The Rest of College Football

[Mike]

ESPN's near monopoly on all sports is a bad thing for every sport that they cover. I don't think that it's a coincidence that the popularity of the NHL has increased since they moved off of ESPN (the new rules obviously help too). I thought it was a good thing when Fox got some BCS games and a really bad thing when they gave them up. To this day, I'm completely baffled as to why so many people hated their coverage when ESPN's is usually pretty terrible. I can't think of a single way in which ESPN has made the sports experience better in about the past 15 years. In many ways, they have made it worse.

My only quibble is that Fox was anything less than horrific with their BCS broadcasts. Chris Rose must have incriminating photos of powerful people to get those kind of gigs. ESPN did to sports what MTV did to music. In fact, the only time I even watch ESPN is during football season now because there just isn't any way around it. Other than that I watch MLB network for my baseball coverage, BTN when applicable, and Vs. for hockey.

[entropy]

LSU has given the NCAA copies of material it received from recruiting service owner Willie Lyles and his Complete Scouting Services.

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[entropy]

Marvin Bracy, the fastest high school athlete in the country, has chosen to play football at Florida State.

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[entropy]

Cal football: More on Lyles, Seastrunk and the NCAA

Posted by Jon Wilner on July 14th, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Categorized as Cal football, Chip Kelly, Jeff Tedford, Oregon football, Pac-12 football, Sandy Barbour

Information collected in the past 36 hours along with a few observations …

*** First off, let’s remember that 1) Cal believes it has done nothing wrong in its dealings with Willie Lyles and 2) the school has not received a notice of inquiry from the NCAA — it merely submitted documents at the NCAA’s request.

*** I’ve spoken to several compliance officers about whether Lyles could be classified as a Cal booster given that it paid him $5,000 and that he accompanied Lache Seastrunk on an official visit.

As one source said, “The NCAA could turn a ham sandwich into a booster.”

The consensus is that if Cal has its documents in order, it will be difficult for the NCAA to classify Lyles as a Cal booster — the school would have paid for a service that was available to other schools.

But look for the NCAA to revise its policy in the future and bar “scouts” from making on-campus visits with recruits.

*** The key, according to the compliance specialists, is whether Cal has its documents in order.

To hear the Bears tell it, they did — but the NCAA will be judge and jury based on the material Cal submitted.

Did the football program document when it received shipments from Lyles, what it received (emails, written reports, game video), when it communicated with him and when it paid for everything?

The threshold to justify $5,000 worth of scouting material is not high, but producing it in airtight fashion isn’t always easy.

“Even if Cal isn’t guilty of anything,” one source said, “it can certainly make them look bad” if they don’t have everything in order.

*** The same goes for the relationship between the Cal coaches and Lyles.

Do the phone and text messaging records match the school’s public position (that the Bears had nothing more than a business relationship with Lyles) …

Or do the records raise the prospect that Lyles somehow acted as a Cal booster?

Again, Cal has said all the right things, and the documents that I’ve seen indicate everything was on the up-and-up.

But I haven’t seen everything — not close to everything.

*** One compliance officer told me that it’s not uncommon for schools that have submitted info to the NCAA to never hear back — that if everything checks out, the NCAA may simply move on without issuing any kind of closure document/statement.

I’m not saying that will happen in Cal’s case, only that it’s one possible conclusion.

*** Cal also provided a list of scouting services it has used in recent years, with the costs:

$6,250 for NorCal Football Scouting (July 1, 2008)
$10,000 for Elite Scouting Service (Jan. 26, 2009)
$15,850 Scouting Evaluation Association (Nov. 18, 2009)
$6,296 Collegiate Sports Data (Jan. 13, 2010)
$2,875 Scouting Evaluation Association (March 10, 2010)
$5,000 Complete Scouting Services (March 23, 2010)
$495 Tom Lemming’s Prep Football Report (July 20, 2010)

*** For anyone who follows Pac-12 football … it’s difficult to follow the developments in Berkeley and not compare/contrast them with the situation in Eugene.

Yes, Cal paid $5,000 for what seems to be updated material, while Oregon paid $25,000 for outdated material.

Yes, Cal coach Jeff Tedford talked specifics about Lyles on the record — and AD Sandy Barbour addressed the NCAA situation — while Chip Kelly has borrowed Agent 86’s cone of silence.

That doesn’t mean Cal’s in the clear by any stretch. But if you’re a Cal fan who wants to believe the Bears have done nothing wrong, they’ve responded the way you’d hope they would respond.

* One thing that struck me while talking to Tedford was his recounting of Lache Seastrunk’s official visit.

