For Cam and Auburn, what the NCAA didn’t say resonates
For SEC championship game purposes, the three biggest words in the NCAA’s statement on Cam Newton were these: “Is immediately eligible.” Over the longer term, three bigger words were tucked into this statement from the NCAA’s Kevin Lennon.
“Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity.”
The three massive words: “At this time.”
Just because Cam Newton has been cleared to play Saturday doesn’t mean he has been cleared forever. It doesn’t mean the NCAA can’t and won’t continue to investigate. (It can and surely will.) And if at any time it finds “sufficient evidence” that Newton himself or a representative of Auburn violated an NCAA regulation … well, we know what that means.
Forfeit city.
Folks on the outside have a tough time understanding how the NCAA works. (Folks on the inside do, too.) But the key revelation made Wednesday was that the NCAA had indeed found evidence a rule had been flouted — by Cecil Newton, Cam’s dad, and the scout Kenny Rogers in their solicitation of Mississippi State. This prompted Auburn to declare Newton ineligible and petition for reinstatement.
This is the procedure in every NCAA case. (Georgia’s A.J. Green had to be reinstated after the NCAA suspended him those four games.) That the NCAA acted so quickly, reinstating Newton a day after Auburn ruled him ineligible, was surely due to logistics: Auburn has a game Saturday.
Yes, it’s a big game. And yes, it was awfully convenient that Auburn rendered Newton ineligible on Tuesday, Nov. 30, as opposed, say, to Friday, Nov. 26. (Gee, that was the date of the Iron Bowl!) So far, you’d have to say Auburn has found its version of Ed Tolley, the Athens attorney who has steered Georgia through tempest after tempest the past quarter-century. But that’s OK: If you were a school under scrutiny and your football team was about to play for an SEC championship and then maybe the BCS title, you’d have to be awfully dumb not to hire a smart lawyer.
Newton being rendered ineligible for one day might seem silly, but it served an essential purpose: It forced the NCAA to say yea or nay as to his playing status. It forced the NCAA to tell us, “A violation was committed … but the violation wasn’t Auburn’s.” A lot of folks have hooted down this ruling, saying it opens the door for every prospect to find a relative willing to be his talent broker and take the rap if found out, but the NCAA hasn’t yet slammed this particular door.
I say again: Don’t mistake this reinstatement for absolution. The NCAA didn’t say, “Case closed.” Newton and Auburn could still be held accountable for any transgressions that come to light. (And we know already the NCAA has found one violation involving one Newton.) Cam Newton has been cleared to play Saturday, but he and his school are not yet in the clear. Wednesday’s ruling restored his eligibility at this time, which isn’t to say for all time.
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450 comments Add your comment
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:01 pm
14.01.3.3 Recruitment.
If it is determined that a student-athlete has been illegally recruited by a member institution in a manner that violates NCAA Bylaw 13.01.1, the student-athlete’s award shall be ruled permanently invalid, and the student-athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport at the institution guilty of the infraction for the remainder of his/her college career. Said student-athlete may then be awarded a scholarship by another Southeastern Conference institution. [Revised 6/3/93]
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:03 pm
Atl: He didn’t “agree to recieve” because an offer from MSU didn’t occur. In order to “agree to recieve” it requires two parties, AND payment.
Why do you not understand that?
atlvol55
December 2nd, 2010
12:03 pm
Jim:
I’m not trying to be mean here…but please follow. This is a SEPARATE SEC rule; not a NCAA rule. Therefore the NCAA could instate him, but it appears that the SEC rule was definately broken and therefore he should be suspended by the SEC, just like Pearl was.
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:04 pm
atlvol55
December 2nd, 2010
11:56 am
Jim,
ATL:
The NCAA admitted that Cecil shopped his son around so therefore by SEC’s own laws, Newton is ineligible. That’s the facts.
They also stated that Cam had no knowledge and reinstated him. NO?? lol
DAWG A
December 2nd, 2010
12:04 pm
Mark you are so on target with this article.You need to clue in your partner in sports (JS) that this is not over!! But he doesn’t get it most of the time anyway!
But this is far from over and if the NCAA let’s this go then everybody will let their parents or whomever represent them and then just act dumb like Cam is doing! Typically where there is smoke there is fire!!!!
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:06 pm
The NCAA rule overrides the SEC reading does it not?
If not, then the SEC would have requested Auburn to suspend, and not reinstate him.
