Tom Mars Joining Curtis Blackwell Legal Team
This is a very interesting development in Spartyworld today. Tom Mars, the preeminent NCAA attorney, has joined Curtis Blackwell’s legal team in his wrongful termination case. This comes just days after Blackwell alleged multiple NCAA violations against Michigan State.
This is not only noteworthy for Blackwell’s chances of getting a nice settlement or even a win at trial, but it would also seem to increase the chances that there would be a real NCAA investigation into MSU football, which is not exactly attractive for prospective Dantonio replacements.
You truly hate to see it.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
Where's the threat???
February 6th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
On retainer.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
We stan this comment
February 6th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
The real threat is quite often someone on the inside who got screwed over.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
Almost always is with NCAA matters. If you’re going to break rules, you need 100% staff retention.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
Makes sense and explains a lot!
February 6th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
Back when I was an auditor I always explained to my clients' employees that fraud is usually not discovered by the auditors. It's usually uncovered through a tip by a jealous coworker.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
Tangentally related: My dad was the victim of theft (utility trailer stolen from property). It was recovered and the cop told my dad, "We almost never solve B&E/petty theft.... until we're on a domestic call and the victim spills everything about their partner."
February 6th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
As much as I would LOVE to see it I'm not holding my breath.
The NCAA has sworn testimony in an FBI investigation of coaches paying players directly, no bagman intermediaries, and they are doing nothing.
The enforcement wing of the NCAA is either completely corrupt themselves, incompetent or both.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
Assuming you’re talking about LSU’s basketball coach, you have to remember that the NCAA president is the former chancellor of LSU. They’re untouchable to a degree.
The NCAA is somewhat corrupt, or at least transparently and deliberately uneven in their enforcement of their own rules. we know this much. However, I do believe that there’s a class of programs that are protected and a class that aren’t, and Michigan State is definitely not in the “protected” class.
I agree, I think it’s more likely than not that MSU gets away with no sanctions here, but I don’t think the NCAA would shy away from pursuing MSU if they had actual evidence.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
"Sanctions" have seemingly become meaningless. In both football and basketball, I hear about "sanctions" being imposed and then like the next season the team will be ranked #4 in the nation and nobody even talks about what transpired. Like, why do Kansas basketball wins even count right now? The FBI had voluminous evidence that Sean Miller was paying a basketball recruit $100,000. What happened to that? He is still Arizona's coach. NCAA "sanctions" are not really even a thing anymore.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Don't tell that to Missouri football, which wasn't allowed to play in a bowl game this year.
Sanctions are still sanctions. If sanctions aren't imposed, then there aren't sanctions.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
That last sentence just blew my mind.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
You're citing sanctions not being imposed, or not enough sanctions being imposed, as evidence that sanctions don't exist anymore. What you mean to say is "I wish the NCAA would impose harsher sanctions or impose sanctions more often".
Sanctions are very much still "a thing", they're just not imposed as often or as fiercely as you want them to be.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Ok.
I was just kind of kidding around. You seem moody.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Not moody, just a lawyer. Words have meanings.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
I'm a lawyer too. You're just a moody one.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
He's just an angry elf.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:16 PM ^
He doesn't smell like a lawyer... he smells like cheese and meat.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
You're not a doctor?
February 6th, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
I always thought he was a bobsledder
February 6th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
ROFLMAO...The 'Collections Attorney' speaks... ALL HAIL THE COLLECTIONS ATTORNEY!
You may be an attorney... but this is fuckin comedy!
February 6th, 2020 at 3:35 PM ^
A good lawyer? His idiomatic statement meant (roughly) that sanctions are now treated as a cost of business instead of a powerful tool to compel appropriate behavior. That is what the words that he said meant, as any native speaker of English would know.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
I thought the conventional wisdom around these parts is bowl games don't matter anymore.
So Mizzou missed a bowl for a 6-6 team.
I suppose the real impact is the extra, authorized, 15 practices... which begs the question, is that punishment commensurate with the infraction?
February 6th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
The value of sanctions, or potential sanctions can be damaging even if we don't see the impact immediately. For example, the "noise" around the MSU program could eventually lead to sanctions due to lack of institutional control around players, coaches, sexual assault etc. We've seen the past two recruiting classes take a dump for MSU. And this will not change until this is out of the news. 2021 is probably a lost cause for MSU. But add in official sanctions and it could damage 2022. Not to mention, if they lose scholarships, it could be 1-2 more quality players they can't sign and that makes a difference when they have a new coach, are losing a ton of talent, and in our modern-day transfer-filled world.
Not to mention the overall impact of being bad for the past 2 years is going to take a toll. And it might be another 2 years of middling seasons. So you have entire group of high school aged kids now that are going to understand MSU being a trash program. This opens a significant window for Michigan to continue to own the state in recruiting, and to dominate on the field. If Michigan continues to have strong leadership, they could rip off 2,3,4 more wins in a row in this rivalry and that would decimate the idea that MSU is/can be Michigan's equal.
Let's also not forget, Curtis Blackwell is a role model and leader to the students and parents in Detroit. And what Detroit kid is going to go to Michigan State now? That bridge has been burned and it will take a lot to get back that footing. Which means MSU will need to pull in their best talent from other parts of the state, or lesser talented athletes. Or they can try Ohio. Even with Luke Fickell that's not easy. Right now Fickell is pulling guys that might go to an MSU. But if he goes to MSU he still has to compete with Cinci, but also the big boys - OSU, UM, ND, and even Kentucky who is getting solid players lately. It won't be easy. I just hope they fucking implode and we look back on this in 2028 having won 10-straight in the series. Would be amazing.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
Blackwell will settle this or win outright (which is awesome), and then he'll go back to being the athlete advocate he's been his whole life. He cares about Detroit kids getting scholarships. He'll bury the hatchet and say his issue was with that staff, never the school, and he'll let it go. New coach won't have much to worry about there.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
I think it's going to take some time to undo that damage.
