The Fall Of the Tide
NOTE:
This is only a compilation of public information put in one place so that the truth could come finally out. Some source articles came from MAJOR news outlets and some from Internet Message Board Archives. I will try to credit everyone at the end of the “brief” in Appendix A. This is a rough draft however, so if you see something I missed or in the case of internet posters if you would like your Real Name instead of your Internet Handle credited please let me know.
Thanks to all who have helped!
Roll Tide Forever!
Enjoy The Brief
Clay
BamaK
TerryK
XenS
BamainKy
MadDog
BBA
ESPN
Bamachris
TennStudd
ITAT
Autigers.com
Gridscape.com
TI.com
Rivals.com
CNNSI.com
AP Wire news releases
NCAA major enforcement Database ncaa.org
INDEX
Bear Bryant Quotes
What does Alabama mean to the SEC?
Mama Called
Chapter 2 - “Pay for Play” And “The Contract”
Chapter 5 - Tyrone Beamon
Chapter 6 - 1999
Chapter 8 - 2000 Recruiting Class
Chapter 9 - Bensyl-Meyers & the NCAA
Chapter 10 - Dubose Falls
Chapter 11 - Butch Davis, Fran, & Points to Consider
Chapter 13 - Fran
Chapter 14 - NCAA Investigation Continues
Chapter 15 - Was Alabama Treated Fairly?
Appendix A – Credits
Appendix B - Fulmer Statement to NCAA
Appendix C - David Housel Speech (Transcribed) Before 2002
Alabama Auburn Game
Appendix D - Posted on autigers.com as a classic post Operation Pole Dancer.
Appendix E - NCAA TIMELINE Of Events.
Summary
Quotes by Bear Bryant.
"But it's still a coach's game. Make no
mistake. You start at the top. If you don't have a good one at the top, you
don't have a cut dog's chance. If you do, the rest falls into place. You have
to have good assistants, and a lot of things, but first you have to have the
chairman of the board."
“Winning
isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.”
"The first
time you quit, it's hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you
don't even have to think about it."
"If you believe in yourself and have dedication
and pride - and never quit - you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high
but so are the rewards."
"I think the most important thing of all for
any team is a winning attitude. The coaches must have it. The players must have
it. The student body must have it. If you have dedicated players who believe in
themselves, you don't need a lot of talent."
"You must learn how to hold a team together.
You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one
heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team."
"The old lessons (work, self-discipline,
sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren't being taught by many people
other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive
audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between
himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We
better teach these lessons or else the country's future population will be made
up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief."
"If you want to coach you have three rules to
follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can't live without
football. I've had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come
in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan
for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half,
with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs
and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home."
“Never quit. It is the
easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don't quit until you attain it.
When you do attain it, set another goal, and don't quit until you reach it.
Never quit.”
"I'm
no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work."
"The
best coaches, most coaches I've known, weren't Phi Beta Kappa in the
classroom."
"Offense sells tickets. Defense wins games."
"When
people ask me what do I want to be remembered for, I have one answer. I want
the people to remember me as a winner, 'cause I ain't never been nothing but a
winner."
What does Alabama mean to the SEC?
Kentucky - They beat us for the
first time in forever and an eternal day during a season that we were 4-7. Goal
posts tumbled. Folks were trampled. And the president and AD of the school said
it was the biggest win in the history of Kentucky football. One win over a 4-7
Alabama team and they were proclaiming the emergence of Kentucky as a national
contender. We apparently mean a lot to these guys.
South
Carolina -
Ranked in the top 20 and playing a team at .500, the Gamers finally beat
Alabama for the first time ever. I repeat EVER. Keep in mind that a top 20, and
later top 10, team was playing an unranked .500 team and when they win the game
in the closing seconds, they too tear down the goal posts and celebrate into
the night. I read an interview where some of the officials claim that game to
be one of the biggest wins in Gamecock history. OVER AN UNRANKED .500 TEAM?
Seems we are pretty big in their eyes also.
Vanderbilt
- When the
league divided into an East and West division, Vandy asked that we be a rival
game for them. A school official, I don't remember his name, was quoted as
saying that he wanted Alabama because they were the best in the SEC and on
those rare years that they pulled off the upset it would make the year for
them. Here is a school willing to take 19 beatings just to win that one game
every 20 years or so against us so they can proclaim it a good year. How big is
Alabama in the eyes of Vandy?
Georgia
- I read a
quote one time from a Georgia alumni that was being interviewed. In this
interview he was asked about his stay at UGA and if he had any regrets. His
reply was "I regret that we never beat Alabama". Now, he didn't
mention Championships, although this player may have won one because I can't
remember his name I just know it was several years ago, or awards. His regret?
He can't tell his grandkids he played against and beat Alabama. We have less
ties with UGA than any team, IMO, but they know about us. Much more, I am sure,
than we know about them.
