Anyone else heard about Oregon's NCAA troubles?

[the real dill]

The University of Oregon paid more than $28,000 to two men with ties to multiple recruits who signed letters of intent with the school, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

According to State of Oregon expenditure records, the university paid $25,000 to Will Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston, and $3,745 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics. Lyles is a former athletic trainer who recently was serving as a mentor to highly touted Ducks running back recruit Lache Seastrunk. Meanwhile, Flenory runs the Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 football camps which have featured several celebrated Ducks signees including running back DeAnthony Thomas, defensive back Cliff Harris, defensive back Dior Mathis and wideout Tacoi Sumler. Flenory had a personal training relationship with recent Ducks signee Anthony Wallace.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...r-oregon030311

[the real dill]

http://media.oregonlive.com/behinddu...er/CSS_001.pdf

[dc4azcats]

Jon Wilner's take on the Oregon rumors:

Action: Multiple media outlets report that the NCAA is examining Oregon’s payments to Texas-based trainers and their relationships with several Duck players and recruits. (LaMichael James is reportedly involved.)
Reaction I: In a nutshell: It’s OK to pay for recruiting services; schools do it all the time. But did the men in question steer the players to Oregon? If so, then they’d be viewed as boosters of the school and Oregon, because it paid those boosters, would be in trouble with a capital TROUBLE. (The Ducks believe everything was done in accordance with NCAA rules and that, in the words of spokesman Dave Williford, “We have nothing to hide.”)
Reaction II: The cold, hard reality: Whether Oregon is guilty of violating NCAA rules or found to have been in compliance, the mere fact that the NCAA deems the situation worthy of examination creates a stain on the program that will not quickly be removed … a stain that may lead many to wonder whether Oregon’s ascension to the national stage has been achieved in an entirely ethical manner. (Good column on the situation here.)
Reaction III: Is there a happier group of people right now than Oregon State fans?
Reaction IV: How will this all unfold? Hey, I’m still trying to figure out how the Ducks basketball team got all those recruits from Detroit who didn’t know Oregon was a state. (Oh, wait. I know: Worldwide Wes’ pal, Kenny Payne.)

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/college...ball-and-more/

[the real dill]

Carey Murdock will have a regular feature on SoonerScoop.com's Feeding the Monster Blog dedicated to breaking down some of the more interesting NCAA bylaws in the NCAA 2010-11 Division I Manual.
Today we examine NCAA Bylaw 13.14.3: Recruiting Scouting Services. Did Oregon break the rule when they paid Complete Scouting Services $25,000 under this bylaw? Let's take a look.
As first reported by Yahoo!Sports' Charles Robinson, and subsequently followed up by just about every major outlet in the country, The University of Oregon has been involved in paying two men who had known ties to several recruits who signed with their football program.
The dollar amounts, staggering in one case.

