable campuses has the same attitude of love that a father buying a nose job for his 16 year old daughter has. In both cases, they are just trying to make life more “fair”.
So, if we agree the elements required for cheating exist, can we assume that it is happening? I think there is enough evidence that it is- Reggie Bush’ “agent”, Albert Means, and the curious visit choices of top recruits. Just look at all of the links to unsavory characters I so casually found. These guys aren’t spending so much time with these kids for free. Then think of the Hobson’s Choice college coaches are given today. They want to recruit a player associated with a street agent that may be semi-legitimized by his recruiting analysis or recruit consulting business. They may think the recruit is honest, although under bad influences. However, to be a player in his recruitment they have to deal with the representative. Is it really a big deal if they decide to subscribe to the service, just to, you know, get their foot in the door and reach the kid? If you don’t pay, you suspect that the field just tilted up against you.
Then if a coach decides to deal with the services and advisors, what if the representative tells you that another school has promised something- a job for a relative, or payments from a booster that they will never be busted for because the agent is going to launder it for them? At this point, the coach realizes what a Faustian bargain he has made. By the way, do you know what they call coaches who refuse to deal with street agents at all? They call them “lazy”. They quickly pick up reps among the recruiting gurus as guys who just won’t try very hard to recruit.
And when you look at basketball…my goodness. I think of Kansas and Duke as being the gold standard of college basketball. Both have recruited players coached by street agent and AAU coach Myron Piggie. He is in jail now, and he has had players lose college eligibility in the past for taking payments from him. Piggie, as corrupt as he was, had a Nike salary and was welcome into the gyms of college basketball’s crown jewel programs. If basketball can live with such open and institutionalized corruption, how can one think that college football is immune from similar illicit practices? If schools are willing to hire an AAU coach as an assistant coach just to get a player (perfectly fine with the NCAA, by the way), why wouldn’t they be willing to commit the same amount under the table without having to deal with some seedy character? Shame? Fear of getting caught?
…which leads to the next step- regulation of recruiting. As we’ve seen above, the current rules are next to useless to stop street agents from brokering players. Yes, it is against the rules for boosters to pay for players, but it’s not against the rules for boosters to do business with third parties with relationships to recruits unless it can be proven that there is a direct quid pro quo arrangement.
Traditionally, there have been two groups that have taken on the task of regulating recruiting and enforcing rules. First, there were the conferences. They were formed early in the 20th century to regulate the sport. They did that task well, but unfortunately different conferences had different standards. By mid-century, the NCAA took over and the conferences focused on marketing. The NCAA did a credible job for many decades, with its high point being the 10 year period after the SMU Death Penalty scared all of the outlaw programs straight.
Since then, recruiting has started to get out of hand again. You have street agents as a regular part of college basketball. You have football players’ representatives charging appearance fees to show up at camps. Why has the NCAA allowed this situation to get out of their control?
Money, of course. The NCAA owns the NCAA basketball tournament, and the NCAA gets and distributes much more money from basketball than football. The NCAA doesn’t want to do anything to tarnish the reputation of its cash cow, college basketball. As the NCAA has gotten wealthier, it has become less interested in regulating college sports, and more interested in marketing college sports. Investigating successful programs just hurts the brand.
So, if UT desires a college football world where illegal inducements aren’t provided to recruits, how does it make that happen? College sports could be cleaned up a lot by enacting these simple rules:
Require scholarship athletes to submit their families’ annual tax returns, just like recipients of financial aid are required to do.
1. Have the conferences set up independent compliance groups to audit jobs programs and tax forms, instead of the individual schools.
2. Ban the hiring of recruits’ relatives and close associates by the schools.
3. Have a conference forum for evaluating street agents, with the power to not allow a recruit to compete in league competition if it is determined that a third party brokered their recruitment.
4. Have all subscriptions to recruiting services by schools be administered by the conference. Have no individual contracts between schools and services. Maybe booster subscriptions should go through a conference portal as well.
If such rules were proposed at a NCAA or conference meeting, would they be approved? They should be, because they would be to the benefit of the 80% of NCAA programs that win 20% of the championships- the Iowa States, Arizonas, Mississippi States, and Minnesotas of the college sports world. The programs that are buying players are reducing the talent pool for the small programs much more than for the perennial contenders. And if the cheating continues until the big time clean programs have had enough and want to change affiliations, the resulting conference shake up will leave several small programs on the outside, never again to rejoin the big boys’ club. This happened in the 1910’s, when Hardin-Simmons, ACU, Centenary, and similar schools from around the country (previously big football powers) were consigned to second rate status. It happened again in the 1950’s, when the NCAA era dropped William and Mary, VMI, and the Ivy League to D-1AA, and it happened still again in the ’90s when TCU, SMU, Rice and Houston were dropped to mid-major status. What we have learned from all of these relegations is that once a school is dropped from a major conference, it can never make it back. Enforcing the rules is in the best interest of the vast majority of NCAA programs.
