Why do so many Alabama Crimson Tide football players drive nice cars?
Derrick Henry:
Dre Kirkpatrick:
Ronnie Harrison
Jarren Reed:
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Police say Alabama defensive lineman Jarran Reed was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Tuscaloosa police say Reed was stopped early Sunday after hitting another car while both backed out of parking spots. Police say Reed drove a 2011 Dodge Charger toward the parking lot's exit before he was pulled over.
Ha Ha Clinton Dix:
The night before Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was set to leave Alabama headed to Florida to visit his family, he loaded his car with all his essentials: clothes, shoes, an iPad ... and money.
Overnight, his 2012 Dodge Charger was broken into. The Alabama standout safety was easy prey for robbers, with his doors left unlocked and his vehicle loaded with valuables, including about $200 in cash, a source close to the situation told Sporting News.
Altee Tenpenny:
GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A 20-year-old college football player was killed in a one-car crash in Mississippi, a local coroner said Wednesday. Altee Tenpenny was pronounced dead at 6:57 p.m. Tuesday at Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson told The Associated Press. Tenpenny, who played at Alabama in 2013 and 2014, was taken to the hospital after he wrecked a 2008 Dodge Charger near the community of Glen Allan, Johnson said.
Trent Richardson (not a Charger but...)
On August 28th, 2011 Alabama running back Trent Richardson was pulled over for speeding in Chilton County, Alabama. The Crimson Tide star was going 85 in a 70 and the officer noted that he blamed the "large rims" on his vehicle for the speeding violation. What was the vehicle? A 2011 GMC Yukon which retails for in the neighborhood of $40,000 even without the added expense of new rims. Raise your hand if it makes sense that an "unemployed" athlete at Alabama with two children, no job, and a non-wealthy family could afford a brand new SUV. Put your hands down Alabama fans. Trent Richardson could be flying in his own private jet and you'd talk about how it's perfectly reasonable for him to avoid traffic this way.
DJ Fluker:
Trey Depriest:
So I was kinda hoping to see pics of BMWs, Mercedeses, and Teslas for the environmentally conscious Tuscaloosan. How expensive are the cars shown? Out of line for college kids? I have no idea. I'm just going to assume that Michigan players roll in Chevy Vegas and Ford Pintos from the 70s.
I mean it is totally normal to drive 3.5 hours south from Tuscaloosa to Hot Wheelz in Mobile, AL to pay fair market value for new rims.
Unless UM is also doing it and I'm not aware of it, it gives other teams an unfair advantage in recruiting. When players go on visits and get rides from kids in nice/new cars I have no doubt they ask them about it. If they know they can't afford a car and the school has a relationship with a dealership that will loan them nice cars at little to no cost that would definately impact the choice of many recruits.
And, why isn't a new Dodge Charger a nice car for a college student? That's a $27,000 car. That's a more expensive car than I drive now as a 37 year old. When I was in college I drove a 10 year old Ford Probe with 80,000 miles and I thought it was nice. My parents weren't hurting financially and I'd bet they are better off than most of these kids parents.
Seriously guys...this isn't right. It's a blatent violation. Whether or not it should be is a different argument.
What are examples of impermissible extra benefits for enrolled student-athletes?
As a booster, you may not provide a student-athlete or a student-athlete’s friends, relatives or guardians:
- A special discount, payment arrangement or credit on a purchase or service.
I think that the financial arrangement you are describing clearly falls within a reasonable definition of a "special payment arrangement" as car dealerships don't delay loan repayment as a normal course of their business.
That's the whole point of the compliance officers employed by the school. Here are a few highlights from the job responsibilites listed on a job listing for an Assistant Compliance Director at Eastern Michigan:
Coordinate, implement and consistently improve upon a comprehensive systematic NCAA compliance monitoring program to ensure policies, procedures and protocols of the Eastern Michigan University Office of Athletic Compliance are effectively ensuring control over the institution's Intercollegiate Athletics Program. Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
Coordinate monthly review of each team's recruiting practices, including, but not limited to: official and unofficial visits, off-campus contacts and evaluations, phone and electronic communications, complimentary admissions, etc.
Coordinate the monitoring of student-athlete employment during both summer and academic year time periods.
In conjunction with the head of athletic equipment, coordinate the monitoring of equipment and apparel issuance and retrieval.
Coordinate the monitoring of student-athlete automobile use.
