Is Auburn toast?

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Is Auburn toast?

Post by Skjellyfetti »

Segment on Auburn's pay-to-play scandal airing on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Wednesday. Looks to be pretty damning. :shock:
I have obtained an advance copy of the show and have transcribed excerpts of a portion of the Andrea Kremer-hosted “Pay to Play” segment of the show below.

The segment contains explosive claims from former Auburn players Chaz Ramsey, Troy Reddick, Stanley McClover and Raven Gray.

On McClover’s recruitment:

Kremer voiceover: “McClover said it wasn’t until he attended an all-star camp at Louisiana State University that he realized how the game is played. A game of money and influence.”

McClover: “Somebody came to me, I don’t even know this person and he was like, ‘we would love for you to come to LSU and he gave me a handshake and it had five hundred dollars in there. … that’s called a money handshake … I grabbed it and I’m like, ‘wow,’ hell I thought ten dollars was a lot of money back then. Five hundred dollars for doing nothing but what I was blessed to do. I was happy.”

Kremer to McClover: “What did you say to the guy when he hands you five hundred dollars?”

McClover: “Thank you and I’m seriously thinking about coming to LSU.”

Kremer voiceover: “But McClover says there were money handshakes from boosters at other football camps too. At Auburn for a couple hundred dollars and at Michigan State. All the schools denied any wrongdoing. And things really started heating up a few months later when he went to Ohio State for an official visit where schools get a chance for one weekend to host prospective athletes. McClover says there were money handshakes from alumni there too. About a thousand dollars. And something else to entice him.”

McClover: “They send girls my way. I partied. When I got there I met up with a couple guys from the team. We went to a party and they asked me to pick any girl I wanted.”

Kremer: “Did she offer sexual services?“

McClover: “Yes.”

Kremer: “Did you take them?”

McClover: “Yes.”

Kremer: “McClover committed to Ohio State right after that weekend. The recruiter at Ohio State who says he dealt with McClover that weekend denied the school was involved in any wrongdoing.”
On what caused McClover to sign with Auburn over Ohio State:

Kremer voiceover: “McClover says what he asked for was money. A lot of it. And that he got it. Delivered in a bookbag, exact amount unknown.”

Kremer to McClover: “You opened it up, what are you thinking?”

McClover: “I almost passed out. I literally almost passed out I couldn’t believe it was true. I felt like I owed them.”

Kremer to McClover: “You felt obligated to them (Auburn)?”

McClover: “I felt totally obligated.”

Kremer to McClover: “Because of the money?”

McClover: “Yeah.”
Troy Reddick talks about his recruitment by Auburn

Reddick: “I was contacted by a local alumni (of Auburn) and offered a large sum of money.

Kremer: “What are you thinking?”

Reddick: “That people are trying to take advantage of me. And I can’t give anybody any kind of power over me.”

Kremer voiceover: “He (Reddick) says he didn’t take the handout. …

Reddick on why he was unhappy at Auburn - and the remedy for that unhappiness
Kremer voiceover: “Reddick was growing increasingly unhappy because he says the (Auburn) coaches wanted him to change his major. Why? Because his class schedule got in the way of football practice.”

Reddick: “I changed my major, so my classes didn’t interfere no more but I didn’t bother to go because I knew I was only there to play football.”

Kremer: “So what did you do?”

Reddick: “I started complaining and insinuating that I was ready to leave any day. They had to do something about that.”

Kremer voiceover: “The enticement to stay, Reddick says, became clear to him, when one of the coaches approached him after a team meeting.”

Reddick: “He (Auburn coach) said I got some mail for you up in my office.”

Kremer to Reddick: “Some mail for you?”

Reddick: “And I followed him up to his office and he gave me an envelope. I didn’t open there, I walked out to my truck, took off. … It was about 500 dollars.”

Kremer: “500 dollars in the envelope?”

Reddick: (nods yes)

Kremer: “How often did you get the money in the envelope?”

Reddick: “Over that season it happened like two or three more times. And it happened about six or seven times my senior year.”

Kremer: “So where do you think the money came from?”

Reddick: “I think that worry got back to alumni from my hometown. Or it may have been the coaches or the staff but everybody knew I didn’t want to be there.”

On McClover being paid $4,000 for his performance in the Iron Bowl:
Kremer voiceover: “Stanley McClover says he was also paid while at school (Auburn). Paid by boosters. Like the time he had his eye on this 1973 Chevy Impala.”

