Yet another Auburn allegation might again amount to little
Those waiting for someone to take the crystal from Nick Fairley shouldn't hold thy breath. (AP photo)
The SEC breaks down thusly: There’s Auburn, which is feeling good about itself, and there are fans of the 11 other schools who are convinced the Tigers’ BCS title was ill-gotten. For Auburn folks, shrugging off the latest report of wrongdoing has become standard operating procedure. For fans of those 11 other schools, any new nugget offers yet another reason to shout, “See? Told you!”
Fans of the other 11, here’s your latest cue.
SportsByBrooks reported Tuesday that former player Stanley McClover has told “HBO Real Sports” that he received money while enrolled at Auburn from a Tiger assistant coach. (SBB doesn’t name the assistant coach but says McClover will. SBB also notes the assistant coach no longer works at Auburn.)
This wouldn’t seem to endanger the 2010 BCS title, given that McClover left Auburn in January 2006. Cam Newton was in high school, and coach Gene Chizik had just helped Texas win the 2005 BCS title as defensive coordinator. And there’s ordinarily a four-year NCAA statute of limitations. But SBB believes a pay-for-play charge “may leave the door open for the NCAA to pursue an allegation made after the standard four-year period has expired.”
Then again, we were just given cause to see that the NCAA’s punitive power can be rather puny. Jim Calhoun, the winner of two national championships, was slapped by the NCAA for “failing to create an atmosphere of compliance.” Put more simply, the UConn Huskies broke various recruiting rules (regarding phone calls, text messages and inducements) and the Hall of Fame coach stood benignly by. This would seem a huge deal, would it not?
UConn’s penalty: Some lost scholarships, some recruiting restrictions, a three-game suspension for Calhoun in Big East play next season … but no ban on postseason play.
And get this: Calhoun was upset by the severity of the penalty.
Sometimes we regard the NCAA investigative crew as the Scotland Yard of sports, but something has to drop in its lap — the UConn investigation was spawned by a Yahoo! Sports report — for the hounds to be loosed. And even then the NCAA is often unable to find concrete evidence. (That’s because wrongdoers are pretty good at concealing their tracks, and the NCAA lacks subpoena power over private citizens.)
Bruce Pearl lied to NCAA investigators and is still coaching Tennessee basketball. Yes, he was suspended eight league games by the SEC — the conference-wide joke was that Mike Slive had to make somebody pay for Cecil Newton’s sins — but he’s still employed. Calhoun has to sit out three games, but he gets to keep coaching his program and taking it to NCAA tournaments.
For all the smoke in collegiate sports – has there ever been more smoke than there was surrounding Auburn in November? — the NCAA doesn’t often find a three-alarm fire. (Remember, Georgia received no postseason ban from the NCAA after its investigation into the Harricks and Tony Cole.) Even as they look forward to the day when something is made to stick against Auburn, fans of those 11 other schools need to know this:
There’s a chance nothing ever will stick. (There’s also the chance Auburn did nothing wrong.) There’s a chance — a pretty good one — that 2015 will arrive and the Tigers will still be 2010 national champs.
By Mark Bradley
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409 comments Add your comment
george
February 23rd, 2011
9:08 am
name withheald- I have literally never laughed so hard in my life. thanks for that. You are the biggest moron on this post and need to check about 75 % of your “facts.” You could not be any dumber.
Dawg Gone
February 23rd, 2011
9:09 am
Jim Tavegia you need a hug….
Trooper Taylor's Backwards Hat
February 23rd, 2011
9:12 am
shocking.
“chest bump bro!”
Ga Dawgs
February 23rd, 2011
9:20 am
Why can’t auburn play by the rules like other schools that win titles. They should return their title after all this cheating and the payoffs to players parents. What a joke–pay a lot of money and get players.
RxDawg
February 23rd, 2011
9:36 am
Auburn is the dirtiest team in sports. They cheat, and they have done it for a very long time. It sends a terrible message to our society. It will also trickle and other schools will (or have) start doing it too just to keep up. You want to pay your players? Fine, but let everyone else do it too.