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:07 pm
Back in a few… gonna put up some xmas stuff lol
Hunk Erdown
December 2nd, 2010
12:10 pm
The divorce rate is around 50%. Let’s say parent A lives near Auburn and Parent B lives near Athens. Their son is being recruited by both Auburn and UGA. With the NCAA’s current ruling, all parent A has to do is give Mark Richt a call asking for $180,000 to insure that his son goes to Auburn.
Vance Duuley
December 2nd, 2010
12:11 pm
… Ed Tolley, the Athens attorney who has steered Georgia through tempest after tempest the past quarter-century.
If UGA played by the rules, including not recruiting thugs and gangbangers, and if their recruits were legitimate students, they wouldn’t need some shyster like Tolley.
Auburn may be on the hotseat, but it’s thUGA that needs to be on probation.
Think about the football team thUGA puts on the field. 96% of the players are academically provisionally accepted, with Richt knowing full well that they will use up all their coaching and tutors and elligibility and then have their asses kicked out on the street and soon be picking up garbage or pushing grocery carts around Atlanta looking for a warm place to sleep. What a pitiful way to run the State’s flagship university.
To clean-up UGA, start with Mark Richt. Dump this phony and get a coach who will recruit players with some brains and integrity, not like the thugs and illiterates who Richt recruits. Run Richt out of Athens on a rail and say good riddance to him. And then you won’t need so many overpriced lawyers like Tolley.
gdawginkalamazoo
December 2nd, 2010
12:15 pm
I remember the time that I was ruled “ineligible” for a day. I didn’t feel so good that day. Then I got re-instated. But I didn’t find out about all of it until a week later. Then I felt bad for another day. So it was like being ruled ineligible for two days. Just thinking about the whole situation is making me feel bad today.
Tidewatch
December 2nd, 2010
12:16 pm
Thanks,Mark. You’re an excellent reporter. Any other school would have Made Newton sit.
knows right from wrong
December 2nd, 2010
12:17 pm
Said it before and Ill say it again…..Cam Newton is a great athelete…….He is unliked not for his ability but his arrogance and lack of humility. Auburn fans should expect more from a team member and a coach should demand respect not the antics of a 12 year old.
bjohndawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:17 pm
SEC Bylaw 14.01.3.2 states:
“If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student- athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.”
So CAM Newton is ineligible at any SEC school.
So is it written, so shall it be law
Unless you are going to Auburn.
bjohndawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:18 pm
And SEC enforcement has just become a joke.
Bud
December 2nd, 2010
12:19 pm
This thing stinks to high heaven! Cam Newton’s lying, his Daddy’s lying, the NCAA has been bluffed and cornered by Chizik. This house of cards is coming down.
Cobb Dawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:19 pm
The declaring by AU was indeed a ploy to get the NCAA to immediately rule. And some naive AU fans are screaming WDE all over the place. But the investigation continues and, if the NCAA doesn’t do the right thing, college football as we know it will no longer exist. The NCAA better take that knife away from it’s nose……………………………….
gdawginkalamazoo
December 2nd, 2010
12:21 pm
SEC Bylaw 14.07.5.2 states:
“No quarterback shall at any time, before, during or after a game, or at any prep rally, jump up in front of the band and imitate a drum major.”
AltamahaDawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:26 pm
No Jim, actually (although a lot of comments are purely opinion) for the level headed posters the “facts” are not being argued. An NCAA rule, a very serious rule at that, was broken. That is not in dispute, is it? It’s the nature of the action taken by the NCAA in light of that that some have questioned. That’s where the opinion are being rendered, not in the (seemingly un-disputed) facts from the investigation.
Go Dawgs!
December 2nd, 2010
12:26 pm
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
10:32 am
Atlvol55 is right.
Jim you’re the one who needs to get a clue. If this descison holds it has opened a HUGE can of worms.
1. The message it REALLY sends to schools, boosters, players and their families is this: As long as the player in question has no knowledge of money exchanging hands it’s okay (wink wink)
2. The flood gates will be open going forward with parents, coaches, “family advisors”, and anyone else approaching willing bidders (and don’t be fooled there are plenty of $$$ men out there) to purchase rights to a given player.