Tedford made it clear that when he had a private conversation with Seastrunk, it was with Seastrunk and his mother — Lyles was not involved.

To borrow a phrase used by one astute observer of the Oregon situation, that’s a very different narrative than the one Lyles has painted in regard to Seastrunk’s mother — as the rogue parent who refused to sign a LOI with Oregon.

[entropy]

By Steve Andress



EUGENE, Ore. --- Oregon's $25,000 payment to Will Lyles in February 2010 came less than a month after the NCAA revised its bylaws for purchasing recruiting services.



Chip Kelly has been mum on the topic, since the story broke on Yahoo! this past March, but his one rare quote was clear.



"Will has a recruiting service that met NCAA rules, and we used him in 2010," Kelly told ESPN.com in a story that came out March 3rd, the same day Yahoo! broke its story, but the information that has come out in the past few months shows Lyles recruiting service far from met the NCAA's criteria for a university to purchase such.



NCAA Bylaw 13.14.3 lays out the rules for contracting a recruiting service. The service must meet seven distinct requirements, in order for college football programs to subscribe to them. Here is the exact wording, amended January 1st, 2010, and why Lyles' service was lacking, in particular, in the first three requirements.



---

An institution may subscribe to a recruiting or scouting service involving prospective student-athletes, provided the institution does not purchase more than one annual subscription to a particular service and the service:


(a) Is made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate for all subscribers;



Public records show Lyles' incoice to Cal for the '2010 National Package' at $5,000, with an almost identical invoice to Oregon at $25,000. The invoices came a year apart, but other than the fee, the packages are identical.


(b) Publicly identifies all applicable rates;



Lyles' Complete Scouting Services website listed no fees back in March. One day after Yahoo's initial story broke, one fee popped up - $25,000 for a national recruiting package.


(c) Disseminates information (e.g., reports, profiles) about prospective student-athletes at least four times per calendar year;



Public records requests show Oregon received no such documents from Lyles, until a year after the initial $25,000 payment, and that information was largely of old recruits and useless.



Here are the four other pieces of criteria a recruiting service must meet or an institution can't subscribe to it:


(d) Publicly identifies the geographical scope of the service (e.g., local, regional, national) and reflects broad-based coverage of the geographical area in the information it disseminates;


(e) Provides individual analysis beyond demographic information or rankings for each prospective student-athlete in the information it disseminates; (Revised: 4/13/10)


(f) Provides access to samples or previews of the information it disseminates before purchase of a subscription; and


(g) Provides video that is restricted to regularly scheduled (regular-season) high school, preparatory school or two-year college contests and for which the institution made no prior arrangements for recording. (Note: This provision is applicable only if the subscription includes video services.)

---



Opinions have been rampent as to whether Oregon will face sanctions from the NCAA. The most poignant comment for Duck fans came from former head coach Mike Bellotti.



"I think there will be some type of sanctions. Yes," Bellotti told 750 The Game in Portland but said he didn't know what type of sanctions, specifically. "It's a new era. They'll probably write a whole new page in the rule book based on this."



What may turn out to be the most frank but meaningful conclusion though came from CBSSports.com college football writer Bryan Fischer.



"Let's face it. The NCAA can interpret their bylaws how they see fit and it's unlikely they like the fact that the Ducks -- and Chip Kelly -- approved $25,000 for a recruiting package that had far less information than Rivals provided for $9.95 a month. Keep thinking that you're good being in a 'gray area' with the bylaws, but in the end, the NCAA gets to decide what's black and what's white."



This is not the justice system. The NCAA does not have to prove Oregon broke its law beyond a reasonable doubt. Expect sanctions - how severe is the question.

[entropy]

http://www.cbssports.com/#!/collegefootball/story/15318781/cleanup-of-college-football-needs-to-start-in-columbus

Fifth in a series.
We've spent the past nine days analyzing a quarter-century of history to determine where college football is headed in the near future.
Big picture. Big undertaking. A big deal, really. No one expected the answer to our original question -- is it possible to win big these days without cheating? -- to become so clear so quickly.
Ohio State.
Specifically, the answer lies within the school's football infractions issue, which is quickly becoming a landmark case. This is the moment when risk finally has to outweigh reward. This is what NCAA president Mark Emmert has been advocating, a way to make the cheaters and liars think twice about cheating and lying.

cont..

[entropy]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino says offensive tackle Anthony Oden has been dismissed from the football team after his second arrest for driving while intoxicated in the last year.

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[entropy]

Former University of Georgia football coach and ESPN college football analyst Jim Donnan has been accused of making millions of dollars from a Ponzi scheme, according to documents filed in an Ohio bankruptcy case.

