SEC media days: Waiting on Richt as NCAA hovers at Georgia (UPDATED)
Georgia coach Mark Richt will address the NCAA's inquiry into his program today. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
(UPDATED AT 10 a.m.)
HOOVER, Ala. — Good morning. Welcome back to SEC media days, which at some point in time I’m sure was a nice little gathering of writers from newspapers — yeah, yeah: which, were delivered by wagon train — to collect background information for the upcoming season.
But there’s nothing low key about it now. Day 1 seemed more like somebody fired a cannon.
A brief rundown, in case you missed it:
♦ The NCAA is conducting an “inquiry” -- I’m not sure if it qualifies as an investigation yet — into Georgia’s program. Officials have not said what they’re looking for but it’s believed to be related to all of the recent stories regarding illegal contact between college players and agents. For what it’s worth, wide receiver A.J. Green, whose name came up in a couple of internet stories, has denied involvement.
A small group of us are meeting with coach Mark Richt early this morning, prior to his scheduled major news conference with the rest of the media. Tim Tucker and I will post his comments as soon as we’re able. As always, I’ll be sending out Tweets throughout the day on Twitter. You can follow me @JeffSchultzAJC.
If you need to get caught up on the Georgia story, here’s a link to a blog I wrote yesterday when Tucker broke the story, and here’s Tim’s updated news story. My favorite part of Tim’s story might be the remark from former teammate Michael Moore, via Twitter: “Hahaha. This talk about A.J. is hilarious. That country boy ain’t never been to Miami!!! You can put those rumors to rest.”
♦ Alabama coach Nick Saban was a walking soundbite Wednesday on AgentGate. He likened agents to “pimps,” and I’m not sure if he was including his own agent, given his past movement from LSU to Miami (NFL) to Alabama. At one point, Saban also said, “Maybe we need to not be so self-absorbed,” when it comes to this issue. As several readers responded: Pot, meet kettle. Here’s the link to my column on Saban.
♦ Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, did a power point presentation, attempting to sell the world on why the BCS is such a great thing. Half the people in the room didn’t believe him. The other half were asleep. Here’s the link to the story.
♦ Lost in everything else yesterday was a great remark from Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who took offense to previous remarks from Saban that a drawback to the spread offense (which Mullen coaches at MSU and previously at Florida and Utah) is it doesn’t prepare quarterbacks for the NFL. Mullen’s response: “I’m not going to knock him. I don’t know his personal record. I’ve coached the spread offense and I have a lot of more first-round quarterbacks drafted than he has in his career as a head coach. Develop them for the NFL, I don’t know. In the last six years, I’ve had two of mine [Tim Tebow and Alex Smith] get drafted in the first round.”
That’s it for now. Check back later and I’ll have something new on Georgia.
♦
UPDATE: Threw this into comments below. Richt just met with a small group of reporters (he has yet to hold his formal news conference).
– In short, he said he has been asked by the NCAA not to speak publicly about the “inquiry” into the program, but all I can tell you is he didn’t act overly concerned about it.
– As for A.J. Green, he responded to some questions about his name being brought up in internet reports, saying he is not concerned and he has never even been to Miami (the reference being to stories of an agent’s party in South Beach). We’ll have more on this later.
– Richt, when asked if NCAA is looking at just one or more UGA players: “I don’t know at all and I’ve been asked not to to talk about it.”
– Unlike Saban, Richt said he doesn’t think “agent problem” is any worse now than it was before.
– Richt on “agent problem” “If there was an easy answer, I think we would’ve already found out what it is.”
♦
Previous SEC/Georgia posts
♦ NCAA inquiry is the last thing Georgia and Mark Richt need
♦ It’s no coincidence Saban suddenly is concerned about agents
♦ SEC media days: Hey, who let the BCS in here?
♦ We’re LIVE at SEC media days (with no shortage of storylines)
♦ NCAA reportedly investigating Florida (but temper excitement)
♦ Can Dogs end Alabama-Florida monopoly in SEC title game?
♦ Listen up, Ole Miss: I’ve got Colonel Reb’s replacement
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
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131 comments Add your comment
Jesse James
July 22nd, 2010
11:59 am
Coach Saban – If you call the agents pimps, you better call your player a prostitute.
NCAA investigating Georgia for potential sports agent violations – SI.com | All News Blog
July 22nd, 2010
12:02 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
We know what you want.....
July 22nd, 2010
12:02 pm
TampaGator
July 22nd, 2010
11:46 am
AJ Jones is guilty as sin. AJ Green, however, has denied any wrongdoing.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
12:03 pm
Don’t worry DAWGS breaking a few lil NCAA rules is nothing. Your teachers, administrators, and player break REAL LAWS ll the time. The NCAA stufff is small time in comparison. Keep your heads up and your eyes on the rearview mirror for the BLUE LIGHTS.
