Real Sports story implicates Auburn, other schools

[novelist_wannabe]

No shocker here. We all know college sports is dirty. Still, this is fairly candid.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/ex-auburn-players-claim-systematic-pay-to-play-29592

 

[trifectarich]

Get used to it. None of this ever is going to change until the NCAA starts to hand down penalties that truly act as a deterrent. Take the program out of existence for a year. Now that will get someone's attention.

I don't think any of these players were standouts, so you only can imagine what the really good players were given.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

No shocker here. We all know college sports is dirty. Still, this is fairly candid.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/ex-auburn-players-claim-systematic-pay-to-play-29592

I don't doubt some this happened. But I have a hard time swallowing all of it.






Yeah, I know .... "That's what she said."

 

[mustangj17]

I don't even give a **** about the $1,000 handshakes, at MSU - or even Auburn or OSU. So many worse things are happening at Auburn/OSU that have gone unpunished, so this seems to be nothing.

Nothing will ever come of this.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I've always thought there was no way the NCAA would ever use the Death Penalty again because it worked too well when SMU was hit with it.

But with the new regime in Indy I'm starting to think they're going to make an example of somebody. And I'm talking about a BCS-level program, not Cleveland State.

 

[dkphxf]

The NCAA won't punish one of its premier teams because of money. See what happened to Auburn and Cam Newton. The NCAA and Auburn worked hand-in-hand to make sure Newton wouldn't be ineligible. Auburn declared him ineligible, and the NCAA said he was a matter of hours later. The NCAA has never moved faster on anything because Auburn was lining up for college football's biggest championship game (SEC) and the biggest postseason game (national tournament).

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I've always thought there was no way the NCAA would ever use the Death Penalty again because it worked too well when SMU was hit with it.

But with the new regime in Indy I'm starting to think they're going to make an example of somebody. And I'm talking about a BCS-level program, not Cleveland State.

I think they'll have no choice to nail one, maybe two BCS-level schools with SMU-like sanctions if they want to get serious about this.

 

[Armchair_QB]

The NCAA won't punish one of its premier teams because of money. See what happened to Auburn and Cam Newton. The NCAA and Auburn worked hand-in-hand to make sure Newton wouldn't be ineligible. Auburn declared him ineligible, and the NCAA said he was a matter of hours later. The NCAA has never moved faster on anything because Auburn was lining up for college football's biggest championship game (SEC) and the biggest postseason game (national tournament).

Like I said, I used to believe that. But the vibe I'm getting from the new NCAA Prez is that they're going to drop the hammer on somebody once they build a convincing enough case. That somebody could conceivably still be Auburn.

However, my guess is that it will be low-level BCS program. Which means somebody like Mississippi State, Baylor, Minnesota or anybody in the Big East.

 

[Stoney]

Get used to it. None of this ever is going to change until the NCAA starts to hand down penalties that truly act as a deterrent allows the players a piece of the pie.

Fixed. Harsher penalties won't make much difference as long as the glaring hypocrisy and unfairness of the system increases every year.

There was a nice 20 minute Frontline piece on this last night (you can watch it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-and-march-madness/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=bigimage&utm_source=bigimage) in which NCAA prez Mark Emmert looks so weaselly that notorious shoe money hustler Sonny Vacarro comes off as the voice of morality by comparison.

Salary inflation has been running amuck at the NCAA and amongst everybody else who profits off these kids' labor. The top NCAA officials are pocketing millions these days, coaches are now salaried at several million per year, yet the kids still can't take a dime. Most players today see the NCAA rules for what they largely are, a way for a bunch of fat cats to avoid having to share their loot with the labor.

 

[Nathan Scott Phillips]

No shocker here. We all know college sports is dirty. Still, this is fairly candid.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/ex-auburn-players-claim-systematic-pay-to-play-29592

Still doesn't seem like they are getting a fair cut of the revenue they generate. But those players should probably claim all that cash on their taxes and make sure they get a 1099.

 

[derwood]

Bowl CEO makes 600k a year. Within five years there will be a major congressianal investigation into NCAA and its finances. They are raking in two billion per year and nobody really knows how it is spent.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I don't think any of these players were standouts, so you only can imagine what the really good players were given.

Stanley McClover was first-team All-SEC and a Top 100 national recruit out of high school. Like it says in the link, he had four sacks in one game against Alabama.

Troy Reddick was a three-year starter for a team that went undefeated and won the SEC his junior year.

Chaz Ramsey started as a true freshman and would probably have been an All-SEC caliber player had he not suffered a career-ending back injury.