I suspect the small programs wouldn’t vote for these rules, though, for fear of change from the current order during these tough economic times. This is a huge miscalculation, since a system of rogue schools cheating is not, and has never been, sustainable. There is inevitable a game-changing scandal, with a shake up to follow.
How about increased transparency? CTJ suggested hiring a PI to document the financial transactions, and then handing the findings over to the NCAA or the media. This is pretty much what happened in the ’80s. SMU, stung by their first round of penalties (pre-Death Penalty) turned in rivals. They knew who was cheating because of their status as the winner of multiple bidding wars. They interviewed their players for details and fed the findings to the NCAA and media.
I’m generally in favor of transparency in business. There are two issues to be prepared for, though, before trying this. The first is that Texas sure better be clean if this route is chosen. There will be repercussions and retaliation. The second big issue is that such a course of action will end up with Texas leaving the Big 12. I don’t particularly like the Big 12, but this is not the way to leave it. I suspect that the conferences that would have welcomed UT in the ’90s would be a little wary of a school that had seen two conferences tank in 15 years.
There is one thing an interested observer could do. CTJ, you didn’t mention the name of the alleged Houston street agent. You could e-mail the Compliance Department of whatever school his represented athletes enroll at, and cc the NCAA. Just a little note saying something like, “Are you aware that recent recruit ‘Bryce Scott’ was represented in his recruiting by a street agent, who owns the “Scouting Solutions” business, and that this guy was paid by your boosters before Bryce would attend your camp””. This will start at least a perfunctory investigation by the guilty school, even if intended only to whitewash it. It could also screw up whatever deals the player has set up (I think Texas screwed up a job for Darrell Scott’s mom) and leave a record in case a greater scandal erupts at that program.
There is one more avenue for stopping this form of cheating. I have posted before on the odd outcome from the initial creation of the athletic conferences 100 years ago- the schools that agreed to join and follow more restrictive rules ended up much stronger competitively than those that didn’t. If Texas could enlist some like-minded programs- Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, Nebraska (i.e. the programs that have great tradition and support and would prefer to follow the letter and the spirit of the laws) in a “compliance consortium”, the outlaw programs could find their hands forced. Look at the list of suggested rules above. If a group of programs agreed to voluntarily comply with these rules on reporting and monitoring, and also schedule games against each other, sunlight would be forced on the unethical practices of other schools that rejected these rules. The lazy sports media would be forced to connect the dots about the same guy always being connected to recruits with odd camp visit schedules, and write about it.
Imagine how the same media would view this college football star chamber. The non-conference games would be very high-profile. The media would be given a great counterexample for any ongoing scandals. The schools in this self-selected group would be free to raise their ethical standards without having to go it alone. If one school plays it straight in a rule-breaking environment, it’s a sucker. If several of the highest profile schools decide to obey the rules, they are standard-setters. Lower profile programs would want to join the alliance- schools like Virginia and California. There would be pressure on the NCAA to adopt the standards of this consortium. It would force the process of cleaning up the sport again, without killing the weaker programs.
Yes, this is an “out of the box” suggestion. I think it would work, though, and it’s certainly better than any other proposed ideas. Make no mistake- this is going to get worse before it gets better. The current tough economic times make cheating more likely, not less, since winning more games leads to higher revenues. If something isn’t done, we are setting up very nicely for a replay of the ’80s in college football, and we all remember how fun that was.
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Activity
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 50 minutes ago
Nordberg,
Ironic indeed……teachable moment, I guess….
NY Horn,
I hope your drunk, because Izzo ain’t coming to Texas……Why don’t we just get Coach K. I mean Coach G came from Duke, they have to be dying to get out of Durham….
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 54 minutes ago
Egg, that’s fine, but at what point do you blame Barnes? Seriously, man. You’ve thrown players under the bus left and right, but at a certain point, doesn’t the buck stop somewhere. I know you’re more of an NBA guy so it begins and ends with players there, but we need fucking
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 54 minutes ago
Egg, that’s fine, but at what point do you blame Barnes? Seriously, man. You’ve thrown players under the bus left and right, but at a certain point, doesn’t the buck stop somewhere. I know you’re more of an NBA guy so it begins and ends with players there, but we need fucking
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 55 minutes ago
Trips,
I hear ya. I’m frustrated as well. I guess I just don’t prescribe to such a black and white characterization of the situation. I do know that no matter what happened in the huddle, JCB made a dumb play. If Rick didn’t explain or remind him of the situation, then I
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Pat, know I don’t, but I’ve had coaches draw up plays to free up the best foul shooter and then tell that guy they’d put their foot up his ass if they passed the ball. It’s funny, but as a fans of football we nitpick blitz pickup and shit like that. Shit that’s
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Pat, you know I don’t, but I’ve had coaches draw up plays to free up the best foul shooter and then tell that guy they’d put their foot up his ass if they passed the ball. It’s funny, but as a fans of football we nitpick blitz pickup and shit like that. Shit
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Pat, you know I don’t, but I’ve had coaches draw up plays to free up the best foul shooter and then tell that guy they’d put their foot up his ass if they passed the ball. It’s funny, but as fans of football we nitpick blitz pickup and shit like that. Shit that’s
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
Shitty season…..Rick needs to hire some offensive help and someone needs to say it to him. Deloss?
