OSU under lights again (cars for all, not just TP)

Submitted by myrtlebeachmai… on

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6499662 

ESPN article investigating memoribilia-laden dealerships and their "deals" to players and their families....  I'm beginning to think some of the local media/fans are just wanting to just "get it all out there now" and take their lumps in one fell swoop...  so they can move on.

 

Magnus

May 7th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^

I hate to count my chickens before they hatch, but if all these investigations - Tatgate, used cars, etc. - turn out to be true and bite OSU in the butt, I am really going to enjoy talking smack to all the OSU fans who have rubbed my nose in their success over the past few years.

I encounter a few avowed OSU fans on a daily basis, and they have been noticeably quit about OSU in the past couple months.

TrppWlbrnID

May 7th, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^

At least six major athletic programs have faced NCAA sanctions since 1990 because their athletes had free use of cars or received suspect deals on purchases: Arizona State (2005), Illinois (1990 and 2005), Minnesota (2000), Louisville (1996), Michigan State (1996), and Southern California (2010).
<br>
<br>Could be worse in conjunction w tattoos

JJB2

May 7th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^

 

"Mauk estimated that 40 to 50 Buckeyes bought cars from his dealership in the past five or six years ."

How many of us and most kids in general had money to buy a car during college years?

 

 

 

Magnus

May 7th, 2011 at 9:17 AM ^

I don't know...

Let's say 45 kids bought cars over 6 years.  That's only about 7 or 8 car purchases a year when a typical football roster is probably 100-110 players.

I wouldn't doubt that something shady is going on (why would they all go to those two dealerships?), but that car purchase rate doesn't seem to be astronomical.

elaydin

May 7th, 2011 at 9:24 AM ^

Plus the kids are on a full ride. That frees up a lot of the parents money if nothing else.
<br>I assume OSU sends kids to certain dealerships in order to keep track of the transactions (or they're the ones who'll give them free cars, depending on what side you want to argue)

goblue20111

May 7th, 2011 at 9:23 AM ^

Further down....

"The cars involved sold for the average price of $11,600. Most vehicles were Chevrolets, Buicks or Dodges manufactured between 2000 and 2007. More than half had less than 50,000 miles when sold by Kniffin. Six cars had more than 100,000 miles."

They're not exactly buying Escalades and Navigators. 

marmot

May 7th, 2011 at 9:36 AM ^

Im not trying to get on a high horse, but the article states "most" of the cars, and we obviously have to disregard the listed prices.

I live in Columbus, and I know for a fact that before Terrelle Pryor's freshman season, he hit another student athlete's car while driving in the athletes-only gym parking lot. I do not know whose car he was driving, but they covered it up mighty fast, and no one heard about it. I hope that incident finally sees the light of day. At the time, many ohio state players were disgusted by the incident.

They're not getting away this time. 40-50 cases is far too large a sample size. They messed up somewhere, and they'll find it, if they haven't already.

marti221

May 7th, 2011 at 9:16 AM ^

Does anyone know what's going on with the "key player" being kicked off the football team???? It was tweeted late last night and the thread's gone! Any info?

GunnersApe

May 7th, 2011 at 9:16 AM ^

 Doug Archie, associate athletic director and head of compliance at OSU.

"I have nothing to believe a violation has occurred," he said. 

Well open your fucking eyes, The "Hear no evil, Speak No Evil, See no Evil" act is over with. It must have been nice being a compliance guy during the JT era and collecting a check for doing nothing.  

Hoken's Heroes

May 7th, 2011 at 9:20 AM ^

"Kniffin also loaned cars to quarterback Terrelle Pryor, including his own for a three-day test drive to Pennsylvania, where Pryor lives.

Kniffin, 42, who is now selling cars in an undisclosed state, vividly recalled details of the cars sold. He disputed, however, the sales prices that were listed on state motor-vehicle records.

"The sales price is much more than that," he said. "You are so far away from what the transactions are all about."

Ohio law requires dealers to report accurate information about all car sales for tax purposes. Failure to submit accurate information is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine."

marmot

May 7th, 2011 at 9:22 AM ^

The salesman who connects all the dots, Aaron Kniffen, says he's not an Ohio State fan..........

What's that i hear in Columbus? Crickets chirping?

readyourguard

May 7th, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^

Back in the mid-80s, comp tickets were only allowed to go to family members.  I find it hard to believe the NCAA changed their disposition on such an easy target of abuse.

Kniffin was on the comp ticket list for the National Championship game?  No other game throughout the entier year would be under greater scrutiny than the national championship game......and it should be the easiest game to monitor since there's no other game going on and the NCAA has all their resources available for just that ONE game.