Mississippi
State - As
recently as the mid 90's they brought down the goal posts with a win over
Alabama. Not to mention the fact that their head coach was on the verge of
being fired on more than one occasion and a win over Alabama saved his job.
This coach has admitted, although not lately, to thinking ahead to Alabama as
early as spring practice. Lose to Auburn and Florida and Ole Miss and you will
be counseled. But beat Alabama and all is well until next year. What does that
tell you we mean to the Bulldogs?
Ole
Miss - What
else can be said? Mississippi St. is supposed to be their real rival but guess
what? They recruit players to match up with Alabama. At least they used to.
Beaten and battered too many times to mention, Ole Miss broke through this year
and pulled out a last minute victory over the .500 Tide. Again what do we hear
from their coach? One of the biggest wins in my head coaching career. Now
granted his HC career has been short thus far, but hasn't he beaten other .500 teams
having a down year? Yes but none the magnitude of Alabama. Enough said.
LSU
- Death
Valley. 1969-2000. Did I see goal posts come down with a victory over a soon to
be 3-8 team? I think so. Again enough said. They hate us, as do the rest, but not
because we hate them. But simply because they live in the shadow of something
bigger and they know it.
Arkansas
- Danny
Ford, former coach of the Hogs, said many times he lived to coach against
Alabama. Why? Because according to him, if you beat Alabama you knew for that
year you had done your job. For that year? Was he trying to say that the
Alabama game meant more to Arkansas than the rest of their games. I think so.
But wasn't it Alabama that denied them a NC? Can't remember for sure, but I
know we used them to win one of our own on cold day in January. Bitter tastes
are hard to get rid of.
Florida
- What
hasn't Spurrier done for Florida. The list of accomplishments are long
including a NC. Spurrier, whether we like him or not, is a great coach and
nothing seems to be out of his reach. Well almost nothing. The one thing he
didn't accomplish was a streak of 5 straight SEC championships for the Gators.
He called it mystique. We called it a record still intact for the Alabama
nation. Even the loose lipped Spurrier admitted that having a record that the
legendary Bear Bryant set would top his coaching career. Are you kidding? The
man that respects no one would like his name in lights with Bear Bryant? What
does Alabama tradition mean to Spurrier and the Gators?
Tennessee
- Although
they are currently getting the better of this rivalry, they are down in the
overall scheme of things. In other words, we have beaten them more than they
have beaten us. They own Alabama. They rule Alabama. They do not fear the
Mighty Tide. They don't need any help beating Alabama. That is what they say.
But actions speak louder than words. Actions such as UT boosters being deeply
involved in scandalous accusations against the Tide. Coaches telling recruits
if they go to Alabama they will not be playing football in 2 years. That sounds
like desperation to me. Almost sounds as if they know that head to head that UT
can never sell their program the way Alabama can. And they know that. Outside
of Auburn they will be the last to admit it, but they know who feeds them. As
Fulmer holds his press conference after another Florida debacle last year, he
feels the need to point out that UT and UF are the two winning’est teams in the
90's in the SEC. Why Phil? Were you afraid that some of the country thought
Alabama was? I think so. You even had the smirk on your face. You knew you
didn't measure up to the Gators and it didn't even matter to you. You just want
to measure up to Alabama. UT has even fired coaches because they couldn't beat
Alabama. True or false? In UT's mind we are Goliath. And it burns them deep
within.
Auburn
- This
wasn't even funny until they started hiring Alabama alum and Bear disciples to
run their program. And they even had some success and long as big brother was
running things. Then came trouble because even those guys had trouble competing
with us and the Alabama alum were ousted. And with an occasional win against
the Bammers, as they call us, they were happy. Ecstatic in fact. But they can't
hide from it. They play in the shadow of the ones they hate the most. No matter
what they do. They wish it would go away. They even tried to believe it would
go away. They even told recruits it would go away. But look who is still
standing people. That’s right. THE TIDE. So get used to it. There would be much
less animosity if you would just admit it. Until you win all the marbles you
will just be that other school in Alabama. And to top it off, all roads to the
marbles roll through Tuscaloosa. It hurts I know. But with therapy and a
willingness to be second best it will go away. What do we mean to Auburn?
EVERYTHING.
Those are the two words that Paul W. Bryant used to describe his love and devotion for The University of Alabama. When asked why Bryant was leaving Texas A&M to go to Alabama and have to start a rebuilding process all over again, Bryant simply stated "Mama called". "It was like when you were out on the field and you heard your mama calling you to dinner. Mama called." Enough said.
On Friday, February 1, 2002 "mama" called again due to the NCAA “starring down the barrel of a gun” sanctions. However, this time she didn't just call one single individual, she called a vast majority of people. If you are an Alabama football fan, whether you attended Alabama or not, you have been called. You have been called to support the University of Alabama's football program like no other time before. Clearly this is a critical time for support. We need a laser like intensity in our support. I will lay out in this brief “The Fall of the Tide” how we were taken down by a select few individuals, with connections to the NCAA, SEC, Media, and Rival Schools.