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
Trips,
Do you know that he didn’t? JCB has made bad decision all season, why would this be any different. Barnes coached a shitastic game, but on the teams I was the best FT shooter, I never game up the ball unless it was an uncontested layup…..It’s not hard and it doesn’t take a
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
mcpayne, yes, you don’t leave that shit to chance. You don’t let your guys break the huddle or dead ball not knowing precisely what’s expected from them. Barnes doesn’t get 2 mil for coaching PE where he’s hoping the right guy gets fouled.
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uthookem commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
mpayne, I’d agree with you if J’Covan had been playing all season and had been in situations to make that decision. Like, you know, against Baylor, when he played all of 3 fucking minutes thanks to rick.
So yes, it is rick’s fault.
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
With 15 seconds left, out of a dead ball, most coaches would make it perfectly clear who they wanted to be fouled.
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uthookem commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Stupid decisions by Brown are one of the reasons he sat on the bench for most of the season…lack of coaching maybe, or just a lack of basketball IQ?
Oh well, if Brown doesn’t go off in the 2nd half, we aren’t even playing in OT. Too bad he didn’t get much of a chance
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Pat, if you were making 2 million a year, would you leave that up to chance?
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
Actually, if your a PG and the best FT shooter on the team and played basketball your entire life, you’d pretty much know not to give up the ball if you had any brains…..Such a dumb play…..
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D W commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
Oh, and a stupid decision by Brown in giving up the ball to Johnson.
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
Be nice if we’d coached our 90 percent foul shooter not to give the ball up.
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
Ransom,
1 for 2, that was not shitty defense……
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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) 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
Well if you had read it all the way, you would’ve noticed this little tidbit:
In the second part I’ll do my best to give an outline of what exactly is wrong with the program, what we can do to fix it, and then what will probably happen TO fix it.
So to answer your question:
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });
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uthookem commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
The line kills us, as it should have.
Fuck Rick Barnes, as this was the worst coaching I have seen in all my years of watching UT sports.
This saved us from Kentucky, but I feel bad for Damo, he was a hell of a Longhorn.
Hook ‘em!
And FUCK RICK BARNES!
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
Feel bad for Damion…..Dexter and Mason, not so much….
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D W commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
So the season ends with missed free throws and shitty defense by Bradley. Pretty fitting.
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 17 minutes ago
Yup……We knew that FTs would get us….
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
F’n Gary’s been awful tonight….
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uthookem commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
GJ at the line…big heart needed!
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
Why does Brown give it up there?
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
Bilas explaining why we’re not a smart team…Oh good, I want Gary at the line…
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
The good news is that now I know to fill out the census, so i’m not going to jail…not for that anyway.
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
Holy shit
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest Open thread 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
F’n A…..WTF….
t1climb1 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:01 am
Your last paragraph is the most important of this well written and timely piece. We are in a perfect storm situation here with the money in College football being bigger than ever and the economy setting the table for more desperation than ever before. These two are the perfect ingredients for a dish of Cheat-your-ass-off souffle. And unfortunately, I agree that it is going to get much worse before it gets better.
My question to you is twofold; first, do you actually see the NCAA ever growing a pair and going SMU on a program again, and second what will it take for that to happen?
Sasha_Is_A_Longhorn_Dog said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:01 am
Wow. Great article. Most interesting thing I’ve read in a while.
srr50 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
Great read Taylor.
Unfortunately, I don’t see a a D-1 football “Star Chamber” working because football is a “zero sum” game. The losers (and obviously there would be losers in such a group), would feel the pressure to do anything to get back to winning, especially since those fan bases are spoiled to the point of feelings of entitlement.
Also you would have to get the networks on board (that’s where the money is) and that means having the SEC buy into this.
Yeah that’s gonna happen.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 am
SRR, I see the “Star Chamber” as starting out with only the football power schools that have an institutional aversion to cheating- Texas, Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame. These are the programs that have the most to lose if the street agents aren’t reigned in. They should be driving the changes. I proposed that these schools agree to play non-conference games against each other because, frankly, any activity that gets Texas and Michigan to play, or Penn State and Notre Dame to play, will attract the interest of the networks and be impossible to ignore. While covering the games, the principles behind the schools can be promoted.
Capt. Insano said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:26 am
This was a great read and very informative. Thanks.
My guess is Lache Seastrunk and his “aunt” Jen ends up at Auburn, then transfers to Baylor after his first game against Alabama.
Nobis60 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 am
Texas should hold half-hour seminars on this the very first time they host a group of sophomores or juniors. As you said, oftentimes the recruits and their families may be in the dark as to some of the shadiness taking place on their behalf.
Stuck in MN said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
I don’t even think you need rich boosters to fund this stuff, though it certainly helps. I’m not wealthy but, if it were legal, would drop a grand or two a year in a recruiting PAC/slush fund if it meant a bunch of 5 star recruiting classes. Hell, the average fan drops that in just traveling to a bowl game, so there are plenty of people out there just as sick as me.
