Unlike Richard Sheridan's witty dialogue in his 1777 play, The School for Scandal, recent comments made by Oregon and The Ohio State representatives concerning alleged or proven NCAA violations take its audience for complete imbeciles or gullible innocents. Is it a sign of the further dumbing down of language and culture or is it a sign of something far worse--complicit erosion of values between school and society, including rabid fan bases? In other words, the fan base expects the school to say something, anything, to deflect the scrutiny of the national media. Then, the fan base expects the storm to pass and life to proceed as usual. Why? Because the school president, athletic director, or head coach has met his or her job description by addressing the issue, even if said address occurs in skate-around fashion.
The potential scandal involving the Oregon football program concerns payments made to two individuals in Texas: up to $25,000.00 went to Willie Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston (including $16,500.00 that went to the service itself) and $3745.00 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics and Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 football camps. Most big-time BCS football programs do pay for recruiting services, and the checks came from the school itself above-board, not from an avid Ducks booster like Phil Knight of Nike. So where's the infraction?
Flenory's Badger football camps have spawned Ducks signees DeAnthony Thomas, Cliff Harris, Dior Mathis, Tacoi Sumler, and Anthony Wallace (the latter of whom he personally trained). Flenory played under Oregon head coach Chip Kelly when the latter was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.
Willie Lyles possibly worked as a trainer for current Ducks star LaMichael James and definitely worked as a trainer for future Ducks star Lache Seastrunk before joining the recruiting service. Curiously, the $8500.00 payment balance was made to Willie Lyles personally after the recruiting entity let him go and after Seastrunk signed his letter of intent with the Ducks.
Still, the main question is one of steering. Did Flenory and Lyles steer these prospects to Eugene, or was their arrival purely coincidental? If it was coincidental, why were the payments so unusually large? Were other schools making similar payments to Lyles or Flenory?
According to Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, the school's compliance office signed off on the payments. Let's see, who do such office personnel work for? Would anyone there contradict Mr. Mullens in public? According to Mullens, the subject recruiting services met NCAA rules. Translation: it is Oregon's position that no steering of prospects/recruits took place.
If steering occurred, Flenory and Lyles would be considered Oregon boosters, and any payment to them would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13 (prohibiting a booster from directing a recruit to a school). If steering occurred, Bylaw 12.3.3.1 would also have been violated by the school and agent or scouting service. Bylaw 12.3.3.1 states that a student-athlete may allow a scouting service or agent to distribute personal information to a school, provided a fee is not based on placing the player at a school.
Yahoo!Sports broke the story last Thursday, March 3. On Friday, athletic director Mullens (who was ironically brought in just last summer to clean up the program although his expertise lies in revenue growth and accounting) stated the following:
"We have been asked to provide a series of documents by the NCAA and intend to fully cooperate. I reiterate that it is our belief that the purchase of such [recruiting] services is within the allowable NCAA guidelines. . . .Our compliance office signed off on it."
Head coach Chip Kelly said, "Most programs purchase recruiting services. Our compliance office is aware of it. Will has a recruiting service that met NCAA rules, and we used him in 2010."
To paraphrase the old MST3K cable show, Flenory and Lyles (if called upon to testify) will probably claim Ph.D's in not steering recruits in certain directions as they allegedly have no vested interest in their collegiate destinations. Do you buy it? Will the NCAA buy it? At least we know the Ducks fan base has bought it. After all, winning makes everybody honest, and the Ducks have won a lot over the past few years.
Never mind that other powerhouse programs like Texas were aware of Lyles's "street agent" reputation and steered away from him to avoid even the impression of impropriety.
Cut to Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel, he of The pristine sweater-vest reputation, apparently was made aware through an e-mail on April 2, 2010 that some of his players were selling autographed Buckeye memorabilia for cash and discounted tattoos. What's the problem?
First, NCAA bylaws since 2004 have prohibited players from selling any team-related materials for cash, merchandise, or services while still in school. Second, NCAA bylaws prohibit individuals or institutions from obstructing NCAA investigations.
Unfortunately for the players involved, the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbus was investigating the tattoo parlor owner, Eddie Rife, for federal drug-trafficking charges at the time the stuff-for-tats and cash transactions went down.
Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he received two e-mails in April of 2010 from a concerned Ohio State alum and former Buckeye baller, attorney Christopher Cicero, alerting him to the problem. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he acknowledged receipt of the first Cicero e-mail in his own brief e-mail reply on the same date of April 2, 2010, thus creating a paper trail of his knowledge. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he signed an NCAA Certificate of Compliance form on September 13, 2010, wherein he claimed to have no knowledge of any possible NCAA violations. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he again claimed no prior knowledge when OSU officials told him about the tattoo parlor transactions on December 9, 2010. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he gave this tepid disingenuous reply on December 16, 2010, when asked about his knowledge of the sales:
"While I received a tip about general rumors pertaining to certain of my players, that information had not been specific, and it pertained to their off-field choices."
Apparently, Coach Tressel was told in April the name of the tattoo parlor owner and names of two of the six players involved, who just happened to be star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and star wide receiver DeVier Posey. Since when did questionable off-field conduct of players become off-limits to football coaches and programs? Since when did it become right to shield players from law-enforcement officials and NCAA investigators?
Ohio State had been a preseason Top 10 pick in football and a viable candidate for the national championship in 2010. How would losing four stars from its offense impact the record? Coach Tressel wasn't about to find out.
More troubling than the spring 2010 lack of disclosure was the December 2010 lack of disclosure. Not only did Tressel's silence prevent the NCAA from adopting immediate penalties and suspensions against the school and players, but it encouraged athletic director Gene Smith, school president E. Gordon Gee, and Big 10 commissioner Jim Delaney to become vocal advocates and lobbyists for The Ohio State to play the Sugar Bowl in January 2011 with a full roster.
The NCAA permitted the penalties against the six players to be delayed until the 2011 season. Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26 in the Sugar Bowl. Five players were suspended for five games and one for one game. All of the players had to pay back the more than $7,000.00 in cash that they received for autographed jerseys and gloves, trophies, rings, and footballs. Fortunately for them, they were not required to return their tattoos.
What about the Sugar Bowl game? The Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26. Apparently, they needed every one of their players to overcome the Razorbacks.
Shortly after the Sugar Bowl game in early January of 2011, Ohio State officials presented Coach Tressel with the e-mails they had discovered during their own investigation of Tattoogate. At that point, after the entire season was safely behind him, Coach Tressel confessed his prior knowledge.
Previously, I've discussed The potential conflict of interest between The Ohio State University and The NCAA Infractions Committee. No need to go there again.
On March 7, 2011, Yahoo! Sports (again) disclosed Coach Tressel's prior knowledge of Tattoogate. On March 8, 2011, Ohio State hastily organized a press conference to "properly" handle the situation. Have you ever heard of gasoline on fire? The Three Stooges (Gee, Smith, and Tressel) performed like idiots or arrogant, patronizing, above-the-law shirkers. You decide.
First, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be suspended for the first two games of 2011 against a pair of MAC cupcakes. Second, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be fined $250,000.00, a large penalty until you consider he makes $3.5 million per annum. Third, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel must attend an NCAA rules seminar and must issue a public apology. The self-imposed sanctions are flyweight when compared with the NCAA sanctions against Dez Bryant at Oklahoma State and Bruce Pearl at Tennessee.
When asked if terminating Coach Tressel had ever been considered, President Gee said, "I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me." Even if this were a joke, it does speak to the priorities at the school and in the OSU fan base: nobody's more important and powerful than the football coach and nothing's more important than winning football games.
How did Coach Tressel feel about covering up a scandal and misleading NCAA investigators? First, he made an excuse: "I didn't disclose information from Cicero because he was concerned about preserving the confidentiality of a federal drug investigation." Second, he made an arrogant self-appraisal while providing a second excuse: "I don't think less of myself at this moment. I felt at the time as if I was doing the right thing for the safety of the young people and the overall situation." Did he actually believe star Buckeye players' lives were in jeopardy? What type of Columbus, Ohio, businessman would threaten or harm Ohio State players and expect to stay in business?
