OT: "Everyone has something" on Nick Saban (paying players)
According to the article, apparently Alabama pays their players (surprise, surprise). Some of the more damning quotes include ""everyone has something" on the Alabama coach and that, under oath, his players would say they were being paid" and "When he was asked if Alabama players were being paid he said "Oh, come on...When you get these guys down and you get them under oath, they'll tell you that" and finished up with "...that's the way he and most of the big-time schools, particularly in the SEC, operate."
It's a Yahoo story, and we know their track record of digging up crap (they're just reporting on the initial interview, but hopefully they're on the phone with this agent right now).
...water is wet, the sky is blue.
Even if Alabama vacates the win, we keep the loss. The official game if Alabama wins and then vacats will be Bama 0-0 and Michigan 0-1.
If Alabama is convicted of a Pay for Play scandal, the very thread that holds College Football together would unravel.
CFB would cease to exist as we know it.
If 'Bama was convicted of that, the NCAA would quickly find a way to say its ok to start paying players. The NCAA can not afford to have another program go down.
Lets not include Penn State here, since we are discussing the NCAA enforcing their rules. We have seen in the past, that without subpeona power or a Freeh report falling from the sky, the NCAA is quite bad at doing their job: enforcing the rules that ensure competitive balance. See UNC or UM (YTM) for example.
I also don't quite buy this story. They have alot of built in advantages at Alabama: Top head coach, schoo built around football, great facilities, winning tradition, rapid fan base, etc. I think they could have built what they have now with just those advantages. Maybe some players are being paid by boosters, but that is a far cry from saying Saban is employing a wide spread pay practice to win with his direct knowledge.
Does SEC speed applies to all of Alabama (rapid fan base?) Or maybe you meant rabid?
HA...I guess the B1G is screwed if the SEC fans are both rapid and rabid.
Dang, I know people around here complain about the students not gettting to the game on time, but I didn't realize that was costing us recruits.
There is no reason to think the NCAA is not going to come down hard on YTM. They have extended their investigation, not ended it That is not a good thing for Miami.
Alabama has a built in disadvantage as well, a big time conference rival in their own backyard that is quite willing to outbid them for talent.
All those are valid points, but so do other schools in the SEC and beyond. USC has at least as many advantages as Alabama does, and they were found to have paid at least one high-profile player, and there has always been talk about other illegal activities going on there.
And Saban is a smart guy, so yeah I doubt he is directly paying players, but he's also a head coach who wants to win, which means he's not above looking the other way and blessing these practices indirectly. As we learned with OSU, PSU, USC, Miami, etc., there is a wide spectrum of official and unofficial actions coaches can take to support illegal causes.
Alabama wasn't very good from about 1994 to 2007
Now that the NCAA has changed their standard of evidence, and have shown that they can really lay the hammer down if there is something in it for them, it's time for them to prove that they can actually punish those who cheat.
I want them to revisit ten years of cheating at Ohio State, but taking down Bama would be a great place to start, too. Also, the NCAA has shown that they are capable of acting in two weeks without even doing their own investigation. It would be nice if they decided to show this kind of urgency with Bama.
It could make the game a bit less daunting if a team that cheated to get personnel that is superior to everyone in the country suddenly had some of their players ineligible, or many transferred out.
Changing sports, I wouldn't mind them heading down to Lexington and finding out how John Calipari is getting all of his one and dones.
The speed of which the NCAA punished Penn State was based solely on the uniqueness of what happened there for so long. Nothing like that with such powerful people in charge had ever happened before, at least to our knowledge. That's why it was considered a "special situation," in which the NCAA could act quick.
While I have no doubt that programs like Ohio State and Alabama are full out cheaters, anything the NCAA could investigate them for would go back to taking a snail's pace before a wrist slap could be handed to them.
Your list and their rankings are laughable. Roll Tide.
Go Blue and War Eagle!
In other news why isn't Auburn under sanctions and why does Cam Newton still have his Heisman?
/ Serious
Because Cam had no idea that his dad was pimping him out.
/s
Exactly like that. Happy Easter.
You forgot the spaces between "Easter" and the period at the end.
I can see it now uh sorry guys I didn't know it was illegal to pay players....Okay...I'll stop.
Only a matter of time before that ship epicly starts to sink same said for Kentucky basketball
I've always had the belief that the reason Urban quit Florida wasn't because he had health issues, it was because he was dirty and he was dirty because he had to be to win in the SEC. The top programs in the SEC are all dirty.
He realized that he could eventually be caught and that would put an end to his future multi-million dollar salaries not to mention ruin the image he had established. He decided to move to another conference where he could continue coaching and earn his millions without having to resort to cheating.
uhh I'd bet he hasnt changed at all....He quit because he is an ra-tard and the next years team was awful.
Seriously? We're better here than quoting The Hangover and calling other coaches dumb names.
Could you elaborate on those statements? I am not trying to be rude, but I am genuinely interested in where this information is coming from. Unless I am completely clueless . . . and missed something over the past year . . . which isn't impossible. Thanks.
Car... http://lmgtfy.com/?q=trent+richardson+car
This link pretty much has every little detail. Take it for what it's worth.
http://sportsbybrooks.com/tag/trent_richardson/
If you click it you get a shock to your dignity. Fair warning.
Let's be clear here...Cindrich is not some lackey without a history as an agent. The guy has been a high profile agent for a long time and has represented significant names in significant negotiations.
Probably, the guy dislikes Saban and took an opportunity to mock him and diminish his accomplishments (and that of Alabama). That doesn't make what he is saying untrue.
While State College burns it's not like there are not other centres of impropriety in the NCAA (Tuscaloosa comes to mind).
I heard Cindrich give a presentation at my school last year. Very interesting guy, had some great stories to tell. He was asked a question about about both Nick Saban and Urban Meyer and responded very negatively. He didn't elaborate much more than saying that they were both huge hypocrites, but I think one of his biggest issues with them, and other college coaches, was that they were restricting agents' access to the players unless the agents would offer kickbacks to the coaches.
Logged into the wrong account. Damn it!
/s
taking a paycheck is pretty obviously a shady deal.
Surely this is a cash-only business? Jacksons in a handshake, services in lieu, maybe at most a pre-loaded Colonial Bancshares debit card? Call me naive but a paper trail as obvious and easily traced as a check doesn't seem like the way to go no matter how intent the authorities are on looking the other way.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure college athletes in this situation aren't filing income taxes on their earnings.
If that's the case, I wonder what Auburn agreed to pay Reuben Foster to decommit from Alabama, and what LSU arranged for Andy Dodd. Lots of negotiations taking place.
This may give me a reason to listen to the Paul Finebaulm show for more than a minute on my drive home from work.
"Pay for play accusations always raise eyebrows, even though they've become fairly commonplace. Will this go anywhere? Until Cindrich offers specifics, likely not."
These would have to be some rather significant specifics too if Cindrich is essentially accusing a coach of being the signing authority on paychecks, but I will admit, part of me would like to see exactly what he has on Nick, if anything (a copy of Trent Richardson's W-2 would be a good start, yes?). He certainly doesn't offer much at all in the actual interview - here. The interviewers sort of let Cindrich control the flow of topics and buy into what is at best rambling equivocation by Cindrich as well.
I'm all for "Competitive Advantages."