I don't think Blackwell was actively trying to keep kids away from MSU. He has a lot of friends in the coaching community who didn't like how he was treated by MSU. Those feelings aren't going to disappear overnight and they were directed more towards the administration than Dantonio.
Let's not forget that a lot of the recruiting success MSU had in Detroit was due to Blackwell's efforts. They really need to replace him with someone who can reestablish those ties.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
Prepare to eat your words. Keep an eye on his district and who is really running it.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:59 PM ^
If you truly feel Curtis Blackwell is a role model you are throwing whatever credibility you have in the garbage can. Keep an eye on the school district he's involved with. The sand is leaving the hour glass and I'm thats all I'm going to say about it from this point on.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:57 PM ^
MGrowOld is right... the NCAA punishes this misdemeanors and lets the felonies slide.
The NCAA is on record almost three years ago saying it would look into Nassar. Crickets since.
Same with Baylor.
Look at UNC basketball... people throw shade at OSU and LSU for online courses but those clowns completely fabricated non-existing classes and schedules and awarded phantom grades -- nothing happened.
Cam Newton... dad gets paid; nothing of substance happened to Auburn
Ole Miss... Charged with lack of institutional control by the NCAA for a laundry list of bad behavior. So the school itself imposed a minor loss of scholarships and a 1 year bowl ban; they freaking won their appeal -- nothing else of substance has happened.
I'm sure the forum could go on with example after example of how feckless the NCAA is.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
The Ole Miss situation was so bad that players were allowed to transfer without sitting out a year. How is that not a confirmation of guilt from the NCAA?
February 6th, 2020 at 3:09 PM ^
How is that not a confirmation of guilt from the NCAA?
Because we're not talking about interpretive, stretches of deductive reasoning; that's how not.
The point at hand is will the NCAA sanction Staee. MGrowOld says for all intents and purposes no. Given the NCAA's history, I agree.
If you don't agree, that's cool. But if, in this example, Ole Miss was punished by the NCAA, perhaps you could enumerate the sanctions handed down by the NCAA for us? Like you said, things were so bad there, the NCAA allowed immediate transfers.
I'll wait...
February 6th, 2020 at 3:55 PM ^
I suspect that as long as “Saint” Izzo is around, the basketball team would be a protected class. For whatever reason, the media loves little Tommy. But I totally agree with you about the football team. They are 4th out of 7 in the big ten east pecking order. That doesn’t move the needle.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:39 AM ^
Schools like Zona (for BBall), LSU, UNC (BBall) Louisville bring in a lot more revenue so they’re untouchable.
MSU (in football) is the perfect program for the NCAA to flex on so to keep up the charade of enforcing the rules.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
I think I agree. Everyone knows MSU is going to suck for a few years at minimum anyway with how Dantonio left it. If the NCAA wants a case to show the world that They Care then MSU football is a good way to bludgeon a program without getting much pushback
Still doubt it happens. The NCAA seems completely toothless at this point unless you roll over and take it
February 6th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
While I agree with this logic, I'm so cynical that I'm in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp on this.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
I appreciate your cynicism, and I felt the same way yesterday. But if Mars is joining the team, it's only because he believes they are going to win. Mars is not the kind of attorney that takes cases that he doesn't believe are slam dunks.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Right, but Mars is joining the civil case, which although it ties with NCAA violations due to the allegations, is not about actual NCAA sanctions.
I agree the civil suit has merit. Mars joining reinforces that.
Now, the NCAA actually doing something about the NCAA allegations is a totally different story.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
I wonder, though, if there will be pressure because of the Nassar scandal, like, oh, it's MSU again, we can't just brush this under the carpet because there's already a stain there. We have to remove the stain with bleach this time. I know they're unrelated cases, but the appearance of impropriety isn't good when there's already been really bad stuff on the same campus.
February 6th, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^
It's certainly an element they'll consider I'm sure. I'm just so jaded on the NCAA actually enforcing things...
February 6th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
This would make me a little nervous if I was MSU. Although Mr. Old above is probably correct that the NCAA won't do really do shit, they don't like their dirty laundry being aired which to me highly increases the chance of a lucrative settlement.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
It should make them more than a little nervous. Mars works for NCAA enforcement now. I don't think he'd be joining unless he thought Blackwell had a strong case. Nor I do think Blackwell's lawyers would add him on unless they thought the NCAA issues are adding a lot of value to their claims.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:08 PM ^
Right. I would bet Mars is there to ensure that Blackwell gets a nice settlement and this all gets swept under the rug.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
I think Mars is there to handle depositions with MSU Compliance and see where that leads. He'll know what to ask. He'll also know if they were doing things by the book or not.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:44 PM ^
We'll see, I bet he gets a fat check and we never hear about any of this again.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:33 AM ^
I wonder if Mork negotiated legal representation in his exit from moo u?
February 6th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
He did actually. I read that someplace yesterday.
February 6th, 2020 at 11:43 AM ^
Not the least bit surprised.
February 6th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
The school probably wants this too because it keeps the stories on the same page. Having a rogue former employee paying for his own representation is a recipe for that person flipping. Even if you don't like what that person did this is a common legal strategy for companies, etc.
February 6th, 2020 at 1:04 PM ^
He's being sued for what he did as part of his job, so that seems like a no-brainer. I'm interested in how a settlement would be handled. For example, would MSU agree to pay some of Dantonio's share to avoid a trial?