Oregon paid $25,000 to Will Lyles of Complete Scouting Services of Houston and $3,745 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics. According to a report by ESPN.com, Lyles recently accompanied Oregon Heisman Trophy finalist LaMichael James to Florida for the ESPNU Home Depot College Football Awards. The same report details a relationship between Lyles and highly recruited running back, Lache Seastrunk, that usurped his high school coach and shocked his own mother.
"If Willie Lyles collected $25,000 off my son he needs to be held accountable," Evelyn Seastrunk told ESPN. "The NCAA must find out for me. I don't know how to digest someone cashing in on my son."
But what about the NCAA's position on this? In all those pages that make up the NCAA bylaws, why was Oregon able to get away with handing a bill to Oregon that some in the industry have claimed as "exorbitant"?
First off, the NCAA allows member institutions to subscribe to scouting services according to bylaw 13.14.3.
13.14.3 Recruiting or Scouting Services. 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: (Adopted: 1/1/02, Revised: 1/16/10
(a) Is made available to all institutions desiring to subscribe and at the same fee rate for all subscribers;
In the case of Baron Flenory, and a report from ESPN, his company only sold the scouting service on one instance, and that sale was made to Oregon, where his former college coach at New Hampshire, Brian Kelly, just happens to reside.
"I sold the recruiting package to Oregon first because of my prexisting relationship [with Kelly]," Flenory told ESPN. "But it was years ago. And I didn't realize it was a big deal."
Not exactly by the book, according to this section of the bylaw.
(b) Publicly identifies all applicable rates;
Complete Scouting Services does list a price for their JUCO packages at their website. But their most expensive package listed is their "national" package for $15,000. They have no public listing of rates for high school scouting services.
The other interesting aspect of Complete Scouting Services website is their welcome message: Complete Scouting Services is a scouting provider that has changed the world of college football recruiting
So far not for the better.
(c) Disseminates information (e.g., reports, profiles) about prospective student-athletes at least four times per calendar year;
There is no way to know how often Oregon was given updated information on prospective student-athletes from Complete Scouting Services. That is something the NCAA will certainly want to find out.
(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;
As mentioned above, Complete Scouting Services does mention several different packages and pricing structures for junior college student-athletes.
(e) Provides individual analysis beyond demographic information or rankings for each prospective student-athlete in the information it disseminates; (Revised: 4/13/10)
A glance at Complete Scouting Services reveals no discernable information on what type of information outside of videos of junior college football players they provide.
(f ) Provides access to samples or previews of the information it disseminates before purchase of a subscription; and
I didn't see a link to preview their $25,000 FBS package.
(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.)
Interesting that Complete Scouting Services did have a Stack training video featuring Drew Brees. The video also had an interview with Todd Durkin. Why does that name sound familiar?
Anyone read Gerald McCoy's latest story on SoonerScoop.com?
Question: Where are you for rehab?
Gerald McCoy: I'm in San Diego at Fitness Quest Ten. I'm training with a guy named Todd Durkin. Quinton Carter actually trained there for the combine so he's been down there and he did Drew Brees' rehab and two of my teammates, Kellen Winslow and Josh Freeman. This past year's Super Bowl MVP (Aaron Rodger), he's trained him and he's trained (LaDanian Tomlinson), so one thing they've got down there is they've trained the last two Super Bowl MVPs. That's not a bad thing.
In fact, most of the videos and illustrations on the website have little to do with high school scouting services or recruits for FBS schools such as Oregon.
It's quite possible Oregon will come out of this unscathed. In fact, Oregon has already said they've done nothing wrong.
"This is no different than services purchased by a number of colleges and universities throughout the country," a statement released by the school said.
But reading through the different stories late Thursday night, it's clear something's not quite right with this situation. And it's up to the NCAA to close down some of these loopholes.
One entry on the website describing the service provided by Complete Scouting Services is particularly troubling given the circumstances.
Our service not only provides you with in-depth information on the student athletes, but also creates relationships with players, their families, and coaches as well.
If that was the case, Lyles clearly failed in his mission to include Seastrunk's head football coach.
"I was told to stay away from Lache and his mother, as far as recruiting," Seastrunk's former high school coach Bryce Monsen told ESPN.com. "Lyles and Lache became good friends and Lache had a lot of trust in him."
The other interesting aspect of the Complete Scouting Services website is their claim of their robust technology.

Our video component and website allow you to access player information and highlight film from any computer.
Never mind the fact that Complete Scouting Services' website utilizes HTML frames, a format that is about as archaic as Real Audio.
Did Complete Scouting Services really meet the requirements set forth by NCAA bylaw 13.14.3? That's up to the NCAA to decide.
But you have to think the bylaw was created to stamp out websites and enterprises such as these. I mean, who legitimately pays $25,000 to watch film on a website that uses HTML frames?

http://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma/blo...college-329564

[JhatZeCat]

I heard one of the kid's trainers convinced him to sign with Oregon. Shortly after he signed the LOI the trainer cashes a fat check and somehow the news got out. Glad to see the Ncaa is finally doing something about recruiting cheaters.

[the real dill]

Originally Posted by JhatZeCat

I heard one of the kid's trainers convinced him to sign with Oregon. Shortly after he signed the LOI the trainer cashes a fat check and somehow the news got out. Glad to see the Ncaa is finally doing something about recruiting cheaters.

lol at "trainer." dude is an agent and everyone has known about him for years.

He gets $2,500 for an unofficial visit
$5,000 for an official visit
$25,000 for a signature

[the real dill]

Willie Lyles, a Texas-based football trainer who is under NCAA investigation after receiving $25,000 from Oregon, told Texas A&M it had to "beat" $80,000 if it wanted to sign star recruit Patrick Peterson in 2007, a former Texas A&M coach told ESPN on Wednesday.


Van Malone, the former cornerbacks coach at Texas A&M, told ESPN that Lyles phoned him in 2007 after Peterson had visited the College Station campus.


"A few days after the kid's visit, Will calls and says, 'If you want this kid, there are other schools that want this kid as well. They're willing to pay a certain amount of money, around the $80,000 mark,'" Malone said. "He said that was something we were going to have to beat as a university to be able to obtain the services of this kid."

Peterson originally committed to the University of Miami but ended up signing with LSU. Now a junior, he has declared for the NFL draft and is the No. 1 player on ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper's Big Board.