Coordinate the monitoring of student-athlete off-campus housing.
Again, I'm not saying I agree with these actions by dealers being legal, it's actually quite predatory, but it's been going on for a really long time.
I understand what you're saying. You're correct that just because football players are driving nice cars doesn't make it illegal. But, when a bunch of kids from the same school are driving nice cars it warrants investigation...that's the compliance department's job.
I don't think the football department is contacting dealers to set up kids with cars, alhought it wouldn't surprise me either in some instances. I think we are saying that dealers may doing shady business with low/no cost to football players that non-athletes can't get and that kids know the deal....simple as that.
So, the school needs to be aware of exactly what incentives these dealers are offering athletes and keep them honest about it. That is the job of the compliance officer, regardless of who sets it up. If schools are not monitoring this they are breaking the rules and not doing thier job.
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The MSRP for a charger is $27,000. A loan has monthly payments. Who paid for yours? Did you have a job? These kids are not allowed to work, so how are they making those payments? Don't be so naive. This is at a minimum eyebrow raising and deserves an investigation and explanation by the compliance department.
Do you think a college student can afford an entire year's worth of loan payments through a summer job?
When Harbaugh calls out Bama for cheating the posters here lap it up.
When Brian called Bama "a sophisticated factory of rule violations" people here lap it up.
When Hacket says Rashan Gary was offered incentives during his recruitment peope here lap it up.
When I post evidence that something clearly isn't on the up and up at Bama people here come up with with a bunch of horsehit as to why there isn't anything to see here. LOL.
Bama is cheating, the south is poor and many of these kids can't afford these cars, and people want to turn a blind eye to it and pretend it's just business as usual? Oh please.
That's not evidence of wrongdoing, it's something that happens at every big sports school and has for some time.
Not sure what your point is exactly. Are you really complainīng that Harbaugh, Brian and Hacket are viewed (on this blog anyway) as more "credible" sources than you?
Sorry, I personally just don't see any smoking gun with the info you provided. Now if we had a list of every vehicle driven by UM players compared to every vehicle driven by ALA players, maybe something would stand out. But a handful of examples across several years does nothing for me.
It's so easy for cash to magically appear in mailboxes. Why would a major program like ALA allow DOCUMENTED wide spread abuse to go on? Just doesn't pass the smell test - for me.
The myth that college atheletes have no spending money still exists. As outlined in another post,the "legal" cash exists. Just a matter of how players want to spend it.
I'm not sure any of the cars are 5 years old. What's hard to follow is the timeline(s). The players were at ALA from 2/3-5 years. And there is no date on these "reports". So I also struggled with the age of the cars initially. And I have no interest and going back to see what years the players were at ALA to see whether the cars were new.
Not sure it changes the story much, but the cars may have been fairly new when the events took place.
The OP does not claim that all of these quotes or pics are from this season. Obviously, if a guy like Derrick Henry has a nice car now, nobody would worry about it because he has turned professional. I assume these are quotes and pictures dating back several seasons to times when those cars would be considered more up-to-date.
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We should be focusing on getting the players more benefits for the money they're generating, not worrying about some southern booster who owns a few dodge dealerships.
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It's like people can't even read and rush to express their faux OUTRAGE on here. There's literally been at least 5 posts about UM players driving nice cars that people have seen with their own eyes and we still get ''OMG THIS ISN'T FAIR CHEATING RAGEEEEE''. I promise we do not lose recruits to things like this because they happen here just probably not the the degree where it's blatantly obvious like Ole Miss. We had a top five recruiting class last year and got multiple players out of the south and California.
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"that's expensive? my insurance alone is 200/mo, and I have a squeaky clean driving record and am in my 30s."
I don't even pay $200/month on TWO cars... and I was in an accident a couple years ago.
I honestly this feels kind of petty... I am not saying that if these guys got free cars it is ok but I don't think a photo with a nice car tells us anything about where that car came from or how much was spent to buy it...
For the record I drove a new 2006 Ford Mustang GT from 2006-08 when I was in college... I dated one woman who drove a Jag, another that drove a Lexus, one with a Camry... Some people have cars, some don't.
Could something be going on that shouldn't be? No question about it? Does it make us look to point fingers without fact? Hell no.
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I heard they are actually all driving one of these bad boys....
http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2015/09/nick_saban_collaborates_wi…
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