The whole thing stinks. This is what happens when there is over a billion dollars in TV rights, advertising etc.. involved. A Cam Newton-less SEC title game wouldn’t have the national draw that it does with him. Everyone wants to see an Oregon – Auburn national championship game. No one wants to see Oregon – TCU or worse if Oregon got upset a TCU vs Stanford or Wisconsin. If you don’t think the TV executives won’t have a good supply of Tums this weekend should either game be close (ore -orest/aub-sc) you’re crazy. Auburn is the only “traditional” powerhouse left in the top 5. I suspect even with a loss to SC they get into the big game. It’s about ratings and $$$. The powers that be have to look no further than the USC/Reggie Bush scandal. It was ugly but college football survived the hit. They will take the $$$ that’s generated today for the hit tomorrow. If Auburn wins the national title the “investigation” will drag out for at least two years to get seperation. If Oregon defeats them, then it will conclude faster because no one ever remembers who finishes 2nd anyway.
This is what happens when you have a conference (SEC) that has over 1 billion in TV contracts/rights. No one is going to mess that kind of money up at ANY cost. The networks are going to make sure they get their money’s worth out of the SEC. If you don’t think the NCAA officials didn’t get a phone call or two from the BCS committee, CBS, ESPN and FOX applying pressure to have Newton play then you have your head buried deep in the sand.
Want to know who applied the most pressure? Follow the money. Who had the most to lose besides Auburn if Cam doesn’t play.
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:30 pm
bjohndawg:
Did Cam or Cecil recieve any money?
Did they agree to recieve any money?
If the answer to either of those questions are “yes”, then MSU is in deep trouble no?
See? Cecil “asked”… he didn’t “recieve”. Or allegedly asked anyway. NO money trail has been found.
Pat Dye
December 2nd, 2010
12:31 pm
SEC = Scamming Every City!!
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:33 pm
This opens NO can of worms. If Daddy Cecil asked for money, and MSU provided that money, Cam would be ineligible…….period.
Anyone can “ask”…. but it takes an AGREEMENT between two parties to “receive”. Can of worms? No freaking way.
DAWG A
December 2nd, 2010
12:41 pm
bjohndawg…. Rules change when you have a team that can possibly win a national championship! Suddenly you look the other way!!! So Sad!
Go Dawgs!
December 2nd, 2010
12:42 pm
OKAY Jim, keep telling yourself that.
So we’re to believe that Cecil Newton approached MSU for pay for play and when they turned him down (all of which has been established as taking place)
He then sends his son to Auburn for free?! RIIIIIGGGHHHT!!!
Meanwhile his church gets a mysterious cash infusion for needed repairs.
Again head in the sand. Look at the BIG PICTURE and connect the dots.
Just because there’s no proof of a money trail (YET) doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Like I said above RIGHT NOW it’s in all the $$$ players’ best interest for Cam to play and Auburn to make it to the BCS championship game. They will take the future hit for big $$$ today. If the scandal breaks now it’s no worse than if it breaks two years from now, difference is it breaks today then there is no pay. If it breaks a couple of years from now, they’ll still be making interest off the money earned today. It’s common sense really, unless you’re a blind homer.
MRuc
December 2nd, 2010
12:43 pm
Kyle
“Your book”….Is it titled “How To Be A Loud Mouth Loser” by one of the last remaining American’s named KYLE?
Jim Pierce
December 2nd, 2010
12:47 pm
Slive said that he received a final set of established facts in the Newton case on Monday of this week. It was only upon receiving these established facts — those facts that were agreed to by both the NCAA and Auburn — that Slive was able to determine whether Newton violated SEC bylaws as well. That decision ultimately came down to Slive’s interpretation of SEC bylaw 14.01.3.2, a bylaw I analyzed two weeks ago for FanHouse. It reads:
“If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student-athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.”
As the individual given specific power in the bylaws to determine what these rules mean, Slive’s decision on whether Newton or his family had received improper benefits boiled down to how he read the above section. Specifically, what did “receives or agrees to receive” mean in the context of a solicitation? In making his decision, Slive, a lawyer and former judge, considered the particular language of the bylaw within the context of three additional forms of authority:
1. The intent of the legislation.
“Based on my research the league’s intent when it added this bylaw was to ensure that if an athlete participated in an NCAA investigation that he wasn’t able to transfer to another institution within our own conference. Essentially to keep one institution from getting into trouble and then have an individual attend another school in the same conference,” Slive said.
Slive continued, “You could read this bylaw expansively to conclude that an athlete is ineligible at all institutions for receiving a hamburger. I did not believe and do not believe that was the intent of the rule.”