Of course, that would mean schools with a large base of alumni that are passionate about football would dominate. Texas, tOSU, OU, the SEC. Kind of like today, but A&M would be better.
NateHeupel said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:47 am
“OU’s top QB commit Blake Bell is from Butler’s camp.”
Negative, Ghostrider.
I went to PotentialPlayers.com and they didn’t have Blake Bell’s profile there. I went to the VarsityKansas site and there were repeated stating that the Bell family didn’t use Brian Butler’s services.
Then I found this from ESPN.com: LINK
“Blake Bell is the 6-6 junior QB that appears to be the next reason why a lot of college recruiters will be flocking to Wichita, Kan. There had been speculation that Bell’s recruitment will be orchestrated through Brian Butler’s Potential Players group. Not so. I spoke with Alan Schuckman, Bell’s high school coach at Bishop Carroll, on Sunday.
Bell, who the coach says is a legit 6-6, 215, has attended Butler’s combines and also is friendly with Bryce Brown. Turns out, Bell and Brown, the touted RB, have known each other since playing youth basketball together. However, Bell’s family and his high school coach will handle the QB’s recruitment.”
This makes sense considering Blake Bell has not one, but two close relatives who were in the NFL.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thanks, Nate. I would be surprised to see a talent like Bell commit this early if he were for sale, and the linked stories show how Butler will also try to place the less touted prospects, who presumably also are not for sale (because nobody is buying). The points are:
1. There are shades of gray. Bell was probably above board. Bryce Brown was almost certainly not.
2. It’s hard to recruit Kansas without having some contact with Butler (as Prince found out).
TaylorTRoom said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Nate, do you know what the OU staff’s policy is with street agents (the football staff, obviously)? I know the Texas staff prefers to go through the family and HS coach, but I don’t know if they have a policy of absolutely not talking to or contacting street agents to get in touch with the recruit. What does the OU staff do if a kid tells them to use a street agent to get in touch with him?
srr50 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
I proposed that these schools agree to play non-conference games against each other because, frankly, any activity that gets Texas and Michigan to play, or Penn State and Notre Dame to play, will attract the interest of the networks and be impossible to ignore.
Once again, Taylor, I envision SEC teams (and others) laughing and saying “go ahead beat each other up.” The media will be interested for a while, but it will simply weed out some of the institutions trying to clean things up (more losses to go with conference losses).
What I believe will happen will be those who stand up and say “enough is enough,” will be slowly narrowed because of fan pressure to win.
glenn said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 am
couple of excellent articles on this issue.
if somehow all this gets us out of the present conference expect to hear ‘ho santas’ out of this corner.
say, speaking of thayer. did he ever complete that article on how modern enterprising, forward-thinking print journalists can supplement their meager earnings in these difficult times by making their considerable talents available to needy college programs?
ponderos said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 am
“Blake Bell is the 6-6 junior QB that appears to be the next reason why a lot of college recruiters will be flocking to Wichita, Kan. There had been speculation that Bell’s recruitment will be orchestrated through Brian Butler’s Potential Players group. Not so. I spoke with Alan Schuckman, Bell’s high school coach at Bishop Carroll, on Sunday.
Bell, who the coach says is a legit 6-6, 215, has attended Butler’s combines and also is friendly with Bryce Brown. Turns out, Bell and Brown, the touted RB, have known each other since playing youth basketball together. However, Bell’s family and his high school coach will handle the QB’s recruitment.”
So, essentially, Taylor was just talking out of his ass when he threw it out there that Blake Bell was one of Brian Butler’s kids.
got it.
Trix for Kids said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:15 am
Don’t forget to visit sites like:
http://www.elitescoutingservices.com
to get a real picture of how this all works.
All of the above is well written and directionally correct, though I would add a few comments.
* Many of todays street agents come out of pseudo-legit media world. Do a search on the Houston street agent who shalln’t be named or Larry Blustein some time. Both used to submit articles for Athlon’s as “recruiting analysts”. Blustein wrote for the Miami Herald while organizing camps and combines for South Florida recruits. If you think about it….who better than a recruiting journailist (such as Ketch), to be in a position to identify, build a relationship with, and possibly influence a stud recruits’ decision? Ketch never would, but he is certainly in a position to. Heck, I still think Thayer Evans role with MacFarland crossed the line of booster disguised as journalist influencing the recruiting process.
* The money flow is much different between football and basketball recruiting, but the football piece is becoming frighteningly similar. Basketball and AAU is openly funded by Nike and Adidas in an oddly parasitic and yet symbiotic way (hows that for a contradiction?). Lots of corporate dough! By contrast, shoe companies don’t throw millions at 14-year-old football players (yet) for obvious reasons. However, with the growth of 7-on-7 tournaments, nationally covered summer camps, and (most importantly) national HS all-star games, the real corporate money is starting to show up. Adidas now sponsors Texas 7-on-7 tournaments, UnderArmor added it’s name to a national HS all-star game in Florida, and Nike actually made a sponsored donation to Brian Butler’s showcase event (”combine”) in Kansas. It’s getting worse.