Who Cares
February 23rd, 2011
9:38 am
Auburn fans all seem to have selected memories. The two players that helped them win games this year were both in JUCO for a reason. Scam had been caught cheating on tests several times, and he had been arrested for theft, and to make matters worse, if the biggest scumbag coach in the SEC wants you gone, you have major character issues. And the other thug, couldn’t get in another SEC shool but Bama, what a shock. How Auburn fans can sit there and say this kid did nothing wrong is typical. Auburn fans like their coach were so desperate to win, that he would hire anybody and he would recruit anybody to help him out. Wonder why the clown Trooper Taylor’s name is linked to Tenn, and now Auburn for recruting violations, and both of them involve money and escorts. This guy is trash, and if i were an Auburn fan i would be embarrassed by this clowns’s behavior of the sidelines. However, Cheesestick is just as bad, because he allows this clown to act like he does on the field and off the field. The head coach is actually worse, because he can control this clown, yet there he is acting just like him while they applaud dirty play by their team. Auburn fans know that Scam’s father was proven to have shopped his kid around for money, the ncaa found him guilty, yet these fans say the kid and his father are wonderful character people, and they did nothing wrong. Give me a break!! OOPS! I forgot, the Auburn fans are one big family, and that family includes the scumbag and his father now,as well as the head cheerleader Taylor. Next year Auburn fans will all wear their caps on backwards in support of this thug.LOL!!!
Winston Wolfe
February 23rd, 2011
9:42 am
Dawg Gone…..point taken…..but perception tends to drive things. I’m just sick of hearing about Auburn and ready for spring practice.
Spike
February 23rd, 2011
9:42 am
Has anybody ever seen smoke without some kind of fire? Just askin.
timthebrave
February 23rd, 2011
9:54 am
Stop saying that Cam has done nothing wrong. He stole a laptop and had to go to JUCO because he did everything wrong. As far as taking money…who knows?
Wannabe Steve-o
February 23rd, 2011
9:57 am
Bradley this shows you are truly a hack. Referencing Sportsbycrooks. Come on man! Surely you can do better than this. Do some freaking research of your own for once.
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:03 am
Trooper Taylor was just named one of the top 25 recruiters in the nation by Rivals. He’s a cool guy with absolutely NO charges of doing anything wrong. Curtis Luper is another Auburn assistant that was voted one of the top 25 recruiters. Quite a feather in Gene Chizik’s cap for having the good sense to hire these two guys.
Do y’all know it has now been 31 years, since 1980, that Auburn has faced recruiting charges from the NCAA? Yep, When Doug Barfield was the Auburn coach a fan gave a prospect named Marshall Riley an Auburn T-shirt and two movie tickets. Since 1980, not a single recruiting violation. Either Auburn is very clean or very smart, take your pick.
rcb
February 23rd, 2011
10:03 am
There is no chance that Auburn did itself any favors, or the SEC, or the NCAA as proven by your article. Everyone in the sports business realizes you can separate the crime from the player by a family member who will keep the secret. smoke does not necessarliy mean fire. By the way, has anybody in the media asked where the large donations to the father’s church came from? Or is it still too soon?
Mike
February 23rd, 2011
10:04 am
Question for our UGA fans that have a problem with the way Nick Fairley played…
Remember Greg Blue? He went as far as picking the Vandy player up and slamming his head into the ground much to the approval of thousands. Why didn’t y’all have a problem with his dirty play? I remember him leading with the helmet or trying to injure players as often as possible and he always got that “BLLLUUUUEEEEE” cheer.
Dawg Fud
February 23rd, 2011
10:05 am
Mark,
It’s McGruber!
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:06 am
Spike
February 23rd, 2011
9:42 am
“Has anybody ever seen smoke without some kind of fire? Just askin.”
————————————————————————————
See it every day. It’s most common on internet blogs, where people blow huge amounts of smoke with no proof at all. All smoke, no fire. It’s what’s on the ‘net.
emmysmom
February 23rd, 2011
10:09 am
Jealousy creates some mighty ugly creatures.
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:10 am
rcb, what donations do you speak of? The NCAA investigators didn’t find any donations or any evidence of any extra money. Go to Newnan, look at the church and see if it looks like it has received “large donations”.