Malone is the recruiting coordinator and defensive secondary coach at University of Tulsa. He said he told Lyles that A&M doesn't pay for football players. Malone added he told Patrick Peterson in a subsequent phone conversation that Lyles was trying to sell his services.


Neither Peterson nor Lyles could be reached Wednesday night. Peterson's father, Patrick Peterson Sr., said he remembers taking the visit with his son to Texas A&M.


Peterson Sr. described his son's visit to Texas A&M as a good trip. But he said he had a feeling his son would end up playing in the Southeastern Conference, not the Big 12. He said he had not heard any allegations that Lyles was asking schools for money for his son.


"This is my first time hearing this. This is a shocker," Peterson Sr. told ESPN. "It could have happened. It could have come out of [Lyles'] mouth, that's what happens. These guys try to make money on their own, they are kind of like escort services. That's what I call them, escort services."


Peterson Sr. said he has talked to Lyles at some football camps, but other than that, he said he has no relationship with Lyles. He said Lyles, when they've talked, is often asking him for information on players from Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla., which is his son's alma mater.


"It's like Cam Newton, same thing," Peterson Sr. said, referring to the Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn quarterback whose father was found to have asked for up to $180,000 for Newton to play at Mississippi State. "These guys -- they are trying to get paid. You have to be careful who you talk to, who you deal with it. I just know him [Lyles] from the camps."


LSU officials could not be reached for comment. A Texas A&M spokesman said the university was unaware of Malone's comments about Lyles. Malone said he never told then-Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione about Lyles' request because he planned to continue to recruit Peterson without going through Lyles.


Earlier, LSU officials confirmed the school paid $6,000 to Complete Scouting Services, a college recruiting firm that Lyles started early last year. An LSU spokesman said the school did receive a DVD from Lyles in exchange for the $6,000.


The NCAA is looking into Oregon's $25,000 payment to Lyles' firm and his involvement in the recruitment of running back Lache Seastrunk, of Temple, Texas, who ended up signing with the Ducks a few weeks before Oregon paid Complete Scouting Services. Oregon has confirmed it paid for Lyles' scouting service.


Peterson, who changed his last name from Johnson, was considered the top defensive back in the nation during his senior year in high school in 2007.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6275253

[budd1e_lee]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoot...-danger-031211

“He’s one of the guys that’s got a lot of us Texas guys out here,” Thomas said.

“He brings a lot of Texas to this team — a guy that Coach Kelly and them out there now recruiting in Texas a lot. Like I said, he’s a big recruiting guy just leading guys.”

Thomas said Lyles and James are “good friends.” James, who starred at Liberty-Eylau High School in Texarkana, Texas, said he knows Lyles and described him as “a good guy.

“He was the one who got me a scholarship to Oregon. I think he’s the one who sent the coaches my film.”

[the real dill]

The NCAA requested documentation Friday from the Oregon athletic department regarding the football team's use of scouting services, which came under scrutiny a day earlier when it was reported the Ducks made payments to services with close ties to recruits who eventually signed with the team.

Most suspect is a payment of $25,000 to Complete Scouting Services, which is run by Will Lyles, a Houston-based scout with ties to UO running backs LaMichael James and Lache Seastrunk, both native Texans.ESPN.com reported Thursday that the NCAA was looking into Lyles' relationship with Seastrunk to determine whether Lyles influenced the running back's decision to sign with Oregon, before later accepting money from the Ducks for his scouting services.

The use of scouting services by college football teams is common nationally. However, were Lyles found to have compelled players to sign with the Ducks, he could be considered a booster of the athletic department, in which case payments to him would be impermissible under NCAA rules.

Though UO officials expressed confidence Thursday that the football program's dealings with Lyles were above board, and did so again Friday, the Ducks also contacted the Pac-10 Conference early Friday about their use of scouting services. In turn, the NCAA contacted Oregonlater in the day to request documents related to the purchase of services provided by scouting agencies, the athletic department confirmed.

Some reports late Thursday suggested that NCAA officials had planned to visit Eugene regarding the matter Friday, but the only contact between the national association and the UO athletic department was the request for information.

"We have been asked to provide a series of documents by the NCAA and intend to fully cooperate," UO athletic director Rob Mullens said in a prepared statement. "I reiterate that it is our belief that the purchase of such services is within the allowable NCAA guidelines."

Mullens did not make himself available for further comment, and a department spokesman said football coach Chip Kelly was unavailable for interviews because he was travelling to a coaches clinic.

No doubt among the documents requested by the NCAA were two invoices released Friday by the university in response to a public records request from The Register-Guard. The invoices show the payment of $25,000 to Complete Scouting Services and another of $3,745 to New LevelAthletics, which is co-owned by a former player under Kelly at New Hampshire and which hosts training camps several Oregon players attended while in high school.

