OT: "Everyone has something" on Nick Saban (paying players)

Submitted by SteelCityMafia on

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).

 

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/agent-ralph-cindrich-says-everyone-something-nick-saban-022255954--ncaaf.html;_ylt=ApYCThHRM_5GzXm5mP6_1J85nYcB;_ylu=X3oDMTRoN3ExMXVlBG1pdANMSVNUUyBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IEZQIEJsb2dzBHBrZwM3NTY4ZDM2ZS1jODQ0LTM1MTAtOTViZS1iOWFlZDZmOWQwNTcEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQkxpc3RNaXhlZExQQ0FUZW1wBHZlcgM2YTVmZWFjMC1kODViLTExZTEtYWUyYy1iNDIzMDk2YzcxOTg-;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Lac55

July 28th, 2012 at 8:59 AM ^

Interesting and also great timing right before the big one. Curious to see how it plays out, although I won't get my hopes up.

BILG

July 28th, 2012 at 10:04 AM ^

There were rumors for years that OSU had a pay for play set up and Tressel was looking the other way, if not facilitating it.  The NCAA only stepped in when the media got a hold of the story and the periphery characters involved (drug dealers, tattoo shop owners, etc) were too shady to ignore.

At the time, I was claiming that OSU was going down for pay for play as well as several players being involved with moving dope, but it never came to fruition.  Everyone blasted me on here, and fairly so, but I still know what I know from two very reputable sources.  One who was with the NCAA at the time and one who was a parent of a kid on the team at the time.  Even OSU thought they were going to get punished much worse, but the NCAA basically slapped them on the wrist for only what had gone public already.  In that case they chose not to open pandora's box.

Everyone can call bullshit, and I would probably feel the same way if the info was coming from anonymous guy on internet, but the corruption was much, much deeper in Columbus then anything that came out.  And the whole Tressel as a beacon of character and integrity was a sham long before that if you look at his record at Youngstown State.

Point being...Wouldn't be surprised if Bama players and those at many other major college football program are getting extra benifitis under the table.  However, any big time coach, while they would almost certainly have knowledge if not enable this activity to occur, would be too foolish to get directly involved (phone calls, emails, records) for fear of the fallout. 

Tressel's "crime" was not cheating, it was getting caught and exposed by the media, thereby putting the NCAA in a situation where they had to act, as much as they would have loved nothing more than to look the other way when it came to a cash cow like OSU.  I doubt Saban would make the same mistakes of having emails and evidence lying around.

BlueMarrow

July 28th, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^

For what it's worth, (Admittedly not much on a chat board), I know someone very in the know at Auburn.

He told me that the Cam Newton investigation uncovered a broad based pay for play network that was impossible to address and punish. Not only was/is it a "too big to fail" situation that would have brought down the SEC, but most of the cash payments were so indirect, that they were next to impossible to track down.

An entire layer of free agency exists, with representatives arranging cash payments to players relatives and friends, and keeping a percentage for themselves. It's basically a semipro league.

At the end of the investigation, they decided to inform the offenders behind closed doors that they were putting the entire SEC and their Universities at risk, and that they better be more careful.

Everyone so informed laughed in their faces.

Like you, I've heard the rumormongering for years. But the things my friend told me went beyond even what I suspected. A systemic conspiracy exists to do nothing, and keep the money flowing.

BlueHills

July 28th, 2012 at 11:07 AM ^

These rumors and accusations have been flying around for a long time. I have no idea if they're true or not.

I hope Michigan is doing things the right way. In my gut, I believe it is.

But the SEC doesn't live in a vacuum. Coaches with experience at big-time SEC programs move to other programs.

Our DC, Mattison, was the DC at Florida. Our OC Borges was OC at Auburn. They are setting the recruiting world on fire. They're amazing recruiters. They're getting top players. Are they paying them, or are they just very, very good at what they do?

People say the SEC's recruiting tactics are dirty, but these are the same guys. 

Believing that Michigan recruits the right way, I have to believe that some accusations against the SEC - not all - stem from a certain amount of frustration over the SEC's strengths in the past decade or so.

As I said, I have no idea if the claims made in the link about Saban are true or not.

Yeoman

July 28th, 2012 at 2:25 PM ^

I have to ask: did your "in the know" friend know if any of this ties to Colonial Bank or Bobby Lowder?

