CBS Article on Cheating in CFB

Submitted by GRBluefan on

Nothing groundbreaking, and not really worth posting based solely on the quality of content.  However, this (anonymous) quote from a coach made me chuckle: 

 

"Out of the 130 FBS schools in FBS, I would say, in the SEC, 80 percent [knowingly cheat]. Everywhere else, about 20 percent."

 

File that one under obvious things being obvious.

Edit: if we take the 80% as true (and round up), that would mean there are 2 SEC schools that don't knowingly cheat.  I say Vanderbilt and Arkansas, since I don't give Bielema enough credit to have successfully kept a cheating ring quiet for this long.

Link.

corundum

August 7th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^

I personally know a mid-tier offensive lineman that came in during the later Carr years who was definitely receiving kickbacks that most here would blast an SEC school over. Hard to think the Manninghams and Harts weren't getting the same if not more benefits. I sincerely hope things have changed with Harbaugh at the helm, but it's laughable when people act like these things can't happen at Michigan.

Longballs Dong…

August 7th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^

The question (in my mind anyway) isn't if the OL was getting kickbacks, it's how much and from who.  I bought some guys drinks one night at the bar, that's an illegal kickback.  I once offered Quenton Washington a hotdog at a tailgate after a game.  He said no, but that would have been illegal too.  Was it boosters giving hundred dollar handshake or was Lloyd Carr aware and assisting to pay off his mom's home?  There's a wide range here and I'll believe every University has some booster willing to handout small change.  I don't believe M has an orchestrated payment system in place and the staff/university are in on it. 

corundum

August 7th, 2017 at 6:27 PM ^

I'm not full of shit and the only reason I have this information is because I'm an acquaintance of a former player and asked. I'm not trying to pretend I know anything, as a matter of fact I just told everyone that is reading. I can go way into specifics if you are really that interested. I doubt he would tell people that would have a nefarious agenda.

grumbler

August 7th, 2017 at 8:55 PM ^

No, but you adopted a "holier than thou" attitude toward other posters based solely on information that only you claim to have.

Sorry.  I'm not buying it.  I'm sure there has been some stuff happen at Michigan that shouldn't, but I am inclined to believe that your particular "revelation" was motivated by the desire to appear superior to, and better informed than, your fellow posters.

93Grad

August 7th, 2017 at 7:33 PM ^

The key question is whether someone on the coaching staff was aware of the payments. There's a big difference in the two scenarios IMO. No staff can prevent booster shenanigans. What really matters is whether the staffs know of or aid in the kickbacks and my guess is the cheating going on in the SEC is done with the full knowledge and/or assistance of the coaching staff

Yeoman

August 8th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^

...other than "did they know."

1. How diligently does a school try to find out about shenanigans? Or, in some cases, how diligently do they work at keeping their eyes and ears closed?

2. What do they do with the information when they get it?

You can't prevent it, but your actions have a lot to do with its prevalence.

 

wildbackdunesman

August 7th, 2017 at 3:54 PM ^

Part of the problem is how can you prevent all impermissible benefits?
 

I know of soccer players at Division III Hope College that got impermissible benefits.  An alumnus who owned apartments with less rent for athletes and jobs picking up trash where you don't actually show up.  How do you stop that?

 

Bigku22

August 7th, 2017 at 6:38 PM ^

Brian has touched on this before, but when people say "cheating" if you actually break it down it's just kids receiving reasonably small benefits for playing a sport they are otherwise not compensated for. It's just called cheating because of some antiquated NCAA rulebook. 

If Michigan is leveraging the use of this, it does not bother me in the slightest. When you're winning, nobody cares about any of this shit (see Saban, Nick). 

grumbler

August 7th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^

"Otherwise not compensated for?"  What dafuck?  Do you have any idea the value of the scholarship and coaching these guys get is worth?  Why do you think any of them go through the agony involved in playing an NCAA sport?  Because they are morons, or because they are masochists? 

They do it becuse they get coaching, training, and education that set themselves up for either professional football, or non-football professions.

You really think it is coincidence that the NFL drafts almost exclusively from the "otherwise not compensated" NCAA football players?

Yabadabablue

August 7th, 2017 at 3:15 PM ^

We all pretty much knew this, although hearing a coach confirm it hopefully can draw the NCAAs attention away from stopping kids from making YouTube videos. 

M-Dog

August 7th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^

Only 80% of the SEC cheats?  Who besides Vandy is not cheating?

Nobody in the West is clean.