2. The legislative history of the bylaw
“The league added that bylaw in 1985,” Slive told me. “That’s a long time ago and since that time it has never been applied by me as commissioner to rule someone ineligible and I don’t believe any of my predecessors have ever applied it to make someone ineligible either. That was significant.”
3. The uniqueness of this case.
“This was a case of first impression,” Slive said. (A case of first impression has no existing precedent). “The SEC had to determine whether it violated SEC bylaws for an individual’s family member to solicit funds from an institution that is different from the one he attended. Ultimately,” Slive said, “I had to determine what the appropriate league response was after balancing all of these factors and after considering all of that I did not believe that he had violated our bylaws.”
As a result, Cam Newton, ruled ineligible Tuesday, is now eligible to play under NCAA rules. With a win in the SEC championship game an undefeated Auburn would advance to Glendale, Ariz., and play for the BCS title.
Asked if he was concerned that the NCAA’s ruling and the SEC’s acquiescence to that ruling without further punishment opened a large loophole in NCAA rules, Slive acknowledged that he was concerned by the precedent set in the Cam Newton case — that family members may solicit benefits from one university while remaining eligible at another. As a result Slive said the SEC would sponsor and send legislation to the NCAA to close the Cam Newton loophole and prevent future instances such as this from occurring. “To the extent that the current legislation is not thorough enough, we are going to work to get national legislation passed to close this loophole,” Slive said.
MRuc
December 2nd, 2010
12:48 pm
MB is the black sheep of his family. What writer can write about something that “was not said” with any anount of validity? Its hear-say….MB knows nothing about what was not said. Should refrain from such junior type journalism…
DAWG A
December 2nd, 2010
12:52 pm
Love what Pat Haden, AD at USC , said about the Cam Newton ruling. He basically said that Reggie Bush and USC was punished for what his dad did and has told his players that any action done by their parents will reflect on them and their school.
Seems to be a double standard here! Pat Haden has a right to be upset and should wonder where is the fairness!!
bjohndawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:53 pm
Jim,
On point one I think we can agree.
On point two of can of worms…I have to disagree.
Everyone will just say, make sure you boy does not know anything and you good.
As long as you and I do the asking and junior does not know….as is okay.
Watch…lot of parents will have their hands out. And I think that is the point people are trying to make.
And on faith Auburn folks are saying, ” Take Cam word he did not know anything.”
But if you add in a track record of buying stolen laptops and possibly cheating on tests, well anyone has to wonder if the kid is telling the true.The NCAA still wonders, they are saying he is presently eligible.
Hell, if he was at Georgia I would be wondering. Of course he would have gotten even more speeding tickets than he did at Florida thanks to the Athens police department.
Bill
December 2nd, 2010
12:54 pm
Auburn will get NCAA punishment AFTER the games are over this season. Too much money to be made by the SEC & NCAA right now to kill the cash cow. They are as bad & as money grubbing as Scam & Auburn. Supposedly, the FBI investigation of Milton McGregor has uncovered 17 more players that were paid. We will know exactly how many after they gather all the information on those going to prison for their part. Then & only then will the rest be turned over to the NCAA. Looks like the Death Penalty for Auburn & rightfully so.
Tdawg
December 2nd, 2010
12:56 pm
Let me see if I can get this straight. Cam really wanted to go to Miss. State but Miss. State would not come off the jack. Am I right so far? So Cam’s father insisted that Cam go to Auburn instead? Am I still on track? Now Cam commits to Auburn. Auburn payed nothing for his services right? Let’s see, so dad wanted money from Miss.State, but would let his son play for Auburn for free even though his son really wanted to go to Miss. State. Now in the mean time Cam knew nothing of his fathers dealing’s? Yea right! Jezz you Auburn people really are dense, aren’t ya? Hum, hope you guys don’t get the death penalty. I would really miss our rivalry.
Bud
December 2nd, 2010
12:59 pm
Sure Herschel got a black trans am, but we’re talkin Herschel not some 3rd rate Auburn quarterback. Come on.
David Granger
December 2nd, 2010
1:00 pm
Good points, Mark. Of course…we don’t KNOW for sure that no money ever changed hands…but until there’s solid proof it did, then I do think Cam (and Auburn) deserves benefit of the doubt. (Cam has stated that he went to Auburn because his father told him to, and…since his father was the one who admitted soliciting money for his son’s services…there is at least a reason to wonder.)