Without knowing anything more than what was in that Dispatch article, this appears to be even more serious than free tattoos.

I love the smell of smoldering sweater vest in the morning.

 

goblue20111

May 7th, 2011 at 9:33 AM ^

Aside from the accounting improprieties, who does this actually hurt? Gosh I'm so sick of hearing about NCAA compliance violations! Some of these college kids are bigger stars than their pro counterparts.  Somebody wanted to give someone else a discount on a car they were selling because they like the team they played football for.  I'm not defending OSU but Christ the NCAA boggles my mind.  Here's to hoping the O'Bannon lawsuit really sticks it to the NCAA. 

readyourguard

May 7th, 2011 at 9:54 AM ^

If it's only accounting improprieties by the dealership or salesman, than I agree with you...this is much ado about nothing.  HOWEVER, to have SO MANY people from the same "organizaion/family" come to that particular salesmen (who just coincidentally has accounting improprieties swirling around his deals) is cause for concern.

Obviously he was a successful salesman because he bought a half-million dollar home*.  That's no small feat in the business**.   But 60 players/family members bought cars from this guy and came from as far away as Maryland?  I don't care how good the dealership is at finding cars at great prices, to come from 2 states away is rare, to say the least.

* I don't know this guy's financial situation or whether he's married, or inherited the house, or whatever.

** I know this from years of being in the car business.

clarkiefromcanada

May 7th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^

"the NCAA boggles my mind"

Srsly? A player's mom drives from god damned Maryland to Columbus to buy a car ...apparently a real nice discount. Improper benefits, tats, cover ups etc. have certainly helped the vest in recruiting for the last decade. I'm not even referencing the whole Clarett thing; he sure looks vindicated for his statements thesedays.

I wouldn't be so irritable with NCAA compliance; maybe they should pay more attention to Columbus.

Don

May 7th, 2011 at 9:33 AM ^

"One car, a 2-year-old Chrysler 300 with fewer than 20,000 miles, was titled to then-sophomore defensive player Thaddeus Gibson in 2009. Documents show the purchase price as $0. Gibson said he did not know why the title showed a zero for the purchase price and said he was still paying for the car."

Of course, given the nature of what's going on down in Columbus, my money is on both of them lying.

Timnotep

May 7th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^

man, M. Night Shyamalan is getting anxious, usually the twists come towards the end but we're only half way through and already we found out the kindly old man who never did anything wrong in his life is a sleazy cheater...

I can't wait to see what other twists there are, the anticipation is killing me!

biakabutuka ex…

May 7th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^

Typical movie:

  • Act 1: Cat climbs up tree

  • Act 2: Throw stuff at cat

  • Act 3: Cat comes down

 

Shyamalan movie:

  • Act 1: Cat climbs up tree

  • Act 2: Throw stuff at cat

  • Act 3: Cat comes down

  • Act 3.1: The cat was a dog

  • Act 4: Hollywood throws you the keys to The Last Airbender

  • Act 4.1: Fummblllllllle!

RedGreene

May 7th, 2011 at 9:42 AM ^

A two year old Chrysler 300 for $0?  I don't see the problem.  j/k

Is it really that hard to see that they were claiming a lower purchase price on the title to save money on taxes?  This could be huge.

MEZman

May 7th, 2011 at 11:57 AM ^

The players could be in some fairly serious trouble if they paid no sales taxes on the transaction. You would think that not paying sales tax would be noticed when registering the car but who knows maybe there's a whole 'nother list of improper benefits that will come out of this... speculation is so much fun.

buddhafrog

May 7th, 2011 at 9:43 AM ^

the good thing here is that there are either crimes or infractions.  

 

1) Either the dealership commited crimes in under pricing the final sale(s) of cars listed on the title [one would assume for tax reasons]. 

or

2) or the players committed infractions by using their status to get deals not available to the public.  This wouldn't be a crime by the dealership but would be an NCAA infraction.

So basically what I'm seeing is that a proper investigation will pit the dealership against the players, which gives us the best chance for the dirt to fly.  Thank you; I'm eagerly awaiting the results.

DaytonBlue

May 7th, 2011 at 9:46 AM ^

And never given the dealer anything but the purchase price. Dayton Daily News article added that the players buying the cars weren't allowed to give the tickets. Why the he'll would another player not buying the car give them tix? Very shady.

dahblue

May 7th, 2011 at 9:50 AM ^

Maybe my old age is clouding my memory, but I recall (back in the day in A2) that players would often get financing at local dealerships based on their future NFL (or NBA) potential.  I believe they were all market value deals, so that would keep it relatively kosher.  Hard to say at this point if that's what was going on at OSU (but that $0 vehicle doesn't look good for them).