Tide Rising
July 22nd, 2010
12:06 pm
Tampagator,
I think AJ Green is clean. He and UGA were just told by the NCAA not to talk about the situation and hence the no comment. Sources close to him say he spent the weekend at home on Memorial day weekend.
In regards to Pouncey its also looking like he may be clean. He’s provided bank records, etc. showing no money deposits so its looking like he also may very well be in the clear.
In Marcel Dareus case at Bama its looking the same way. He was at the party but he and about 15 other players there returned home when they found out it was hosted by an agent. Its looking like a number of players there were convinced to come there under false pretenses with no mention of it being an agent’s party. The Marvin Austin kid at UNC looks to be in big trouble. From what I’ve seen under various sources it looks like only a few players like Austin knew it was an agent behind the party and they invited a number of friends at other schools to come without telling them that an agent was behind the party. We’ll find out soon enough but its starting to look more and more like the SEC school players so far will eventually be vindicated especially AJ.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
12:06 pm
The NFL is the Pimp, the agents are the prostitutes, and the college players are the Johns. We know the Johns always get busted.
We know what you want.....
July 22nd, 2010
12:06 pm
Tide Rising
July 22nd, 2010
11:58 am
There are at LEAST 10 politicians I hate worse than Saban so he’s not in my Top 10:)
GeoffDawg
July 22nd, 2010
12:09 pm
Tide Rising, I understand your frustration but when someone is successful, there’s always going to be a media target on his back. Sensationalism brings in readers/listeners so I would suggest taking it as a compliment to your coach that he’s garnering so much attention and intrigue. Steve Spurrier is still saying outrageous things but nobody really cares anymore because he’s not having the same success he once did.
Schultz may have a personal distaste for Saban but given his history of job hopping, whether it was forgiven (Huizenga) or reviled (99% of LSU fans), when you make inflammatory statements about agents, even if they’re true, you have to understand that you’re opening yourself up to speculation about your credibility on the issue.
In the end though, it probably doesn’t matter, if he makes his case clearly and convinces enough people of his position, then change can occur, if not, it probably won’t. But most people would agree that he’s not the best person to lead the charge. That may be through no fault of his own but that’s still just the practical reality of the situation.
VJacket
July 22nd, 2010
12:13 pm
GEORGIEEEEEEEEEEEE hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
ahahahahhahaha
ahahahhahahah
We know what you want.....
July 22nd, 2010
12:18 pm
VJacket
July 22nd, 2010
12:13 pm
What are you doing on this blog? I thought you tekkies spent all your time doing calculus.
DP
July 22nd, 2010
12:25 pm
This website points to Marvin Austin and perhaps some other UNC players. LSU could have a much easier opening game at the Georgia Dome.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Sources-Financial-advisors-middle-men-key-to-NCAA-case.html
Tide Rising
July 22nd, 2010
12:27 pm
Geoffdawg,
That’s the other thing I just never get is all the criticism about Saban’s history of job hopping. Each job was a logical progression- Toledo to Mich state(perennial little brother in the big 10) to LSU and then he tried his hand in the pros. Find out it wasn’t for him, the Bama job was open, so he took it. Same as Spurrier who went from Duke to Fla. to NFL to Carolina. Saban just had one more step because he started at Toledo and not a bcs conference team.
The LSU fans were mad at him for going to the pros and well before he came back to Bama. That I never understood. He brought them a national title, laid the talent foundation for Miles to bring them another, etc. I would have thought they would have been grateful the same way Fla. fans were to Spurrier when he went to the skins.
Anyway, enough about that. I think I’ll just reconcile myself to the fact that he’s never going to get a fair shake from the media. Being gruff with them probably got him into more trouble than anything he’s actually done and that more than anything has been his undoing.
TampaGator
July 22nd, 2010
12:33 pm
Tide Rising…..
If they went to the party and the trip was paid by someone….just leaving the party would not be enough. I would expect they would have to repay the money to someone….and they should have reported the situation to their coaches as soon as they returned to campus….which they didn’t do. If they paid their own way, then they didn’t break any rules….but they still should have informed their coaches of the situation so it could have been immediately reported to the NCAA….and all of this could have been avoided.
We know what you want.....
July 22nd, 2010
12:36 pm
Am I the only one who questions the mental capacity of these athletes if they go on an expense-paid trip to Miami and NOTHING registered in their minds that it might be against some NCAA rule? Geesh!
GeoffDawg
July 22nd, 2010
12:37 pm
Tide Rising, I’m a fervent believer in capitalism so I have no problems at all with someone leveraging their skills and talents for better opportunities. However, I believe that when you’re talking about college football, you’re much more likely to get emotionally invested with the people that lead your program so that it does feel like a betrayal after all the talk about “family” and “long term goals”. Especially when he comes back to a position where they have to compete with him in the division every year. I don’t think it’s the same with Spurrier because South Carolina doesn’t have a legitimate shot at competing with Florida on a regular basis. I do know several Gator fans though that, after Spurrier left and then came back to USC, stated how glad they were to have someone so obnoxious gone from their program.