Raven Gray was a five-star recruit out of high school, but never could get it together academically.

In short, these were damn good players. Maybe they weren't Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell-level, but still major contributors or guys who Auburn coaches hoped would be.

There have been rumors going around about Cadillac getting paid for years. He switched his commitment from Tennessee to Auburn on signing day. That would be your real smoking gun, but as someone who's made millions in the NFL, he has no incentive to talk.

 

[Bamadog]

I am Jack's total lack of surprise. SEC program, dirty. No great shock. While Alabama isn't perfect, Auburn's record for breaking/bending/smashing the rules to compete with big brother Bama is longer than The Simpsons' run on primetime. They've been dirty since....the beginning. I'm sure John Heisman was turning a blind eye to $100 handshakes.

College athletics is a cesspool. The NCAA won't intervene, as it did against SMU, because it buried the 'Stangs for decades. With all of the cash flowing in from the work of these "amateur" athletes playing in what is a feeder league for the NFL and NBA to the NCAA, they'll be loath to derail the gravy train by slamming a school that brings in the big bucks with severe sanctions. It just isn't going to happen. The NCAA is one of the greediest, unprincipled, hypocritical and inconsistent governing bodies in any sport.

This kind of stuff turns me off on sports. At least the pros are honest. They get paid to perform. The shame of the NCAA is that the management gets paid and doesn't share a dime with the folks who make people come and watch.

 

[slappy4428]

I've always thought there was no way the NCAA would ever use the Death Penalty again because it worked too well when SMU was hit with it.

But with the new regime in Indy I'm starting to think they're going to make an example of somebody. And I'm talking about a BCS-level program, not Cleveland State.

Bull... in the time of large TV contracts, huge payouts and all, the NCAA does not have the collective nads to do it.
Case in point: Ohio State and the Sugar Bowl.They could have done something, but so it didn't affect the Sugar Bowl's ratings or gate, they chose to allow the penalty to be delayed a year.
They might do a postseason ban for a year and some scholarships, but if you think they'll levy the death penalty -- or even no TV for a year, you're higher than Erik Ainge...

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Real Sports is doing the reporting that SI used to.

The dirtiest football team in the country is the national champion, largely because of a player it bought for six figures.

The NCAA has essentially done nothing about it.

Is there any reason to think Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and LSU won't do the exact same thing?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Is there any reason to think Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and LSU won't do the exact same thing?

Is there any reason to think they aren't already?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Is there any reason to think Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and LSU won't do the exact same thing?

Is there any reason to think they aren't already?

Very true.

 

[lcjjdnh]

Get used to it. None of this ever is going to change until the NCAA starts to hand down penalties that truly act as a deterrent allows the players a piece of the pie.

Fixed. Harsher penalties won't make much difference as long as the glaring hypocrisy and unfairness of the system increases every year.

There was a nice 20 minute Frontline piece on this last night (you can watch it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-and-march-madness/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=bigimage&utm_source=bigimage) in which NCAA prez Mark Emmert looks so weaselly that notorious shoe money hustler Sonny Vacarro comes off as the voice of morality by comparison.

Salary inflation has been running amuck at the NCAA and amongst everybody else who profits off these kids' labor. The top NCAA officials are pocketing millions these days, coaches are now salaried at several million per year, yet the kids still can't take a dime. Most players today see the NCAA rules for what they largely are, a way for a bunch of fat cats to avoid having to share their loot with the labor.

Exactly.

How preposterous that coaches, athletic directors, and Jim Nantz might have to share some of the millions they make with the teenagers they exploit. Glad to know the media and the public are focused on the real issues in college sports like getting a playoff system.

 

[DanOregon]

The NCAA has been having it both ways for a while. Athletic departments are struggling so much that they have to tap student fees to augment the budget. Of course a good season might mean a bowl game, and those same fans and students will get the chance to purchase a $300 bowl ticket and subsidize bowl officials trips to strip clubs, golf outings and cruises. And even if they don't pony up, the school will have to fork over the money anyway, requiring them again to tap into student funds.
Playoff. Higher seeded team hosts. National championship at a neutral site. Make the bowls into an NIT, CBI kind of deal.

 

[zagoshe]

Here is my question - there are billions at stake in TV deals and Bowl money and NCAA Tourney money, coaches are paid millions and expectations are to win big - schools make millions off marketing and merchandise - - - with that much at stake why do we always act surprised by stuff like this? If the NCAA wanted to stop it could scale back a helluva lot and make it amateur sports again. Until then, they are hypocrites who should stop making rules they have no real desire to enforce.