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not sure I believe this.. Donnan has always come off as a decent guy. I think he got mixed up in something, but this doesn't seem to be his style.

[entropy]

http://www.tmz.com/2011/07/15/usc-university-of-southern-california-running-back-marc-tyler-kim-kardashian-trojans-football-video-tmz-on-tv/?mediaKey=942cda19-acd0-42fc-8a59-86b6ddcbcf4a&isShareURL=true

USC players talking about getting paid

[Mike]

I love his buddy at the end. "That's a joke". LOL!

[entropy]

Longhorn Network has Aggies' attention
A&M regents to have special meeting about UT channel
By BRENT ZWERNEMAN
College Station Bureau
July 18, 2011, 10:19PM

Courtesy of ESPN
The Longhorn Network is a 20-year, $300 million partnership between ESPN, UT and IMG College.

COLLEGE STATION – The Longhorn Network, more than a month before its scheduled start, already has at least one rapt audience: rival Texas A&M.
A&M has added a closed-door session concerning the Longhorn Network to its regents’ regularly-scheduled meeting on Thursday and Friday, a person with knowledge of the situation said Monday. The agenda item is dubbed “Big 12 Conference.”
The execution session will be informational only, including concerning UT’s plans to air a Big 12 football game on the ESPN-owned network, and to potentially air high school games, the insider said. No action will be taken, the person added, the regents will simply be informed of the latest by lawyers concerning the deep-pocketed network.
The insider said A&M is committed, for now, to making a 10-team Big 12 work, and that the threat of a potential move to the Southeastern Conference is not in the immediate future. The Aggies nearly bolted the Big 12 for the SEC last summer, after Nebraska left for the Big Ten and Colorado for the Pac-12, before last-hour financial pledges for the remaining members by Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe kept the league intact.
The A&M insider added, however, that UT’s network, funded by ESPN, might put the league’s other nine schools at disadvantages on multiple fronts, and A&M is leading the way in checking every possibility – and also leaving its long-term options open should the league appear to have one dominating member thanks primarily to the unprecedented network. The Longhorn Network is a 20-year, $300 million partnership between ESPN, UT and IMG College.
The network is scheduled to crank up on Aug. 26 with a two-hour show from the UT campus, followed by the Longhorns’ volleyball season opener against Pepperdine in Austin. The network is scheduled to air two UT football games: the season opener against Rice on Sept. 3, and the to-be-determined Big 12 game.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...#ixzz1SWQNpW92

[entropy]

Castiglione talks about the progress of the Sooner Network

http://blog.newsok.com/ou/2011/07/18/castiglione-talks-about-the-progress-towards-a-24-hour-sooners-network/

Here is what Castiglione had to say:

“We have had a great amount of interest in the prospects of a network here. We are interacting with a variety of different media companies and we know that we will have potentially a different model than the one that people keep hearing about in regards to the one at the University of Texas.

Look, we have to build one that is sustainable for the University of Oklahoma. This isn’t like you can just go out and buy a network. It isn’t just a commodity. This is a very big undertaking… You got to remember, we have had a network for 12 years and we still have a network, this is a different type of network. You might call it a channel. You might be thinking about something that could have more of a 24-hour a day, seven day a week presence, although it might vary for that.

In our case, we are trying to position ourselves to be more available on all the emerging platforms the way the digital revolution is taking place, things we know about right now, as well as though things that from a technological standpoint can still be developed.

We are trying to position ourselves for the next wave. We have a network right now, lets make that abundantly clear. And if you have watched over the last couple of years, more than ever, live events being distributed over the state, whether it is cable or over the air…We are also trying to look into spaces online, broadband, mobile and other kind of technology that is being developed. So we have a network and we will continue to have a network. We will probably have 30 to 50 live events this coming year, just like last year. They will be online and streaming.

We are looking for the next frontier. We have a frontier spirit in Oklahoma and we have been trying to figure out the right path for us. I’m really encouraged by the progress. I like the interaction we have had with various media companies and we will find something that is truly sustainable for us. Sustainable is a key word. We want it to be around for a while and that is why we are being very diligent looking at the opportunities. What our profile is, and how we not only reach the people around this region, around this state, even the people around this country and around the world because technology can take us that far.”

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the comments are interesting as well, espeically the ones about if the B10 would be interested in OU or should they go independent.

[WM Wolverine]

Academics at OU aren't B10 quality.

[entropy]

and OU has a history of NCAA problems, which I'm not sure the BigTen wants.

[entropy]

Reggie Bush's family has taken back a copy of his 2005 Heisman Trophy from a San Diego sports museum.

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