Prescott;809982 wrote:Paying Recruits?

http://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-football-paid-25k-for-shoddy-scouting-booklet-are-they-the-next-powerhouse-to-fall-2011-6


The NCAA should be taking applications for investigators.

Of the University of Texas football program Lyles said, “they thought they lost out on kids [because of Lyles]” and that “Lache Seastrunk [of Temple, Texas] is the kid that was in question about Oregon.”
Here’s an excerpt of the exchange between Lyles and Shelton on KCOH-AM (1430) on June 19, 2011:
Lyles: I felt that it [media campaign to discredit Lyles] was brought about in a very meticulous manner and it was very well staged and set up.
Shelton: Staged and set up by whom?
Lyles: By the University of Texas.
Shelton: Why?
Lyles: Because they did not want to see me in recruiting. First off, they thought they lost out on kids ..
Shelton: [Interrupts Lyles] Give me a name, give me a kid ..
Lyles: Lache Seastrunk is the kid that was in question about Oregon. They’re [University of Texas] trying to say basically that the kid signed there because I got paid $25,000 [by Oregon, so] I persuaded the kid to sign there.
Shelton: So this is the problem about the $25,000?
Lyles: Right. That’s the problem about the $25,000. They [Texas] are trying to say that basically I influenced that kid to go to that university.
Shelton: Do you think there are any scouting services that have ever been paid to influence a kid to go to Texas?
Lyles: I guarantee there’s been high school coaches who have. I don’t know about scouting services. I know they deal with a few scouting services themselves. They actually used to be a client of mine when I was with MSLSports.net in 2007.
And when I didn’t want to steer kids their way [to Texas] that’s when the relationship became strained. That’s when they [Texas] began the vendetta against me personally.

And when I didn’t want to steer kids their way [to Texas] that’s when the relationship became strained. That’s when they [Texas] began the vendetta against me personally.

stroups;810401 wrote:Also this guy openly admits to steering kids to schools.

enigmaax;810435 wrote:I didn't get that at all from what you quoted. Isn't he saying that he wouldn't steer kids toward Texas and that is what pissed them off? Then, Texas accused him of steering kids to other schools (which he seems to imply is false and more/less an attempt to sabotage him)?

jhay78;810353 wrote:I can think of about 3 or 4 on this site who have impressive resumes investigating OSU's troubles . . .

I think Colin Cowherd mentioned this a few weeks ago- in the world of NCAA violations/infractions, paying recruits goes waaaay beyond the benefits received by OSU's players and even Reggie Bush for that matter. In the latter two cases, players got hooked up without knowledge of the universities/coaching staffs/athletic departments (at least it appears that way), and received the benefits after signing, enrolling, and playing for their respective schools. No other schools are affected by those violations.

Recruiting violations in the form of payments to recruits goes way beyond that because it affects other schools negatively. If it's proven Oregon did that, then USC's and Ohio State's eventual punishments should look like mild slaps on the wrist.

WebFire;810848 wrote:I agree that if this becomes true, this is much worse that anything that happened at OSU.

Writerbuckeye;810861 wrote:And I'll guarantee you right now there won't be near as much media activity. The number of stories will pale in comparison to the crap they threw at Ohio State.

Writerbuckeye;810861 wrote:And I'll guarantee you right now there won't be near as much media activity. The number of stories will pale in comparison to the crap they threw at Ohio State.

Hb31187;810880 wrote:this is gonna turn into another "everyone is out to get OSU " threads

Writerbuckeye;811076 wrote:You would think given any opening, the media would flock to Oregon (pun intended) because it's a golden opportunity to delve into the biggest marriage of corporate largess and college athletics. It's a chance to see if a huge corporation (which media tend to dislike) has helped corrupt college athletics, and how much influence a single corporation can have over a major college athletic program.

It's a story built for investigative reporting.

No, they don't have the alumni base of OSU or the name recognition at this point, or a coach that most of them despise and think is a hypocrite -- but there's plenty of fodder there if an industrious reporter actually wants to put some work into putting a story together.

WebFire;811078 wrote:Also remember that when you are living right in the middle of the story and it's your school, you hear about it a lot more. So I think it seems that your story is bigger than everyone else's.

bases_loaded;811081 wrote:Ummm headlines on ESPN will make it bigger. So will front page of USA Today and insert major city other than Columbus Times.

Writerbuckeye;811251 wrote:Funny thing about the interwebs -- you can actually get perspective beyond the city where you live.

And yes, I do believe OSU has had way more attention paid to its football program in this past decade than any other program in the country, and by far more (and different) media. That includes: ESPN The Magazine, ESPN, Outside The Lines, SI, The Columbus Dispatch and the NY Times. Each of those entities has done separate stories (some multiple) about Ohio State.

Please name another program that has had so many different and diverse media conduct investigations into their university's football program.

If you're going to say USC, I'd wager not even the LA Times conducted its own investigation into what happened there. They did report stuff from Yahoo, the NCAA, and court proceedings, but I'm not aware that they never did an actual full-on investigation like SI and ESPN and the NY Times and the Dispatch all did of OSU between 2001-2011.