The payment to Complete Scouting Services was made in March 2010, a little more than a month after Seastrunk signed with Oregon.

It specifies, however, that the payment is for services rendered in the following year's recruiting cycle, specifically a "2011 National Package" of information on prospective recruits.

The invoice notes that the package "includes Game Film and Highlight Film from Texas, Florida, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Missouri, California, Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington."

The website for Complete Scouting Services on Friday evening listed just such a "national package" of high school recruiting information at a price of $25,000.

Earlier in the day, however, there was no reference to prices for high school information, only junior colleges, at a cost of $15,000 for a national package.

Also, the website says the "national package" for high school players "includes film from every state," while the invoice from Lyles toOregon mentions 22 specific states. Lyles did not return phone callsFriday to the number listed on the invoice from Oregon.

The invoice to New Level Athletics is for "Recruiting Service," which is described as "Prospect Names, High School Attending, Coaches Name, Contact Numbers, Home, Cellular, School, Height and Weight Measurements and Results" and notes that "aforementioned items are from the New Level Athletics/BadgerSports 7on7 in Pisacataway, NJ, Las Vegas, NV, Tampa, FL, and Columbus, OH." That invoice is dated August 2009.

Several reports Thursday and Friday suggested that the fee paid toLyles went beyond those for most similar services nationally, thoughthe extent of the services provided to Oregon is not specifically known. Former UO coach and athletic director Mike Bellotti, however, said the amount paid to Lyles was "not as out of line as people are saying."

"The reality is, we paid 16 or 17 thousand for California - for just one state - and you're talking about a national service," Bellottisaid.

In his final year as head coach, 2008, the Ducks subscribed to 12 scouting services at a total cost of around $56,000, Bellotti said, adding that he confirmed those numbers with Kelly and UO recruiting coordinator Don Pellum on Friday. Bellotti said the Ducks spent about $69,000 and used 10 services in 2009, then spent about $56,000 again in 2010, on nine services.

Bellotti said Kelly's desire is to use as few as three services going forward.

"We've used scouting services my entire time at Oregon, back since1989, and even before that," said Bellotti, who joined the staff as offensive coordinator in 1989 and served as head coach from 1995 through 2008. "Now, what's changed is that the scouting services, what they do has changed."

In the beginning, Bellotti said, scouting services provided littlemore than lists of names and vague scouting reports with unreliable data.

Now, some services provide detailed video on players and a plethora of personal information; with the increase in data has come skyrocketing costs for the services.

"When I first got here, we might have been paying $1,000 to a service," Bellotti said. "Then it went up to $2,500, then $5,000 and $10,000 and $15,000. The $25,000 rate for a national service is not as out of line as people are saying."

Bellotti said the use of scouting services is particularly important for a school like Oregon, which has a thin base of local talent and can be difficult to travel to for an out-of-town recruit.

The Ducks must be certain of their interest in a player before going to the trouble of scheduling an official visit to campus, Bellottisaid, and the ability to break down ample amounts of game film supplied by scouting services helps in that process.

"I didn't trust anybody's judgment out there about how good a player a guy was," Bellotti said. "I wanted our (assistants) to see the film, even if it was just to corroborate somebody else's evaluation."

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoot...ng-se-58768023

[beames]

EUGENE, Ore. --- Records indicate the vehicle Oregon All-American football player Cliff Harris was driving early Sunday morning, when he was cited for driving 118 mph, was paid for by a university employee.

http://kezi.com/sports/214966

Can someone tell me how this would not be a violation? His license was also suspended at the time. Woops!

see also: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201..._a18&eref=sihp

[budd1e_lee]

Yikes.

[the real dill]

Originally Posted by budd1e_lee

Yikes.

which part gets the yikes?

- Going 118 mph in a 65 mph zone?

- Driving with a suspended license?

- In a rental car?

- He is only 20 and Hertz only rents to 21 and over?

- Now a university employee is involved?

[budd1e_lee]

Originally Posted by the real dill

which part gets the yikes?

- Going 118 mph in a 65 mph zone?

- Driving with a suspended license?

- In a rental car?

- He is only 20 and Hertz only rents to 21 and over?

- Now a university employee is involved?

All encompassing. The more details that show up, the uglier it gets.

[the real dill]

Originally Posted by budd1e_lee

All encompassing. The more details that show up, the uglier it gets.

It just seems like every time you rent a car and let a college student you had known for a few months borrow it, something goes wrong. Kids these days......

[AHoef]

I don't like the Ducks, but sanctions against Oregon would be a nightmare for the Pac.