For professional reasons I won't bore anyone with I followed that whole Colonial/Taylor Bean saga pretty closely. Finding out that two important but, I thought, completely disconnected pieces of my life might not be disconnected at all was...disconcerting? And fascinating.

prevatt33

July 28th, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^

No CFB fan, either of an SEC school or any other, should be so niave as to think that paying players has not happened and will not continue to happen at any school in the country.  I do, however, take exeption to your guys' notion that every SEC school cheats more than others and pays their players.  With the exeption of auburn, who is believed to have been paying players for the better part of 35 years, I have never heard of any other SEC school paying players.

Just because the SEC is traditionally and currently quite succesful and in a different place from you and is a different conference from you, doesn't automatically mean that we're cheating.  Sure, it explains our success from your perspective, but is a shorsighted, tinfoil hat type conspiracy that is, frankly, laughable.

The real reason, IMHO, of the SEC's success lies in a number of factors:

1) Quality of coaching

2) Quality of facilities

3) Weather/climate (huge)

4) the South being the best recruiting area, particularly for the kind of size-speed combo needed for a dominant front 7 in the modern game.  Players tend to go to school closer to where they're from, and the South is the best recruiting area as a whole.

5) Media exposure (SEC contracted with ESPN quite some time ago).

6) Success breeds success.

7) Quality of on-campus ladies (don't laugh - it's a big factor)

8)  A bit less stringent academic standards as compared to a handful of other schools.

To think that the SEC cheats simply because we're successful, and without a shred of evidence, is silly.

HAIL-YEA

July 28th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^

So oversigning doesn't make your top 8 reasons list and is below all those things?

So ..where was everything on this list before 2005? I guess everything on this list wasn't there a decade ago when the SEC wasn't winning squat.  The rise of the SEC almost directly coencides with the rise of Alabama and Auburn. Auburn has already been proven to be paying..many people think bama is also, myself included.  Save that list for a board with people dumb enough to believe anything on it.

cp4three2

July 28th, 2012 at 11:18 AM ^

Itslike in Three and Out when Denard or Devin is talking about the SEC offering money, why not call them out in public? You'd think there'd bea Shane Morris type who'd secretly record.offers he gets.

Roachgoblue

July 28th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^

This is common sense, but would hurt the NCAA too much if the SEC conference was shut down. Too much money and way more power than the big ten has. The SEC controls everything in the NCAA and it looks like they always will.

Blazefire

July 28th, 2012 at 2:04 PM ^

Accusations have been made many times. Accusations are only backed by a claim that "get 'em on the stand, they'll talk." Methinks this is NOTHING.

Do some schools pay recruits/players? Sure. Yes, I guarentee it. The imporant thing to do is to hammer the blatant ones (SMU or M under Ellerbee, for instance), which will ensure that other schools don't get too brazen about it. After that... There's not a ton you can do but hope that proper culture wins out.

I really don't think Michigan pays players unless Hoke knows nothing about it. I just cannot see him approving of that. But again, no point in worrying. I do think that saban and some of the others probably pay something, but I think they'd be successful even if they didn't, so unless they're forking over 50K at a time for recruits, I'm not going to lose any sleep.

jdon

July 28th, 2012 at 2:12 PM ^

I lived in South Quad two years, I am sure other people on this board lived on campus and we all have different stories of interactions with athletes (or watched them pull up in new cars dressed in expensive clothes).  Any one who knows anyone knows that players get paid everywhere. 

The hard part comes in the fact that most of the time they are getting paid, or benefits of some sort, not from the school and not from boosters/whatnot.  I large percentage of the time it is just random people or fans, so what can you do?

jdon

Blazefire

July 28th, 2012 at 2:24 PM ^

If it's really not anyone associated with the school, not an employee, a booster or anyone with even a semi-formal relationship, then that's really not against any rules. You can't stop someone from just randomly giving someone else money because they like them.

prevatt33

July 28th, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^

The NCAA expressedly forbids any student-athlete from making money or having any monetary assistance simply because of who they are.  If I don't have a prior relationship with a kid and say, give him a ride to school, that is considered an improper benefit because the NCAA sees it as a gain the kid received due to his stature as an athlete.  It's silly, but true.

Julio and Ingram got in a bit of troiuble as sophomores simply by going fishing with a guy they had no lengthy prior relationship with.  They each had to donate to a charity the cost of the trip a punishment.  That guy turned out to be an auburn supporter with a kid at that school and simply trying to get Bama in trouble, but I digress.  The NCAA forbids your above scenario.