Indeed, the death threats that have surfaced emanate from a few deranged Buckeye fans who have threatened good citizen Cicero, the attorney who was only trying to help the program and nip a scandal in the bud. Said Cicero later in the week, "I'm not the Judas in this situation. You know, I feel like Peter, but I'm not the Judas."
At this time, the NCAA continues its own investigation into Tattoogate, torn between its BCS alliance with The Ohio State and the national media scrutiny provided by less sympathetic individuals. Petros of the nationally-syndicated Fox Sports Radio Petros and Money Show believes Coach Tressel may be taking one for the team and covering up for a higher-up like A.D. Gene Smith. That would provide another explanation why the higher-ups didn't terminate him or issue a greater fine and suspension. Even national ESPN personality Colin Cowherd, a man usually in bed with all things BCS and Ohio State, finds Coach Tressel's conduct indefensible in Tattoogate. It is hard to believe the NCAA will not hammer Coach Tressel and The Ohio State much harder. Why? It has to.
Could Coach Tressel have been happy to receive ringing endorsements and support from a rogue's gallery of coaches, including Bob Knight, Rich Rodriguez, and Jim Calhoun? Was it their way of saying in code, "Welcome to the club"?
Let's analyze the periphery issue concerning the spy sources for Yahoo! Sports. One thing we know: it's not just idle gossip-mongering observers trying to stir things up for their own amusement, as is the case in The School for Scandal. Were the sources for the two scandals internal or external? One must assume they are external since whistleblowing immunity rarely appears in big-time athletics.
Lane Kiffin of USC had already accused Oregon of recruiting misdeeds before the Texas story broke. Last month, USC lost a five-star recruit on signing day to Oregon. What is a school like USC (already under its own NCAA sanctions) to gain from a school like Oregon getting penalized? You do the math.
Naturally, any of the other eleven schools in the Pac-12 have a lot to gain from Oregon's fall from grace. Don't rule out Big 12 schools, either, who perhaps were tired of losing local star recruits to a West Coast program. It's not fair to point fingers only at Kiffin and USC. However, based on Kiffin's Tennessee travesty, it is fun.
Who would be the most logical external sources for the Tressel controversy? Starting with arch-rival Michigan and more recent rival Penn State, any Big 10 school is a prime suspect. One wouldn't put it past Coach Rodriguez, regardless of his recent words of support, to provide a parting shot to the school and individual most responsible for his demise (if one doesn't include his own misconduct). Then again, what BCS school of any conference lacks motivation to dismantle the arrogance and effrontery and hyper-success of The Ohio State University?
The schools for scandal keep growing in numbers. If it's not one issue, it's another. Nevertheless, society grows more jaded as examples of outlandish behavior multiply. To most jaded fans, winning is everything. Therefore, they implicitly approve of any conduct that produces positive results (wins) for their teams.
It's understood that head coaches of collegiate revenue-generating sports are in pressure cookers. Administrations expect them to win. Alumni expect them to win. Boosters expect them to win. Non-revenue sports programs hope and expect them to win. Still, that is no excuse for cheating.
The coaches are compensated generously. Many of them are the highest-paid employees in their states. If they can't win playing by the rules and if they can't handle the pressure, they can always find another lower-paying vocation. Shed no tears for them. As Coach Tressel himself said this week, "The most pathetic thing is a leader looking for self-pity." In the midst of the turmoil, that was his most honorable statement.
Can schools really be expected to police themselves fairly? Can conferences really be expected to police schools fairly? Can the NCAA really be expected to police all conferences equally and fairly? Are we talking human nature or superhuman nature?
One thing you can alway expect in the world of college football is the unexpected. A new scandal will no doubt overshadow these two current scandals sometime soon. Scandals both real and imagined will continue to capture publicity in the more distant future. The fan bases will go from accepting to embracing the misconduct of their schools as egos, profits, and an intense competitive nature interfere with common decency and morality.
Fans are less concerned than ever with the image of their schools. Integrity mixed with losses does not boost the ego like Oregon recruit steering or Ohio State cover-ups mixed with wins. Are fans ever anxious about sanctions? As Sheridan wrote in the last line of his play, "You can, indeed, each anxious fear remove, For even Scandal dies, if you approve."
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