McClover: “Private owner wanted seven thousand in cash so I went to my booster who I knew and he gave me the money the next day in a bookbag.”

Kremer voiceover: “McClover says eventually he didn’t have to ask for money, as long as he played well, he’d get paid.”

Kremer to McClover: “How much was a sack worth?”

McClover: “Anywhere between 300 and 400 dollars. For one.”

Kremer to McClover: “I think in one game you had four sacks, what did you earn in that game?”

McClover: “Four thousand. Against Alabama.”

Kremer: “Seriously?”

McClover: “Alabama, a rivalry game.”

Kremer: “More money because it’s Alabama?”

McClover: “Definitely. No other game matters.”

Chaz Ramsey and Raven Gray are interviewed at same time together

Kremer voiceover: “Chaz Ramsey played for a year (for Auburn) in 2007, and says he too received money handshakes after games.”

Ramsey: “You walk out and all the fans are waiting for you to sign autographs and everything and some random guy just walks up to you and shakes your hand and there’s a wad full of money.”

Kremer: “How much are we talking about?”

Ramsey: “300 or 400 dollars a game.”

Kremer voiceover: “Raven Gray was a top (Auburn) recruit in 2007, he says people affiliated with Auburn would visit him at his junior college and press the flesh there too.”

Kremer to Gray: “How much do you think you got?”

Gray: “Twenty five-hundred to three thousand dollars. Loyalty is the key. This man give me money I’m going to be loyal to him and go to Auburn.”

Kremer voiceover: “And he did go to Auburn but got injured before he ever played a game.”

On Ramsey’s motivation for coming forward
Kremer: “You have an axe to grind?” (Ramsey had a medical claim lawsuit against Auburn recently thrown out.)

Ramsey: “I’m not out to get anybody, I want high school athletes to know what they’re getting into. This is what college football is really about it, it’s a business.”

Ramsey and Reddick on selling items made available to Auburn players by the school:

Ramsey: “I would sell tickets all the time, Iron Bowl you can make a thousand dollars a ticket.”

Kremer: “How much money did that get you during your time at Auburn?”

Ramsey: “Five-six thousand dollars probably.”

Reddick: “I sold my SEC Championship watch right off the stage as we were celebrating in Toomer’s Corner.”

Kremer: “Why did you sell it?”

Reddick: “Because it was useless to me. I had to sell all my championship rings to help my sister not go into debt as her house was about to be foreclosed on.”

For Auburn’s official response to the allegations made by the four former Auburn football players and more comments from Reddick and McClover, go here.
http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/ex-auburn ... play-29592" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eric Ramsey tapes from 60 minutes that got Auburn in trouble and Pat Dye sent to early retirement:
[youtube][/youtube]
Exactly the same shit. :ohno: Hope Auburn gets crushed by the NCAA.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by Ivytalk »

Are there any "money handshakes" at App State? 8-)
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by Skjellyfetti »

Only when you shook Money Edwards's hand after a big victory. :nod:
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by Ivytalk »

Skjellyfetti wrote:Only when you shook Money Edwards's hand after a big victory. :nod:
I knew it! :lol:
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by SDHornet »

I guess this settles BF’s “pay for play” thread. Sounds like you just have to be good enough to get recruited by one of the BCS schools to get some cash in hand.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by TwinTownBisonFan »

current ncaa leadership is too weak to do what needs to be done...

a major program needs the death penalty. it's the only way to serious up anyone. they are too damn chickenshit to take on a BCS school to do it... but it needs to be done.

I wonder if the NCAA isn't scared for its own existence if they tried at this point to do this (or to impose a playoff) - has it gotten to a point where the BCS schools would just leave the NCAA and create their own system?
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

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Skjellyfetti wrote:Only when you shook Money Edwards's hand after a big victory. :nod:
I'll have to ask some players from our 2009 squad about tha...wait...
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by Skjellyfetti »

TwinTownBisonFan wrote:current ncaa leadership is too weak to do what needs to be done...

a major program needs the death penalty. it's the only way to serious up anyone. they are too damn chickenshit to take on a BCS school to do it... but it needs to be done.
They're can't give them the Death Penalty.