And I’m not sure that the NCAA can prevent things like this. USC was hit with such a large penalty because Reggie Bush’s family was so openly flouting their “rewards” that the university had to purposely turn a blind eye. And there is an SEC rule that if a family member solicits any type of “extra benefit”, the player loses all eligibility. (Which…on the surface…would seem to apply to this situation.) But that means that a five-star prospect planning to sign with a particular school could lose his eligibility if an uncle or cousin (who pulls for a different school) decided to sabotage his career. Seems like the NCAA and its member conferences need to do some serious thinking here, and perhaps amend some rules. Nothing leaves you more open to criticism than having rules on the books that are occasionally “ignored” based on circumstances.
Bill
December 2nd, 2010
1:06 pm
Hey Auburn ! Don`t recruit shady characters Florida & other SEC schools run off & you won`t have these problems. However, no one ever accused ya`ll of being smart & its doubltful you will ever give them reason too.
BufordDawg
December 2nd, 2010
1:06 pm
What little respect I had for the SEC and NCAA’s governing bodies’ integrity is now gone…
jeff
December 2nd, 2010
1:08 pm
Jim Pierce..you are a loser plain and simple….get a life jerk. You are the typical barn fan- cant wait to see you on here when the investigation is ALL finished…oh, thats right- you wont be…spineless jerk
jeff
December 2nd, 2010
1:10 pm
oh, and thanks for the “white paper” on Mike Slive and the SEC Office….like they have some sort of morals….I would group Mike Slive just a notch below Auburn and all their supporters-
Navigator
December 2nd, 2010
1:10 pm
I still don’t understand how the NCAA did not make him ineligible by the actions of his family, whether Auburn was involved or not. College sports is falling into a quagmire of double standards, driven by money and greed. The ancient that gold (money) is the root of all evil has not changed and never will.
jack bull
December 2nd, 2010
1:10 pm
if people really believe that Cam had no knowledge of his daddy trying to sell him, i’ve got a really nice piece of ocean front property in Arizona i can show ya…
Come on, how stoopid do they really think we are….thats kinda like hearing Todd Grantham telling us “we don’t need a big body at the nose….” don’t believe everything you hear…
jack bull
December 2nd, 2010
1:13 pm
anyone see the 30 for 30 special, ‘the best that never was’,on ESPN about Marcus Dupree back in 81?
of course the players know whats going on…
DZ
December 2nd, 2010
1:14 pm
QUESTIONS:
* For the brief time that Cam was ineligible was he allowed to participate in practice or team meetings?
* Did he participate in those events?
* If the answer to the top two are “no” and “yes”, isn’t that a violation?
Old Gold
December 2nd, 2010
1:14 pm
Go Gamecocks with the Evil and Pompus Ole Coach and beat the Auburn Cheaters!
Wayne
December 2nd, 2010
1:18 pm
DZ…that would be up to the barnyard coach to come clean on if Can participated in practice or meetings….considering what type of person the barnyard coach is I would say he would lie about that also. Nobody associated with the barn has morals. Nobody
Auburn..."it's about the W's not Morals" U
December 2nd, 2010
1:22 pm
When I see someone that is wearing anything Auburn- I now think what a low life….sort of like seeing trash that walks
Xdawg
December 2nd, 2010
1:23 pm
Mark keep the crap flowing..is its your only sports new?
He who is without Sin chase the first stone……………..You fans from other schools have the same BS going on. Its not right but UGA, ALA, MSU and others have “Snakes in the grass”. You’re not perfect. If Auburn was not winning and Cam was not a Star….this wouldn’t be a story and Mark would have to get another whipping boy.
Keep it up, what goes around comes around.
bjohndawg
December 2nd, 2010
1:26 pm
Smoke and Fire. This young man has had smoke around his whole sports career.
Appears the fire is his daddy.
O-me
December 2nd, 2010
1:26 pm
Its about the W’s….thats just the way I feel when I see a Redneck UGA fan. Thrash?…damn like ya’ll leave after every game in Athens. Man you cool. lol
John
December 2nd, 2010
1:26 pm
XDawg….I can only hope and pray that your sign truely means you are a ex-dawg…..
The Barn Cheats
December 2nd, 2010
1:29 pm
o-Me…yeah…you got it….trash- like what you see in dumpsters…and after games…TRASH…..get the picture….
Mindy
December 2nd, 2010
1:30 pm
Six more big words that need to be highlighted:
we do not have sufficient evidence ……