2008 CARA Reports Exist, Are Turned In
Probably, but unconfirmed.
So Rodriguez was asked about the audit stuff that came out yesterday on Columbus radio and was explicit about his inability to go into it much:
"The only thing, because the investigation is still under process, the NCAA won't let us comment about it other than the fact that the practice-log process, that thing was corrected as soon as I learned of the issue," Rodriguez told hosts Bruce Hooley and Chris Spielman. "As soon as this whole thing is over, I'll be happy to discuss all the other details."
Rodriguez wasn’t asked and did not specify when he corrected the problem.
This goes to the heart of the matter: was this a minor administrative issue quickly corrected when the papers went from one desk to another, or is this a major, embarrassing documentation gap? Yesterday I speculated that these forms probably didn't exist, otherwise someone would bring it up to turn this mountain-type object into a molehill. The Rodriguez appearance makes it clear that the reticence to go into detail not a smokescreen but widespread caution.
And then there's this: a contact close to the team has told me that the 2008 forms do exist, were found shortly after the audit, and have been turned in to the university and NCAA. I'm trying to confirm that with the AD itself, but I'm betting they won't say anything official about it. If that's the case, this is a minor administrative goof and not a potentially damaging development worthy of Free Press quotes like…
“The enforcement staff is going to be looking at whether the institution failed to monitor,” Buckner said. That could be “a major violation. It’s one step below lack of institutional control.”
…but, hey, that's just someone else making a statement in response to an unpublished, possibly leading question and an objective reporter can't be held responsible for framing that.
Q.
A. If that's the case, various Free Press staffers are going to have to explain just how that closet is full of dead hookers.
This seems like a minor thing to me that again was blown out of proportion by the Free Press...again.
I'm gonna need the team to come in this weekend
If the forms were turned in after the audit, they either got lost between the coaches and compliance, or weren't prepared contemporaneously. The audit was in May so either the forms weren't there or audit didn't have them. It's hard to believe audit didn't ask for them, and merely looked and said "Oops, guess we don't have them, nothing to see here."
The University's report, dated mid-November said the compliance office "did not receive" them for the May audit. No note that they had been received between the audit and the report.
Coach Rod's words are perfectly consistent with him "learning" of the issue a very short time ago. And perfectly consistent with potentially bad scenario: coaches don't turn in forms, compliance knows about it and doesn't get them, whole school year passes without anyone outside coaching staff (if them) having written records required by policy (and that have substantive content).
I have forms in my desk that people filled out ten years ago for a research project. Maybe I was supposed to have turned them in to someone, but damned if I know who that might be. However, I HAVE the forms, they were filled out and signed, and should someone come looking for them, I've got them right here.
I can full well imagine that RichRod had the forms on file and was just waiting for the day someone asked for them, while on the other side compliance was waiting for them to show up in campus mail someday.
The story about them waiting for the mail works until May and the audit comes around. At that point, though, they realize they don't have the forms and reach out for them -- since it's inconceivable that they wouldn't have, since they need them for the audit. When they reached out, they didn't get the forms. The most reasonable inference is that the forms didn't exist in May.
Seriously, the football staff is going to FORGE a FULL YEAR of forms for the ENTIRE 2008 football team? Including player signatures?
OC, I need you to fax those forms over to me by COB.
But yeah, what if Dick Fraud just filled out those forms at lunch yesterday and wrote stuff like "Mallett banged sluts all day" or "have you seen Nick play clearly he's not practicing!" and then forged Sheridan's signature. Do you have any forms like that on your desk? Because you gotta admit that would look pretty bad.
Give it to Wheatley!
I wonder if Pat Forde will feel compelled to correct this part of his column now:
Somehow, I doubt it.
Craig Barker || The Hoover Street Rag || Twitter
"The Michigan fanbase: a cynical, Eeyorish bunch even in the best of times."--Doug Gillett
Nice touch w/ the DFW nod in the post. Great work as always.
He he he. Proud member of Chicago Area Runners Association http://www.cararuns.org/ "Here comes the NCAA investigator, run CARA run!" Ew, I posted that.
"Why has Rich Rodriguez not publicly distanced himself from Ed Martin?"
- Disgraced former booster may still be calling the shots... from the other side
Inside this section: Does RR have a Ouiji board?
Regarding the turning in of forms found after the audit, if that were the case, why not say so, thus making this issue a footnote on page 10 of an eight page paper.
If the NCAA's investigation rests only on these now-accounted-for CARA files and hearsay by former players, what kind of "punishment" would or could the NCAA bring down on this program?
And if there's minimal to no punishment coming from this investigation, would the Freep ever own up to their over-zealous agenda-driven "reportage"?
... she was hard to get a hold of.
ahold of? damn near filed her.
filed or defiled?
As soon as this whole thing is over, I'll be happy to discuss all the other details.
This signal was all I needed to hear. We're simply acting cautiously, shock, and there is no scandal nor was there a coverup attempt. Somebody screwed up on administration and that's all there is to it from the inside. Now how these disclosures are being handled by the outside MSM, that is in my opinion scandalous muckraking worthy of scrutiny.
because that was part of the Freep's initial allegations. They stated that the players falsely filled out the forms:
I won't link to the his quote but it's in the original Freep story
Hurray!
You can hate on me all you want to, but what can you possibly say to somebody that looks like Rambo, pretty much, with his shirt off?
Did Rich Rodriguez rape and murder a 10 year old in 1990?
Freep "expert" comment: "If he did, in fact, rape and murder a 10-year-old, that would be a clear violation of the law."
RCMB comment: "He always gets away with it. Ann Arbor police probably just slapped him on the wrist. If he does jail time he's qualified, however, to lead practices immediately after he gets out because he's done his time."
or maybe M officials just can't answer it at this time. what was/is the process for this at west virginia (i know, i hate to even bring them in to this issue but it needs to be asked). this isn't just some minor process and i can imagine it to be a bit of a pain in the ass for whomever is responsible for it. maybe coach rod wasn't aware of what michigan's process was for recording this and he was continuing what he had done at wvu.
Thanks to MGoBlog for allowing newbies with 3 points (soon to be 4) to post wonderful questions like this one.
Query -- Has a single Detroit newspaper explained whether CARA-type documents are compiled at other BCS schools? We know that they are not an NCAA requirement? Is it in fact something that Michigan and only a few other schools do?
+1 for you, tdumich.
I mean there has to be at least 10K nerds living within 4miles of Schembechler Hall that are more than willing to assist the compliance department... that is if they are too overworked to get a critical part of their job done.
'Cause I Bleed Blue...
this part of the issue might go away?
interesting. i guess the freep (and a few mgoposters) might have to move on to completely new and imaginary "if x, then DEATH"-type statements.