NoGaGator
February 23rd, 2011
10:17 am
Hats off to AU for an incredible year. They earned the MNC on the field, making several great comebacks during the season – especially the one against UA. In my opinion, Newton had the most incredible year that I’ve ever seen.
There is a lot of smoke swirling around the program however and I’d be surprised if the truth didn’t eventually come out. Lowder has effectively run AU’s whole program for years and has really proven himself to be of questionable integrity (remember the Tuberville/Petrino fiasco). I believe the only big AU player currently under indictment is the owner of Victoryland. If the Feds had been wiretapping him for his activities as well as Lowder for his Bank’s mismanagement, it’s possible chatter was picked up in those taps about pay for play. That is pure conjecture with no substance at this time. If that IS true, the Feds won’t release anything to NCAA until their cases(s) with Victoryland and possible Colonial Bank are over.
I do think that Cam has a sense of entitlement and has shown to have questionable character. I hope he grows up and gets the right people around him. I also believe T. Taylor is an infraction machine waiting to happen and that AU would be best to have him move along.
beebee
February 23rd, 2011
10:19 am
You must have spent hours on the title…
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:20 am
Another fact about the church situation that the conspiracy fans won’t like. The necessary church repairs were done in July of 2009, six months before Cam Newton signed with Auburn. Go to Newnan and read the City Council meeting minutes for July, 2009. It’s a public record, there for all to see. That’s what the Atlanta TV reporter did. If you missed his show, go check it out yourself.
Tweets that mention Yet another Auburn allegation might again amount to little | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
February 23rd, 2011
10:21 am
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NeoDawg
February 23rd, 2011
10:26 am
Scotland Yard of Sports – hardly. More like somewhere between Inspector Clouseau and Captain Renault from Casablanca.
Link to video to put the latter in context – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gf8NK1WAOc
Dawg Gone
February 23rd, 2011
10:27 am
Winston Wolfe as am I , however I think you will get your wish the NCAA today informed UT that they are investigating the Vols Mens, Basketball, Baseball and Football teams…this will take a lot of talk off AU, unless there are some real juicy new developments which I doubt.
nick fairley
February 23rd, 2011
10:28 am
Well written piece Mark, well done.
RxDawg
February 23rd, 2011
10:28 am
Ya know, I keep seeing people say every school does it. Yeh? Well if that’s the case why did UGA’s best player need to sell one of his jerseys for some spending cash on spring break? Auburn players won’t get caught for selling their gear, because they don’t need to.
Just like trolls love to bring up all of UGA’s arrests. Yeh well, that’s because our law enforcement happens to actually do their job and not cut corners.
At first I was worried about what UGA might be doing too, especialy since it’s pretty evident that some of our SEC commarads break all kinds of rules. But now looking at the big picture, I’m pretty sure Richt actually does run things the right way.
The whole tragedy about all of this is if Auburn keeps getting away with it all of the schools doing things right will be very tempted to start doing things wrong too. Especialy since it apparently wins you championships to cheat.
Crimson Logging, BBQ, and Stump Removal
February 23rd, 2011
10:34 am
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
And there will be plenty of fire this weekend.
Come on down to our firewood sale / smoked eagle BBQ this weekend at Toomer’s corner.
We will be selling only the finest poison free upper portions of the trees.
The Auburn players will be there selling electronics at prices not seen since Cam’s days at UF.
NoGaGator
February 23rd, 2011
10:34 am
This just in…
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Cam-Newton-entertainer-icon-interview-022211/?gt1=39002
Newton really needs help before he blows it all. What a waste that would be. Maybe he can enlist Tony Dungy or someone like Tony for his sake.
Dawg Gone
February 23rd, 2011
10:36 am
MikeP I have a legit question for you, and I think most of the fans of other schools have this same feeling. While I’m over the Cam issue and hats off for the NC by the way…what eats at me and I think most others is that I can’t get past the feeling that Cecil did not just wake up one morning out of the clear blue and say to himself “Hey I think I’ll shop by son to MSU today” if he did it with MSU I can’t get past the idea he was doing it before and after. If he is a big enough tool to do it once I can’t help but think he was doing it all along. And that coupled with the fact that the SEC vacated its own rules in this case is just hard to swallow. I agree that there is little to no hard evidence and its time to let it go…but this is a lot deeper problem to me than did Auburn do anything wrong I’m thinking if they had we would have seen more on it.
nick fairley
February 23rd, 2011
10:36 am
And Mike P, youre doing great work here. I tip my hat to you. Keep it up.