* There seems to be two models of delivery developing: an urban model and a more suburban model. The urban model is much like CTJ described above, but the burden is on the street agent to build the relationship with the recruit and his parent (er…parents). The suburban model is usually focused on a local “gym” / personal training facility, such as the “Elite Performance” centers popping up in a suburb near you. In this model, the kid and his wealthy parents usually provide the money to a trainer/future rep to do whatever it takes to get young Johnny an athletic scholarship. The fuel here is the uber-competitive parent. The rep/trainer simply leverages his contacts in the college football world to get the kid a look. Something akin to the Brian Butler model, yet he does a little of both.
* Here’s the key: It’s all legal!!! Yes, as long as a college pays for an agents “recruiting services” (see websites above), than the agent can legally show revenue to the IRS. Then, in return for the purchase of recruiting services, the agent can say good things about your school to his stable of young athletes. Heck, they can even stop by for a visit….ya know what I mean??
I don’t know that it has gone this far (yet) but how much of a leap is it before a guy with absolutely no known ties to a college program comes along and purchases an agent’s recruiting services for $10,000 (for example, the video service described on the website above). The booster happens to mention that in addition to being a doctor, that he loves Auburn football. Well heck, surely the agent needs to do a little something for Auburn to keep the doctor / customer happy. After all, he paid $10,000 for the recruitng video. That’s the slippery slope here, a college coach may know nothing about the young doctor (booster) making a contribution to an agents scouting services, yet the booster just bought a visit from a recruit….LEGALLY!!! Some suggest that this has been whats was going on at Kansas State, pre-Ron Prince
Last point: It can’t be stressed enough how important the new $2.25 BILLION dollar contract between ESPN / ABC and the SEC means in all of this. The idea that the NCAA is going to shut down any SEC program in the face of that kind of corporate money (pressure) is laughable. The larger problem is that even if we were to hire a PI to provide evidence, what sports media outlet is available to us to disseminate the incriminating evidence? ESPN? Nope, they have 2 billion reasons to quash this. Time Warner? Nope (they own TV stations that broadcast sports too). Fox media outlets? Nope, they broadcast the Big XII. That leaves Yahoo Sports. Is it a striking coincidence that they are the ones who broke the USC / Reggie Bush payola?
It’s like trying to be a muckraker in a world where all media outlets have a financial stake in making sure the muck never sees the light of day.
Addendum: This is taken off the “services” offered section of the Elite Scouting Services website (see above):
Our service places high school athletes at all levels of collegiate football.
Our comprehensive scouting program is tailored precisely for your football programs needs. Our service not only provides you with in-depth information on the student athletes, but also creates relationships with players, their families, and coaches as well. Our video component and website allow you to access player information and highlight film from any computer. ESS will become an extension of your own coaching staff, a group of scouts that will recruit year round saving you precious time and money. Our goal is to dissect your immediate and long term recruiting needs and build a personalized service around your program.
Atlantasooner said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Taylor,
I don’t know that OU has any kind of real policy on Street Agents.
However, it’s clear Jeff Capel avoids those kids. Renardo Sidney, who is about to lose his amateur status, reached out to OU to be recruited. Sidney who would have been an ideal Blake Griffin replacement was not recruited at all by Capel. Is Barnes so above board on this issue?Ask a Maryland fan about your recruiting practices. I won’t throw too many rocks here since OU did employ NCAA pariah Kelvin Sampson.
OU clearly thought that they led on Arthur and Bryce Brown based on recruiting the kids at the OU Summer camps where the Browns became stars. The fact that OU got dropped by Arthur was stunning and led OU to NOT recruit Bryce Brown at all. OU clearly felt like they were used and some serious shenanigans were occuring. So OU clearly draws the lines on kids just like UT. Did OU sign Jayden Bird who used Brown’s service. Yes, did Bird earn that ship at OU’s summer camp. Yes.
And there’s a top ranked kid from Texas that both OU and UT are not really recruiting. In fact, OU’s never been in his top ten. We all know who it is. We all know why. And we all know that USC (home of the street agent in college football, or inventor), LSU, and we’re so desperate we don’t care that we get on probation (that’s Auburn for those needing a translation) are where this kid will probably go.
To be honest, the only really off the wall recruiting story that I have heard Bob’s program do was with AD. Bob like every other coach in America visited AD’s dad in jail.
coolhorn said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
The schools that don’t have to pay for players (UT, ND, Michigan, etc.) are going to have to take a drastic action, because they’re the only ones that can.
Realistically, I see this going one of two ways, as outlined at the front end of the article. UT and like-minded schools refuse to pay up, because they’re among the handful of schools that don’t need to, and otherwise, BCS football becomes “pay-for-players” for all intents and purposes. The second outcome is worse…UT recruiting begins to suffer enough that our coaches and administrators hold their nose, and dig into deep pockets to outbid everybody else for primo talent.