Based on results, Kentucky does not look like it is getting much lift, but it's Kentucky.  Just being on the same campus as Calapari has to make you want to cheat.

Given how well it works for them in basketball, if they are in the SEC and they are not cheating in football, they are stupid.

 

 

Mr Miggle

August 7th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^

Of course he's not there anymore and I don't think there's much doubt the administration is OK with a change in approach.

Miss St. did turn in Cam Newton and got left in the dust by a cheating Ole Miss. They recruit like a clean program.

Missouri is a Big Ten school at heart. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Vandy is the obvious one.

 

Yeoman

August 8th, 2017 at 12:44 PM ^

And not for the first time.

Their general counsel is a sports-law expert who made a career of representing NCAA coaches during scandals, including Norm Stewart when Missouri went on probation last time. They like his services so much they even made him interim president for a year.

I think they know what to do.

Hard-Baughlls

August 7th, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^

ran a clean program at Georgia song has gotten a lot of play over the years.  Do we have any info to validate or invalidate this presumption?

Not trying to be an asshole, just curious if we know this or just base it on the fact that Richt always seemed like a good / not sleazy guy who didn't come off as a win at all costs guy. Senator Tressel seemed like Mr. Clean until the truth came out.

 I mean, Richt was pulling in top 5-10 classes every year in the extremely competitive SEC recruiting grounds where UF, Bama, LSU, FSU (same region), Ole Miss, etc programs were going after the same kids. What was Richt selling that these kids would turn down a similar playing experience + $  ?  Now U Miami is recruiting like gangbusters as well - just saying.

Mr Miggle

August 7th, 2017 at 9:08 PM ^

in CFB you can never be too sure.

Richt was at UGA for 15 years without any talk of cheating. He also didn't cut corners by oversigning or dropping recruits. Yes, a lot like Tressel, except without the rumors and the known cheating at YSU. Smart has coached one season and we're hearing rumors of cheating in his recruiting already.

UGA is one of the top few schools for recruiting. #4 state for talent with no real in-state competition. Miami has a great class, but almost all local recruits.

M-Dog

August 7th, 2017 at 3:32 PM ^

There is that deal in the SEC and the ACC where they're funneling money through ... churches. 
 
The figure I keep hearing from a certain conference is $80,000 to land a top player. That money, as you can see from one coach, can be filtered through local churches. Usually, they are non-profits whose records can't be reached by media or the NCAA. 
 
The most SEC / ACC thing ever.
 
 

 

True Blue Grit

August 7th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^

a whole new enforcement division centering on churches.  The purpose being trying to feret out the bogus money-laundering church "non-profits" from the legit ones.  Has anyone else noticed the proliferation of all these new, non-denominational churches in the last 10 years?  They operate out of all kinds of places - rented room in schools, strip center space, stand-alone commercial buildings, etc.  I'm sure the majority of them are legitimate.  But the non-profit status, lack of transparency, and limited reported required just invites the use of them as shells for illicit purposes.  

BuckNekked

August 7th, 2017 at 6:57 PM ^

Franklin and PSU. And it wouldnt surprise me if his success at Vandy was predicated on dirty money. Number 3? State and steroids? Nebraska and their high rate of recruiting success in California? Maryland and Durkin who came from the SEC and turned around the recruiting at a moribund program in just 1 cycle? Rutgers building their fence with illicit Mexican money even Trump cant get his hands on?

Mi Sooner

August 7th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^

When I was at OU in the early 80's, the 100USD handshake was a known thing. One of the players scored a key touchdown and "found" a set of keys to a new Olds Delta 88 in his student mailbox -- with title. But that was back in the day of Barry Switzer.

Yeoman

August 9th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^

The NCAA didn't start enforcement until '53; OU was on probation by '56. Slush funds, phantom jobs, free rental cars, boosters in the locker room after games dropping cash in players' upturned helmets. One of the assistant coaches had six figures in cash sitting in a locked desk drawer; they'd show it to recruits during visits. (That may not seem like much now but it was 15 years salary for the head coach in 1950.)

I don't actually recommend the book--it's basically a Wilkinson hagiography--but if you're curious there's plenty of information in https://www.amazon.com/Undefeated-Oklahoma-Sooners-Greatest-Football/dp…

Some of it's pretty funny--at one point the NCAA tries to schedule an appointment with a booster, an accountant who was supposedly keeping the records of the off-the-books stuff, and he disappears. Suddenly moved to Reno, it turns out.

It was more blatant than anything since, probably because it took a while to realize there might actually be consequences to getting caught.