Bull
February 23rd, 2011
10:39 am
AU in Atl, here is your tie in with the FBI and Auburn (besides all of them being Auburn supporters). John Bond MSU qb involved with Newton pay for play, is involved with FBI testimonies in the case. The statements cannot be released yet until trial. Look up Robert Geddie. This stuff is out there for anyone to read
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:41 am
Auburn, OJ, SMU, USC, Son of Sam, Hitler, and Manson are ALL INNOCENT I TELL YOU! You got nothin’ on any of us! It was in the Enquirer clearing everyone. We’re all clean I tell you! Clean!
nick fairley
February 23rd, 2011
10:42 am
RxDawg
February 23rd, 2011
9:36 am
Auburn is the dirtiest team in sports. They cheat, and they have done it for a very long time. It sends a terrible message to our society. It will also trickle and other schools will (or have) start doing it too just to keep up. You want to pay your players? Fine, but let everyone else do it too.
LinkReport this comment
Ha ha, seriously this can’t be coming from a Dawg fan can it? Georgia, the team that won the Fulmer Cup and still went 7-6?
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
10:47 am
Bobby Lowder and Milt McGreggor are alter boys and Eagle Scouts! You got nothin’ on anyone from Auburn. We’re all clean I tell you! Clean!!
nick fairley
February 23rd, 2011
10:54 am
Bull, give us a link and make sure its not from tigerdroppings.com?
nick fairley
February 23rd, 2011
10:58 am
Its fun when dog fans steal your name and post. it shows what we already know about them, their words mean nothing so they have to attach themselves to winners… yet they still look like losers.
RxDawg
February 23rd, 2011
11:02 am
@nick fairley
You can attack the messanger (and his mediocre 2010 team), but the message still stands.
RxDawg
February 23rd, 2011
11:04 am
messenger* before the grammer police try to deflect even more
Jimmyc
February 23rd, 2011
11:05 am
2010 National Champs…. Nuff said !
MikeP
February 23rd, 2011
11:10 am
You see, when you thought Cam Newton was sayin’ “the money’s too much at Auburn”, what he was really sayin’ was “the HONEY’S too much at Auburn”. See, they got these honey farms around Auburn. And even though the production is close to Auburn, they still charge too much for it. So that’s why Cam was sayin’ that.
tiger7_88
February 23rd, 2011
11:10 am
rcb, what large donations to his father’s church? The ones that exist within the walls of your fevered brain (what little there is that exists)?
Jimmyc
February 23rd, 2011
11:11 am
And please NCAA, don’t take it away!! We want to be Alabama soooooooo bad!
tiger7_88
February 23rd, 2011
11:12 am
MikeP, did you used to invent imaginary friends when you were a little fellow because nobody liked you? You easily have one of the most creative imaginations I’ve ever read.
Pocaroba sausage
February 23rd, 2011
11:25 am
I’m beggining to think auburn will keep this championship. However, and I realize fans of any particular school don’t care what other school fans think. But, I just don’t feel that we had a legitimate champion this year. It just feels very tainted.
Jimmyc
February 23rd, 2011
11:30 am
28-27
trupert
February 23rd, 2011
11:32 am
There’s a chance that O J Simpson is innocent, that Janet Jackson’s wardrobe accident wasn’t staged and that the D N C has the working taxpayers best intrest at heart and that Auburn dosn’t pay players.
That’s a bet that I would not make. Let Auburn keep the bought and paid for trophy because everyone knows how they obtained it.