I don’t think it would be so easy to get a consensum among the schools that don’t have to cheat to take a stand against street agents and pay for players. I do think that as much as I’m no fan of the Big XII, the Horns don’t need to get out of it at this time.
The article is great…the only problem is that it raises way more questions than supplies answers. Enlightened self-interest on the part of those at Bellmont makes any action, for or against the interests of street agents, risky for UT athletics.
My guess is that Dodds and company will avoid drawing any lines in the sand concerning street agents until/if/when it becomes absolutely necessary for the continued health of UT athletics. I don’t look for the Horns to be proactive at all on this issue.
srr50 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
My guess is that Dodds sees this as a problem for the next AD.
J.R.69 said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Excellent analysis. I don’t see any end to this until, and unless, the NCAA is shit-canned and another organization, with enforcement powers, is installed.
Such a new organization would ideally need to be created by an outside, objective party with limited input from prospective members–if “majority rules” principles were allowed, the result would be exactly what we have now–since there are more cheaters than non-cheaters.
My guess is that the status quo will be the norm until, as someone pointed out, a major scandal occurs that forces the NCAA to issue another death penalty or such.
Fecal McBee said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
You guys are full of shit – again.
Bell is not an active participant in Butler’s group. Hasn’t been for a LONG time.
Kashemeyia Adams said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Why is everyone pointing at me again!
VoiceOfReason said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I’m trying to figure out how you people came up with the working assumption that Texas desires to be any cleaner than the competition. Texas has a fair number of probations over the years.
Flamingmonkeyass said:
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Fair number being a number considerably less than that of rivals? If that’s your point than I think we’d agree.
The General said:
July 4th, 2009 at 8:57 am
The assumption that Texas does not pay players is based on economics. Nobody could outbid UT if it was bidding. Yet, Texas has lost out on Tommie Harris, Jamarcus McFarland, and Adrian Peterson, three of the top 5 talents from Texas this decade. Not to mention Darell Scott and what appears to be happening with Lache Seastrunk.
NateHeupel said:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:29 am
General, Jackie Shipp is a hell of a DT coach, but he’s also a brilliant recruiter. He’s a stud at playing the race card. “Don’t you want your son to have a strong African-American male role model coaching him every day?” With a lot of women raising these kids by themselves, they eat this crap up. McFarland’s mom brought this up as part of their recruiting.
Simply put, I’d take Shipp to beat whatever UT recruiter Brown sent out for a DT recruit 7 out of 10 times.
As for Adrian Peterson, OU won for three very simple reasons:
Taylor, I don’t know if OU has a stated policy on street agents. I can definitively say that OU will deal with street agents, but not on an exclusive basis. Jayden Bird is proof positive of this. You can find him on the Potential Players website.
What I mean is that if OU can’t directly interact with the recruit and their family, and if the street agent makes himself the sole point of contact, then OU won’t pursue that player.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:40 am
That’s a good policy. If you can (legitimately, and without booster “help”) put up with the street agent (street agent being a guy working several players, and not just his nephew) long enough to build some kind of relationship with the kid, the recruiting coach has the opportunity to push the street agent to the side. My understanding (hearsay) is that Texas coaches will recruit kids who may have affiliations with street agents or their groups, but drop the kids as soon as they realize there is going to be a price to be paid.
Jackie Shipp said:
July 4th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I’m also brilliant in the bedroom.
Chicka-chicka-bowwow!
Jim Harrison said:
July 4th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Fuck. Just tackle somebody. All this hoohah about who copulated where and who got paid is beside the point. This is football.
Will said:
July 5th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Nate –
“As for Adrian Peterson, OU won for three very simple reasons:
1) Stoops took his in-home visit at Peterson’s dad’s jail. No one else did this.
2) Guaranteed him playing time as a true freshman. UT sure as hell wasn’t going to do this, and Mack Brown lost AD right here.
3) OU was closer than USC. I still believe USC would’ve signed Peterson if USC was within 500 miles of Palestine, TX.”
You forgot #4.
4) Paid him a shit ton of cash and let him drive a Lexus free of charge for extended periods of time.
Again, Peterson screwed himself. Talked about going to OU to “win championships.” Then gets embarrassed in the Big 12 title game, goes to the Nat’l title and gets embarrassed there, and then never sniffs it again while UT goes undefeated, gets a ring, and goes down in the history books as fielding one of the greatest teams ever. Oh, well, I forgot that he also had that wonderful game against the Smurfs in the Fiesta Bowl.
Smart decision maker, that Peterson kid! Real smart.
Demarco Cobbs said:
July 5th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
“Are you starting to understand why some recruits say they like a certain school, but never visit it, and then go across the country to visit a school they had never shown interest in before?”
Look, this whole thing has been a big misunderstanding.
Really, there is nothing shady going on.
I promise.
Please believe me?
Reality said:
July 5th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Making millions of dollars is really good medicine for easing the pain of not winning a national championship.
glenn said:
July 5th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
he made millions of dollars in norman?
he would be making millions now regardless of where he went to school. he could have had a ring, too, had he chosen more wisely.