In any case, nobody is perfect and I think Bama would’ve been crazy to have not pursued and hired Saban when they had the chance.
TampaGator
July 22nd, 2010
12:39 pm
P.S. I never said AJ was guilty of anything. I just questioned the approach by the U of G if Green is innocent…..why not just say so in front of all the media and the country. If innocent, what possible harm could that cause? Just seems strange to me. Just say as he had previously said, “I have never been to Miami” and go on to the football questions. If you are innocent, you are innocent. Just say so. Again…not saying AJ is guilty…but I do question the approach being used….but the situation for Georgia is just one day old….so they might have told AJ to keep his mouth shut so they can check the situation out first for themselves….so coach Richt and the AD (whoever that is at this time) can check things out better. Maybe they have some doubts themselves. Who knows??? For me, I hope AJ is innocent. I would very much miss watching AJ Green on the college football field…and we have only one more year to do so. His type of reciever only comes around once in a while…and he is truly a special athlete…when healthy.
bamafan
July 22nd, 2010
12:56 pm
Jeff – why such a sudden dislike for Nick Saban? Maybe you never liked him, but your comments are particularly snarky lately. As for the delight you took in Coach Mullen’s comments, the statistics don’t lie but most folks would agree that Coach Saban was correct about the spread……..didn’t you make a living earlier reporting on Tim Tebow’s efforts to change his throwing motion in order to make it in the NFL? As for Coach Mullen, Tebow hasn’t made it in the NFL yet and Alex Smith (who?) is certainly not Tom Brady or Peyton Manning……….
Damon Evans
July 22nd, 2010
12:58 pm
The curse of the red panties continues.
tyger
July 22nd, 2010
1:00 pm
If the agents are “pimps” and the players are “prostitutes”, then what are the campuses?
Whorehouses?
layinlow
July 22nd, 2010
1:02 pm
Tampa Gator, The NCAA asked Mark Richt and his players not to comment. Why is that so hard for you to understand? I’m sure Richt told AJ he wasn’t to say anything to the media innocent or not.
Personally, from everything I have heard about AJ is that he is a great kid. I find it hard to believe that he would flat out lie and say he has never been to Miami. I think his name is involved because he is a top 5 talent and people automatically assume he would have been the agents target from UGA. If he did lie I would be extremely disappointed and as a fan of UGA I would hope he was punished more for lying than actually going to the party.
DP
July 22nd, 2010
1:03 pm
Tampa Gator, I would not be surprised if UGA advised Green to answer “no comment” to any issue related to the pending NCAA investigation. Otherwise the media wouldn’t have stopped at one question….Were you at South Beach? You’ve never been to South Beach? Do you know if any of your teammates were at the party? Have you ever been in contact with an agent? Do you know Marvin Austin of UNC? If he denies one allegation, it looks like he’s guilty of whatever is charged in the first question he doesn’t answer.
Tide Rising
July 22nd, 2010
1:09 pm
Tampagator,
I just read the full report on what happened so fortunately for us it looks like Dareus may be in the clear. The source is close to the Dareus family and told a Bama paper what happeend.
Dareus and Marvin Austin are friends going back to their recruitment. Anyway Austin paid for Dareus flight to come to Miami-probably cause Dareus didn’t have a credit card. Dareus got their and paid Austin cash for the ticket and got a receipt. They went to the party and Dareus found out it was an agent behind it. He and some other players left. Dareus called his family who then bought him a one way ticket back home. He called Saban when he came back on Sunday morning and met with Saban to explain what happened. Saban and the university called the NCAA and formally interviewed Dareus. Austin also paid for a hotel room for Dareus but Dareus did not use it.
The way its looking is that Dareus and quite a few other players from other schools were lured down there under false pretenses. Several North Carolina players are going to be in some serious trouble. Allegedly several of them have been known for blatantly asking agents for money and it is being alleged that several of them especially Austin were doing some running for the agent to get other high profile players down there. The whole affair is becoming sordid indeed.
juice sourcer
July 22nd, 2010
1:22 pm
Will keep happening…coaches get millions, and there is billions flowing through the system and the players get chump…nothing…ok…a free education…hell anybody can go to a state school..maintain a B average and have their education paid for with lottery funds…so basically of a education is around 15K a year..that’s what the player( performers) are getting while the coaches, AD, networks , etc are getting rich…it’s completly hipacritical.
Sports Review
July 22nd, 2010
3:05 pm
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Gatormeat
July 23rd, 2010
8:25 am
The most funny part of this is that you dogs can cheat and our Gators still beat you down most every year. Peach and Independence bowls are your destiny, we are the big boys in the east.
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