Bambi
03-30-2011, 06:55 PM
yep....
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/sports/ncaafootball/31auburn.html?_r=1&ref=sports
Ex-Players Tell of Payments at Auburn and Elsewhere
By BRETT McMURPHY
Published: March 30, 2011
Four former Auburn football players say in an “HBO Real Sports” report scheduled to be broadcast Wednesday night that they were paid thousands of dollars during their college careers, including one who said he received money from an assistant coach.
One of the players, Stanley McClover, also said he received money while on recruiting visits to Michigan State and Ohio State and while attending an all-star camp at Louisiana State. He originally committed to play for Ohio State but said he changed his mind when he asked for and received money from Auburn.
The four former players who spoke to HBO — McClover, Troy Reddick, Raven Gray and Chaz Ramsey — played for Auburn under Coach Tommy Tuberville, who was fired after the 2008 season and replaced by Gene Chizik. Tuberville is now the coach at Texas Tech.
“Auburn Athletics respectfully declines to comment on these alleged claims apparently made by a few former football players,” the Auburn spokesman Kirk Sampson said in an e-mail. A Texas Tech spokesman said that Tuberville also declined to comment.
The assertions are the latest controversy surrounding Auburn, which won the Bowl Championship Series title in January. During the season, the Tigers’ star quarterback, Cam Newton, was dogged by reports that his father had tried to shop his son during his recruitment, attempting to receive a six-figure sum in return for persuading his son to enroll at Mississippi State.
The N.C.A.A. said that Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, had broken the rules. Cam Newton remained eligible, however, because the N.C.A.A. determined that neither he nor Auburn was aware of his father’s actions.
Newton went on to win the Heisman Trophy, led the Tigers past Oregon for the national title and gave up his final year of eligibility to enter the N.F.L. draft.
The N.C.A.A. is still investigating Newton’s recruitment.
This month, the team dismissed four players — including Mike McNeil, who started at safety last season — after they were arrested on robbery, burglary and theft charges.
On “Real Sports,” McClover, a defensive lineman from 2003 to 2005 who was an all-Southeastern Conference performer in 2004, said he received $7,000 in a backpack from “my booster” to buy an automobile and $4,000 from an Auburn booster after a dominating performance against Alabama. He also said that he would receive $300 to $400 for each sack he recorded.
Reddick, a starting offensive lineman from 2002 to 2005, said he received six or seven envelopes each containing $500 from an Auburn assistant during his senior year. Reddick did not identify the coach. He also claimed that coaches made him change his major because his classes were conflicting with practices.
Gray was a defensive end who signed with Auburn in 2006 but did not qualify academically. He attended a junior college in Mississippi and said that while he was there, he received $2,500 to $3,000 to ensure he would attend Auburn.
“Loyalty is the key,” Gray told “Real Sports.” “I believe in that a whole lot. This man give me money. I’m going to be loyal to him and go up to Auburn.”
He enrolled at Auburn in the spring of 2008 but was injured and never played for the Tigers.
Ramsey, an offensive lineman who started as a freshman in 2007, said that he received “$300 to $400 handshakes” from boosters after each game and that he frequently sold his game tickets, a violation of N.C.A.A. rules. He injured his back while lifting weights in December 2007. He sued Auburn, alleging negligence, but the case was dismissed.
Reddick said he sold his 2004 Southeastern Conference championship watch “right off the stage as we were celebrating in Toomer’s Corner,” a campus landmark.
McClover said he was paid by boosters of other programs while he was being recruited. He said that an L.S.U. booster gave him $500, that he received $1,000 while on a visit to Ohio State and that on a visit to Ohio State he was introduced to women that he understood would provide sexual favors. Ohio State declined to comment.
As for the allegation that McClover received money on a visit to Michigan State, a spokesman said its compliance office was never alerted. L.S.U. did not comment.
McClover initially committed to Ohio State but said he told Auburn that he might change his mind if he were paid. He said he then received a backpack full of money, though he did not specify an amount.
“I literally almost passed out; I couldn’t believe it was true,” he said. “I felt like I owed them.”