J.R.69 said:
July 6th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Fuck all the turncoats and their street-agent/pimps.
VoiceOfReason said:
July 6th, 2009 at 6:37 am
“The assumption that Texas does not pay players is based on economics. Nobody could outbid UT if it was bidding. Yet, Texas has lost out on Tommie Harris, Jamarcus McFarland, and Adrian Peterson, three of the top 5 talents from Texas this decade. Not to mention Darell Scott and what appears to be happening with Lache Seastrunk.
”
Perhaps Texas bid matched the competition however the kid just liked the school he picked better?
Again, there’s a working assumption that everytime you lose out on a recruit it’s because the other side cheated. I flat out don’t buy that. There’s plenty of reasons to pick a destination other than the University of Texas.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
TTR,
As always, great research and ideas. I need to sit down and read this a lot more closely when I have time, but a couple of quick observations:
- The whole recruiting service/coaching/boosters relationship has become a tangled web indeed. Many of these recruiting services and trainers have been coaches and many coaches have worked with these guys. The service that worked with my son, as well as his personal trainer, were close friends with the position coach at the school he is now at. Did the service and the trainer “get” something since my son committed to them instead of the rival that was also recruiting him? Beats me – as simply a parent, I have no way of knowing.
- Every school – EVERY school – has some “stuff” going on. Boosters hire football players for summer jobs (I think people now know they gotta work, but they may get $15 an hour while others are getting $10). There are restaurants in College Station, Austin and Norman where a football player never has to pay for his meal. Can we ever really eradicate ALL violations? Do we even want to?
- Is the NCAA really letting this go in football because they don’t want to kill the golden goose in basketball? Don’t both have to be cleaned up together?
the Bobs said:
July 6th, 2009 at 10:19 am
“There’s plenty of reasons to pick a destination other than the University of Texas.”
and sometimes they come in different denominations…
Look, you’re free to convince yourself that the kid “just liked the school he picked better” in ALL these cases. It may even be true in SOME of cases. But just don’t expect to convice anyone here based on your say-so… let’s face it – your worst nightmare would be a Texas who just decided “what the heck, go for it” and turned loose their boosters. Sure, you’d still get those that “just liked” you better, but I don’t think even you believe you’d get as many as you’ve gotten in the past.
VoiceOfReason said:
July 6th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Texas probably gets commitments from a larger percentage of their offers than any other school in the country. It’s absurd to claim that the school with the highest commit percentage is a victim of cheating.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 6th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Voice of Reason- Please spell out your logic, slowly please. I’m not following it.
I'm Confused said:
July 6th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Voice of Reason why? Mack has seemed to take great pride in quoting that stat each year at the press conference on signing day, but what exactly does that mean? How many kids are eliminated at the start of the process? How many get quickly culled?
Additionally, I have made my living in sales for 15+ years and closing percentage doesn’t mean squat if you don’t have access to the entire market. If indeed third parties are playing a bigger and bigger role that is going to reduce who Mack goes after and that will indeed reduce the talent pool.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 7th, 2009 at 5:45 am
I personally think that Coach Brown’s high commit % is a result of the fact he does not “officially” offer (i.e., give them a letter) unless a kid says he’s willing to commit. Kids being recruited by y’all have told me that their offer was presented this way.
Nordberg said:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:04 am
So Seatstrunk, Jeffcoat, White, Hicks, etc. all told Mack they’d commit before they got their offers? Doubtful.
Bob in Houston said:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:17 am
“- Every school – EVERY school – has some “stuff” going on. Boosters hire football players for summer jobs (I think people now know they gotta work, but they may get $15 an hour while others are getting $10). There are restaurants in College Station, Austin and Norman where a football player never has to pay for his meal. Can we ever really eradicate ALL violations? Do we even want to?”
You have to remember that NCAA rules are made up by the members to keep the members in check. If the NCAA is supposedly lax in enforcement, one has to assume that the enforcement is at least adequate.
If the NCAA could enforce its rules like police enforce laws, things would be different. But then the rules might be different, too.
VoiceOfReason said:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Oversimplified…
If you want to find the most likely steriod user in baseball, first look at the guy that has the most home runs.
If you want to find the most likely cheater in college football, first look at the school that most consistently lands the recruits they want.
TaylorTRoom said:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Voice of Reason, that is a very poor analogy. There were plenty of baseballs hit long before steroids entered the game. Are you arguing that cheating in recruiting started 20 years ago? Are you arguing that somehow the attractiveness of a recruiting pitch is somehow a better measure of cheating than actual violations?
VoiceOfReason said:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:07 am
There is no way to know the number of actual violations, just like there is no way to know for sure if a baseball player is using steroids. The only data is success rate (homeruns, sign %) and times caught, which in both cases is a very low percentage of actual violations, so low in fact that the sample size isn’t even statistically meaningful.
But this would be akin to Cardinal fan claiming that ridding baseball of steriods would benefit Albert Pujols proportionally more under the defensable but likely flawed assumption that El Hombre is clean.
Statistics said:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:13 am
What the fuck are you talking about?