Death Penalty comes from a team already on probation... and continuing to do what got them on probation. Auburn is not currently on probation... so they aren't eligible for the Death Penalty.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by Skjellyfetti »

Grizalltheway wrote:
Skjellyfetti wrote:Only when you shook Money Edwards's hand after a big victory. :nod:
I'll have to ask some players from our 2009 squad about tha...wait...
Not sure how many times I must say congrats on that win. :notworthy:

But Money Edwards does have as many national championship rings as your entire program does in its history. :nod: :thumb:
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by TwinTownBisonFan »

Skjellyfetti wrote:
TwinTownBisonFan wrote:current ncaa leadership is too weak to do what needs to be done...

a major program needs the death penalty. it's the only way to serious up anyone. they are too damn chickenshit to take on a BCS school to do it... but it needs to be done.
They're can't give them the Death Penalty.

Death Penalty comes from a team already on probation... and continuing to do what got them on probation. Auburn is not currently on probation... so they aren't eligible for the Death Penalty.
was sort of my point... they don't really have any teeth... team gets probation - is "chastened" and goes ahead and breaks different rules for awhile - until probation ends - then goes right back to doing it... it's a farce.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by DuckDuckGriz »

Interesting.

Met a lot of Auburn folks down in Glendale during the BCSNCG. Really thought they were cool cats.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

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Why Auburn Deserves the Death Penalty:
http://www.dawgsports.com/2011/3/31/208 ... estigation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by 93henfan »

I watched the episode on DVR this morning. They had a roundtable discussion after each of the two segments with Rich Rodriguez, Billy Packer, Jason Whitlock, and Jeff Orleans.

A few observations:

-Billy Packer is an NCAA apologist and general douchebag. He was factually incorrect by saying there are only football championships at D2 and D3 levels. Then he said that BCS college football is a money loser for the NCAA. :lol:
-Why have a college football coach on your roundtable? You know you're not going to get truth out of him, especially when he's looking for employment. What is he going to say? "Yeah, we paid for our players at WVU and Michigan."
-They kept making the point that college football players aren't paid, but sort of glossed over the fact that many of them are getting $200K college educations.
-Jeff Orleans (former Ivy League prez and father of title ix) said that BCS could easily start paying players if they declared themselves a business outside the NCAA, in which case the academic mission would no longer be a concern. He seemed to want the BCS-6 teams to split away.

I did find it interesting that they applied the NFL and NBA owner/player ratios of 57% of revenue to the players to the major NCAA football and basketball teams. If Texas football was run as an NFL team, the average player would get a $600,000 salary per year and if Duke basketball were run as an NBA team, each player would be paid $1.2M per year.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

Post by TwinTownBisonFan »

the one thing i can support is the idea that players should get compensation for sales of their merchandise or likeness... but i think it should work like this...

player enrolls - any jersey sales or video games where they appear during college - the player would get a residual, but so long as the player is enrolled - those residuals are held in a blind trust - to be paid when the player graduates or leaves the school (unless the player is expelled or violates team rules) - this provides income off of their likeness - and is a windfall at the end of their time at the school - and allows the school and the video game makers to use names and likenesses (as they should)
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

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TwinTownBisonFan wrote:the one thing i can support is the idea that players should get compensation for sales of their merchandise or likeness... but i think it should work like this...

player enrolls - any jersey sales or video games where they appear during college - the player would get a residual, but so long as the player is enrolled - those residuals are held in a blind trust - to be paid when the player graduates or leaves the school (unless the player is expelled or violates team rules) - this provides income off of their likeness - and is a windfall at the end of their time at the school - and allows the school and the video game makers to use names and likenesses (as they should)
I think that is a great proposal.
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Former Auburn football player Chaz Ramsey said today he will meet with the NCAA early next week following allegations made on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" that players received cash payments at Auburn.

Ramsey made charges on HBO that he received money handshakes after games and sold complimentary game tickets. Ramsey had been reluctant to speak with the NCAA because Auburn's attorneys requested to be present for the interview.

Ramsey said today Auburn won't be represented at the NCAA interview and that the information he provides won't be disclosed to the school.

"I wouldn't like Auburn to be there," Ramsey said. "The NCAA wanted to talk to me, so the NCAA is going to talk to me."

When asked if he knows names of boosters or coaches who provided payments to Auburn players, Ramsey replied, "I may." He declined to elaborate.

Two weeks ago, Ramsey told The Birmingham News he received handshakes with $200 to $300 after at least three games in 2007. Ramsey said then that he did not know who the people were paying him or whether Auburn coaches knew of the payments. He said he later learned by talking to teammates that cash payments were "pretty much common knowledge."