Ohio State has run afoul of the N.C.A.A. recently. Five players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, have been suspended for the first five games of next season for selling memorabilia and receiving improper benefits. Coach Jim Tressel, who had been suspended by the university for the first two games, has requested that he miss the first five.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/sports/ncaafootball/31auburn.html?_r=1&ref=sports
Ex-Players Tell of Payments at Auburn and Elsewhere
By BRETT McMURPHY
Published: March 30, 2011
Four former Auburn football players say in an “HBO Real Sports” report scheduled to be broadcast Wednesday night that they were paid thousands of dollars during their college careers, including one who said he received money from an assistant coach.
One of the players, Stanley McClover, also said he received money while on recruiting visits to Michigan State and Ohio State and while attending an all-star camp at Louisiana State. He originally committed to play for Ohio State but said he changed his mind when he asked for and received money from Auburn.
The four former players who spoke to HBO — McClover, Troy Reddick, Raven Gray and Chaz Ramsey — played for Auburn under Coach Tommy Tuberville, who was fired after the 2008 season and replaced by Gene Chizik. Tuberville is now the coach at Texas Tech.
“Auburn Athletics respectfully declines to comment on these alleged claims apparently made by a few former football players,” the Auburn spokesman Kirk Sampson said in an e-mail. A Texas Tech spokesman said that Tuberville also declined to comment.
The assertions are the latest controversy surrounding Auburn, which won the Bowl Championship Series title in January. During the season, the Tigers’ star quarterback, Cam Newton, was dogged by reports that his father had tried to shop his son during his recruitment, attempting to receive a six-figure sum in return for persuading his son to enroll at Mississippi State.
The N.C.A.A. said that Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, had broken the rules. Cam Newton remained eligible, however, because the N.C.A.A. determined that neither he nor Auburn was aware of his father’s actions.
Newton went on to win the Heisman Trophy, led the Tigers past Oregon for the national title and gave up his final year of eligibility to enter the N.F.L. draft.
The N.C.A.A. is still investigating Newton’s recruitment.
This month, the team dismissed four players — including Mike McNeil, who started at safety last season — after they were arrested on robbery, burglary and theft charges.
On “Real Sports,” McClover, a defensive lineman from 2003 to 2005 who was an all-Southeastern Conference performer in 2004, said he received $7,000 in a backpack from “my booster” to buy an automobile and $4,000 from an Auburn booster after a dominating performance against Alabama. He also said that he would receive $300 to $400 for each sack he recorded.
Reddick, a starting offensive lineman from 2002 to 2005, said he received six or seven envelopes each containing $500 from an Auburn assistant during his senior year. Reddick did not identify the coach. He also claimed that coaches made him change his major because his classes were conflicting with practices.
Gray was a defensive end who signed with Auburn in 2006 but did not qualify academically. He attended a junior college in Mississippi and said that while he was there, he received $2,500 to $3,000 to ensure he would attend Auburn.
“Loyalty is the key,” Gray told “Real Sports.” “I believe in that a whole lot. This man give me money. I’m going to be loyal to him and go up to Auburn.”
He enrolled at Auburn in the spring of 2008 but was injured and never played for the Tigers.
Ramsey, an offensive lineman who started as a freshman in 2007, said that he received “$300 to $400 handshakes” from boosters after each game and that he frequently sold his game tickets, a violation of N.C.A.A. rules. He injured his back while lifting weights in December 2007. He sued Auburn, alleging negligence, but the case was dismissed.
Reddick said he sold his 2004 Southeastern Conference championship watch “right off the stage as we were celebrating in Toomer’s Corner,” a campus landmark.
McClover said he was paid by boosters of other programs while he was being recruited. He said that an L.S.U. booster gave him $500, that he received $1,000 while on a visit to Ohio State and that on a visit to Ohio State he was introduced to women that he understood would provide sexual favors. Ohio State declined to comment.
As for the allegation that McClover received money on a visit to Michigan State, a spokesman said its compliance office was never alerted. L.S.U. did not comment.
McClover initially committed to Ohio State but said he told Auburn that he might change his mind if he were paid. He said he then received a backpack full of money, though he did not specify an amount.
“I literally almost passed out; I couldn’t believe it was true,” he said. “I felt like I owed them.”
Ohio State has run afoul of the N.C.A.A. recently. Five players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, have been suspended for the first five games of next season for selling memorabilia and receiving improper benefits. Coach Jim Tressel, who had been suspended by the university for the first two games, has requested that he miss the first five.