Yeoman

July 28th, 2012 at 2:47 PM ^

Barry Henthorn had no connection to the University of Michigan as far as I know; certainly none was suggested when the NCAA leveled its punishment.

If you could establish that someone had truly just randomly given money to the kid without even knowing he was a player, maybe. But receiving any benefit that you would not have received if you weren't an athlete is a violation, no matter who provides it.

FormerWolv

July 28th, 2012 at 3:29 PM ^

You are making some huge assumptions here.

Ever think that all players did not come from nothing? I know one football player who drove around in a porsche... his parents were loaded. Not to mention some player's parents saved for college, and when that account was no longer needed due to scholarship, that money was spent on a nice car and clothes.

This doesn't just apply to football or basketball either. It is even more prevelant in lesser sports as well.

 

PS players are paid... the university gives them money every month for living expenses, rent, food, etc. if you are on full scholarship. This check is around 1200$. Live off campus for around 500$ a month, you can pocket the rest.

Blazefire

July 28th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^

That's what I figure for most of the players. I mean, people seem to expect them to be dirt poor. For every kid that was raised destitute and only learned to play thanks to a local donor that paid for equipment, there are probably three that come from a middle class family that put money away for college.

jdon

July 28th, 2012 at 3:59 PM ^

it is what it is.  You can put your head in the sand or you can admit that players recieve improper benefits all of the time.   Do they all?  No way.  But players do.  I did note that when i lived at South Quad we all saw the cars that football players drove and assumed that there had to be something behind all of the nice rides.

I didn't even say anything about the socioeconmicstatus of the players; I just said that players recieving cash and benefits is the rule and not the exception throughout the NCAA.

I think this is common knowledge.  You can neg my post or whatever makes you feel better, but that is just another example of the fascist minority on this page... which is another arguement for another day anyway...

 

 

jdon

July 28th, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^

1.) I hate how when people get negged you have to click on it to read.  that is a formatting issue and I guess I should just be glad to have somewhere free to post and recieve information.

2.) This is my fault because I know players who were paid but I didn't want to get into it: the next question is who, the answer is 'I am not telling you', and the information becomes irellevant.

3.)  I should just stick to this simple assertion:  it is my assumption that players are given cash or other benefits at most NCAA schools.  I don't think all players accept the money or benefits, especially the players who will make it to the show (why risk it?).    If you don't believe in my assumption, so be it.

love,

jdon

Zone Left

July 28th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^

My impression is that Saban isn't the type of coach to initiate or perpetuate anything that is blatantly against NCAA rules. In fact, I'd guess he actively tries to stop that sort of thing. He is a famously focused person who is intent on "The Process," which is necessarily a long-term method of achieving his goals. Paying players, to me, takes the exact opposite approach by potentially compromising the future for immediate success.

Instead, he's the type of coach who exploits every loophole available to him, but does it within the rules. He oversigns, engages in seriously creative "roster management" techniques, and there are some awful stories about him being callous towards players as human beings (stepping over a convulsing Dolphins player). He seems more like the type the NCAA is always trying to reign in when he finds something new to give him an When he wanted to talk face-to-face with recruits, but rules didn't allow it them to come to him, he started Skyping with them--resulting in an NCAA prohibition.

There's a lot not to like about Saban, but I really think isn't willing to jeopardize his success by paying players. If one kid/booster relationship gets out of hand, things could fall apart quickly and I don't think he's willing to let that happen.

M-Dog

July 28th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^

There is only one thing to do:  Find out for ourselves.

Step 1:  We need to have the most studly young member of the board breed with the hottest, most athletic woman he can find and have a child.  Ok, Step 1 is done.

Step 2:  Raise that child from birth to be a future 5* CFB recruit.  That's step 2.  Easy so far.

Step 3:  Have your child be recruited by the SEC and keep track of who offers what $$$.  Video, or it does not count.

Step 4:  Report back to the blog.  We'll be waiting.

OK, who's first?

 

AVPBCI

July 28th, 2012 at 5:55 PM ^

 If Bama did not generate so much money for the sport, they would have been killed yrs. ago. Hell, they have a 10K deposit on a certain RB in Florida who's pop was just recently released from prison, is the rumor on the streets...The NCAA simply does not care

MGlobules

July 29th, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^

and remain a fan of college football. Someone tell me all the sports are corrupt, then maybe I can continue to watch. Or maybe after Denard graduates I'll take up carpentry.