I just hope there’s somebody that’s been involved with Auburn who’s conscience or even greed for money will come forward with the evidence that has been covered up by the corrupt culture that is and has been for many years Auburn football.
rcb
February 23rd, 2011
11:35 am
To Mike P
The article on the church funds was written by the N.Y.Times originally on 11/23/10 and corrected 12/3/10. The church financial director would not say who paid bills owed to the City by the church totalling $50,000 or more. The NCAA did NOT ask to see the City records. We still do not know where the mony came from. But the church does confirm it is truly thankful. Would it be too much to ask Mr. Newton to tell everybody where the money came from? (Would it be too much to tell Mr. Newton not to attend the bowl championship game?) Would it be too much to ask Cam Newton to admit Mr. Newton was wrong when he tried to solicit money for his son to play college football?
How about you admitting it? Your keeping real fine company now, aren’t you?
Dirty Dawg
February 23rd, 2011
11:36 am
Hey AU@ATL, I took you up on your suggestion – and I’ll have to admit that it took me a little more than three minutes since it, ultimately, required me googling your man Milton McGregor/FBI status (Uncle Milty to his ‘friends’, although probably not to his face). Interestingly, and while I suppose one could say that the FBI’s investigation is complete, charges/indictments have been made and a trial date set (June 6, I believe – D-Day, as it were), you seemed to have left out something. Namely that a Federal Judge over there in AL has set next week to hear arguments as to whether or not information gained from wiretaps can be used as evidence in the trial…now won’t that be special? From the beginning of this – and it sure seems more than just a coincidence that the crap on Cam and the charges for political bribery against McGregor, et. al., broke about the same time – the issue of what role the ‘bots’ played in the pay-for-play would be confirmed from the info from those very wiretaps…so I wouldn’t be so cock-sure about the status of all this mess, if I were you. Of course if Aabama holds true to form, there’ll be all kinds of ‘plea-bargaining’, and more money changing hands, and threats of blowing the whistle on stuff these guys have on UA, one can never be sure of the outcome…but meanwhile you might want to just STHU, cause it makes you look even more foolish when the ‘truth outs’.
While we’re on the subject of ‘legalese’, I wonder if any of the ‘attorneys’ that have been approached, or assigned, to handle Al from Dadeville’s defense about the ToomerTrees, have thought about just what kind of defense Al could mount and have any hopes of gaining sympathy from anybody that would be empaneled on the jury? Well I’ve thought of one. Clearly the Auburn/Alabama rivalry has been as bitter, as heated and as deep-seated as any in the country since forever. When one, namely Alabama, enjoyed outstanding success – The Bear, etc. – Auburn faithful could have chewed nails, and vice-versa. Now comes this past season and the ‘reports/charges/insinuations’ that, gasp, Auburn may have done something wrong to get all those good players just this past year and now look as what’s happening….and Al couldn’t deal with it. I mean if it had been a simple case of Auburn got some new players and they ran the table with them, that’s one thing, but for those same players, likely, having been ‘bought and paid for’ and they won, then that pushed Big Al over the edge. He snapped, and he took it on himself to show ‘The Loveliest Village On The Plains’, their boosters, their coaches and their ‘bots’, that there are some things that just ‘go too far’…that even though you’ve ‘lawyered up’ and that the potential for payoffs and counter-threats are such that ‘they might, in fact, get away with it’, that somebody had to show them that there’s a price to pay for this kind of lying, cheating and stealing to win…so he killed some symbols of AU pride – not the bird, mind you, but the trees.
Yeah, I think that if I were his defense attorney, I’d claim ‘Diminished Capacity, brought on by witnessing my hated rival succeed in such a manner’. Yeah, I think they could get a jury of his peers to buy into that. Now keeping his house from getting torched is a whole ‘nother story.
Jimmyc
February 23rd, 2011
11:43 am
wahhhhhhhhhhh, just can’t stand it that we are # 1 !
Now there is evidence/proof of who poisoned the oak trees at Toomers Corner because the Einstein from UAT called on his cell phone and told the host where he lived ! Wow, he represents those Bammers huh ?
Cecil Newton
February 23rd, 2011
11:43 am
Unused NC game ticket for sale.
Jimmyc
February 23rd, 2011
11:46 am
Whun Bammer wins agin iwall pit on my Crimpson hayat. Til thayan Wawar Daumn Eagul!