TaylorTRoom said:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:32 am
He doesn’t know. He’s floundering.
uthookem said:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Great article, TTR. I wish we could do something about it before it begins to bite us in the ass.
Hook ‘em!
BatesHorn said:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Voice-That is quite possible the most fallacious line of logic I’ve ever read about baseball.
I guarantee this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_Wilson
was drunk or possessed a hangover that would probably kill you or I, and his NL homerun record outlasted Maris and Ruth, COMBINED.
Somebody hitting a lot of homeruns only proves one thing: he hit a lot of homeruns.
VoiceOfReason said:
July 7th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Steroids weren’t around when that person played, so I don’t understand what you are talking about.
Again, the issue here is the irony in the school with the highest percentage of acceptances-to-offers in college football suggesting that the recruiting process is somehow unfair to them, or that they would do better if the process was better regulated. Outside of the NCAA instituting a rule that states that Texas gets the first 25 picks each year and then everybody else can recruit, I don’t see how you could possibly raise your percentage of offers-to-commits.
Irony said:
July 7th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
What the fuck are you talking about?
the Bobs said:
July 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
VoiceOfReason: “… so I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
clearly you don’t…
btw – If I for a single moment believed you even slightly understood “irony” without looking it up, I’d congratulate you on your nom de plume…
HornInExile said:
July 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
In the context of this well written essay, note the recent audit of K-State in which it was disclosed that the university has no documentation supporting 13 payments totalling $845,000 to Snyder and the two previous ADs.
Allow me to analyze…no supporting documentation means that these disbursements were unrelated to contractual compensation (as a contract is, by definition, supporting documentation). 13 checks, total of $845,000, no explanation for the business purpose for which the funds were disbursed.
K-State is a school with very few wealthy donors. The endowment is under $300M. There is no Red McCombs to be found wearing purple.
Meanwhile, K-State nabs Josh Freeman, who had previously committed to Nebraska, and Michael Beasley, who followed that beacon of ethics, Bob Huggins, down the well-beaten path to a campus that is a 2-hour drive from the nearest airport.
Austin180 said:
July 11th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
You guys must have really hit a nerve. CTJ and CA are just being hammered over on everybody’s favorite free speech and anarchy board. Damn!
Vasherized said:
July 12th, 2009 at 5:55 am
The artist formerly known as Chris Applewhite?
That board is like an episode of Eastbound & Down in the offseason.
Horn7 said:
July 12th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I’ve been listening to the same old shit from OU fans for a lot of years. OU is the most penalized school in the history of the NCAA . . . but they’re oh so offended and self righteous when their honor is questioned. It’s laughable.
LegendaryHorn said:
July 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
release the boosters….j/k.
The sad truth is that we are going to lose out on top guys who dreamed of playing at Texas because of financial situations. They can help out their families while still going to an elite school and playing starring role, of course they are going to take that offer.
The other sad truth is that the NCAA is a joke. Programs aren’t afraid of any repercussions that might happen. Whats the worst that they would do to a team like ou, usc, bama? dock a few scholarships for 3-4 years and say “don’t do it again”…its pathetic.
SpreadsheetAg said:
July 31st, 2009 at 9:07 am
I don’t do this often, but I would like to compliment you on the article. It was VERY informative, though a little ironic coming from a t-sip (just KIDDING). Anyways, thanks for that bit of illumination, I hadn’t really heard of Street Agents until recently. You’re brief synopsis of their occupation and the environment in which they work was perfect for what I was trying to find out.
Thanks and gig’em,
Michael
Informative, but... said:
July 31st, 2009 at 9:41 am
Generally this is the least biased texas blog, but to think texas never cheats or their boosters never cheat is extremely naive. Everyone cheats in college football. USC has the same built-in advantages as texas and they have been cheating their asses off for the greater part of this decade.
Ag_in_TX said:
July 31st, 2009 at 10:16 am
I have discussed this with TTR many times – there’s “cheating” and there is “CHEATING”.
cheating – the restaurant in town that every player knows about where he never has to pay – the cushy summer job that won’t interfere with conditioning practice – the car loan through a favored alum with a sales price and terms that just aren’t available to everyone else – these types of things exist at all schools and are tolerated.
CHEATING – outright pay – summer jobs that you don’t even show up for – cash bonuses for signing – flat out giving away of cars.
Most schools “cheat” but very few “CHEAT” and everybody is on the lookout for the guy who is moving from “cheating” to “CHEATING”.
What is digusting about the street agent racket is the kid is getting pimped out by a third party who is gaining financially – perhaps without the kid even knowing he is a whore.
Barking Carnival — Blog — USC Continues to Cheat & The NCAA Is Too Gutless to Care said:
December 18th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
[...] leading the coverage among the CFB sites. You can read about it here (the initial rip on it by me); here (a follow-up rip on it by TaylorTRoom) ; and here (more expounding on the nonsense by ScipioTex). What’s rarely ever discussed by ESPN [...]
Frederick Guardipee said:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Hey great article I will be definitely visitig it again!