Earlier this month, former Auburn player Stanley McClover told The South Florida Sun Sentinel that he spoke with a representative of the NCAA enforcement staff after telling HBO that boosters gave him money while he played for the Tigers. McClover told the newspaper he didn't reveal the names of the boosters.

Two other former players, Troy Reddick and Raven Gray, made similar allegations to HBO. It's not known if Reddick, who alleged an Auburn coach was involved in a payment, and Gray have talked to the NCAA or plan to do so.

Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs said in a statement after the accusations aired that HBO confirmed no proof of the claims being true but Auburn would use outside counsel and "spare no resources to find the truth." Auburn coach Gene Chizik disputed the claims and characterized HBO's handling of the story as "pure garbage." Some former players rallied to the school's defense to say they were never paid. [Updated to clarify that Chizik's quote of "pure garbage" was about HBO's handling of the story.]

Ramsey lost a lawsuit in February against a former Auburn head athletic trainer accused of mismanaging Ramsey's rehab from back surgery.

Ramsey, who plans to graduate from Auburn, said he is now back home in Mississippi. He said he's still taking classes while being off campus and hasn't heard much reaction since the HBO show aired.

"I've been talking to my good friends," he said. "They tend to agree with what I said, what I did. Of course, you have the Auburn fans on the message boards that are going to talk about stuff they have no clue about. That's just normal."

Ramsey also said he is done speaking with the media.

"I'm going to talk to the NCAA sometime next week," he said, "and I'm going to leave it at that."
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011 ... _rams.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Is Auburn toast?

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The Birmingham News made an open-records request to Auburn seeking documents related to any individual NCAA violations from last year's Tiger Prowl, the attention-grabbing recruiting practice that Auburn coaches used while traveling the state. Auburn denied the request, saying that Tiger Prowl is the subject of a "pending investigation" and that Alabama law therefore does not require release of the records at this time.

"The NCAA is not reviewing Tiger Prowl as individual violations. They are reviewing the entire event as a whole," Auburn Senior Associate Athletics Director Scott Carr wrote in response to The News' request. "Therefore, the investigative phase of this event is still on-going and we are currently working with the NCAA."

Auburn did not say what the NCAA is investigating in relation to Tiger Prowl. Auburn declined to comment further.

Tiger Prowl started in 2009 as a way for Auburn coaches to introduce themselves to fans and recruits across the state. Coaches rode in stretch limo Hummers to various high schools in Alabama during the spring evaluation period.


Auburn added a bus to Tiger Prowl in 2010.
After landing a top-five recruiting class, Auburn unveiled a new version of Tiger Prowl in 2010. A highly decorated bus with images of Auburn football toured each city in which the coaches visited high schools.

Auburn described the bus as a way to promote the school to fans and get younger players thinking of Auburn in the future. In March of last year, Auburn assistant coach Trooper Taylor said he heard from recruits who wanted to be part of the recruiting show.

"They've been asking us about it -- when it's going to be, who's going to be there. It's almost like having another tradition," Taylor said. "It's viral. It spreads. That's something we're really proud of. Getting them interested is a big step."

Taylor also said Auburn had to be cautious about following NCAA rules, such as not allowing recruits in pictures or in the limo.

Also, evaluation periods can sometimes lead to coaches being accused of violating the NCAA's "bump rule," which allows coaches to exchange nothing more than pleasantries with prospects during evaluation periods.

Tiger Prowl ended in April 2010 when the NCAA Division I Board of Directors passed a rule saying schools could no longer send more than two coaches to visit a high school on the same day during an evaluation period.

The NCAA's rationale was that multiple coaches were appearing at the high schools of prospects largely just to be seen. Many football programs were unnecessarily spending money simply for perception purposes rather than truly evaluating, the NCAA said.

After the NCAA ruling came out last year, Auburn coach Gene Chizik distanced himself from the phrase "Tiger Prowl." Chizik said last May that the recruiting trips to high schools were not part of Tiger Prowl. Tiger Prowl, he said, was the nighttime events for fans to meet coaches and see the decorated bus.

Auburn recruiting has run afoul of the NCAA before. In 2009, Auburn was found to have committed five NCAA secondary violations from "Big Cat Weekend." Auburn self-imposed a reduced number of official visits by recruits and Taylor was not allowed to recruit off campus for four months.

The NCAA now has leeway to hand down one- or two-game suspensions to coaches for secondary violations. Among the areas the American Football Coaches Association wants the NCAA to better police is impermissible contact.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011 ... ing_t.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes"
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