At this time I honestly do not know what is the best way to support this program. But, I know one damn thing for sure. I have been called and I will not let "mama" down. See you in Bryant Denny.
You may wonder why I am putting some of this out now, because All of it does not reflect a positive light on Alabama. Basically, I believe that Alabama is a model for other institutions to follow. In 2004 after the worst record in football in 50 years Coach Mike Shula Signed a Legit TOP 15 Recruiting class, one of the best in the nation. Dominating in the state of Alabama and even getting a few high profile prospects from Florida and Georgia. This one class is not the end just the beginning. To All Alabama fans delight we heard from schools like Georgia, FSU, Florida, LSU, And even our in state Rival Auburn about how “CLEAN” ALABAMA recruited this year. Even better the “blue chippers” we lost had only good things to say about the facilities, the staff, and how they did not NEGATIVE recruit.
The SEC is a tough Conference. The ACC soon will be equal to the SEC in Talent, and Revenue. The south Loves College Football. ALL The Athletic Directors At the ACC, SEC, BIG 10, BIG 12, and PAC 10 schools, need to study this case and learn from it. Hatred for your rival is a Very Bad Thing. I have been guilty of it, like many others in the state of Alabama.
I like many others laughed at Willie Williams recruiting articles every week in the 2004 Miami herald. I laughed like you at how there was no way he was going to go in that dorm room with the snakes and spiders, or eat that spinach dip, or those tiny little lobsters at LSU. I also laughed, at things most of you did not. Who was the greatest College football players in History? Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, Brian Bosworth, Joe Namath, Turner Gill, I really have no clue and besides that might fill up my next brief. What I am trying to get to is this, you sit these great athletes down, right now, TODAY, and then show them, if they haven’t seen the Willie articles, and ask them what Bear, or Shug, Dooley, Osborne, etc would have done in today’s current recruiting situation. There is no way A coach like Joe Paterino, Bobby Bowden, Nick Saban or Tommy Tubberville and Mike Shula for that matter Should have to beg a blue chip athlete to attend their school. It should be the other way around.
Until the Universities and the NFL, NBA and MLB get with the NCAA and come up with something that is legal so that the Willie’s of the world do not have as much power as they do right now there will always be some coach or program or booster willing to cut corners. When that happens you have jealously, then payback, then payback for the payback, etc. etc. it is a viscous cycle, believe me I have lived it for close to 20 years now and I hope and pray that there is the right leadership at Alabama now so that It will never happen again. In recent days after all of the misfortunes of “Willie” hit the press big time I have heard The big cheese himself Myles Brand NCAA President comment on how it is obvious that some schools have advantages over others to get a “Blue Chipper.” Duhh. What is next? Reducing Scholarships of schools because they have better facilities than TCU or South Florida?
Give me a Break.
What the NCAA and to a larger part our Leaders in Washington fail to
realize is kids don’t grow up wanting to be President or a Congressman, A
Doctor, A Lawyer, No what most kids want to be is a Football or Baseball or
Basketball STAR! Now all of YOU
ACADEMIA FOLKS READ CLOSELY if you want to change the way kids look at
school, you are not going to do it with 30 second ADS, and a local PRO Athlete
saying how important school is. Don’t
You think it is time to set MINIMUM Academic standards for our Professional
Athletes to obtain before they can be a Professional. Sports influences more kids on a daily basis than anything. Coach Paul Bear Bryant said “The old lessons of work,
self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve, aren't being taught
by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a
captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines
between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and
parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country's future population
will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on
relief."
If the NCAA wants to reform college athletics, then with the help of the President and the Pro Leagues could. I saw a bumper sticker once that probably puts it best. “Lets make welfare as hard to get as a building permit.” A Doctor, Lawyer, Nurse, Teacher, even AIR CONDITIONING MECHANIC have certain degrees and certificates that must be obtained before being considered a professional. YES I agree with the NCAA It is time to make changes. However, new enforcement rules will not make a difference. If you want to merge college athletics with college academics and put the majority of compliance issues to rest for good then IMHO you must:
1) Any Professional Athlete must have a 4 year degree.
2) Remove the Red-Shirt most academic students now take 5 years to complete their degree so give a college athlete the same advantage.
3) Give the Student athletes a stipend from a fund managed by the NCAA that is funded from the Pro Sports.
I know this is a radical, provocative move. However for the integrity of our
collegiate systems, and to rid our kids from looking up to sports stars without degrees, constantly in and out of jail, and for the morality of our country I think this is something that MUST BE DONE NOW. OK RANT OVER.
To all of the SEC, NCAA, MEDIA, etc. We took your best shot. You hit MY Football Team with a blow cheaper and harder than any Iron Mike ever swung. Guess what, were still standing, Not only that, We have the CLEANEST PROGRAM IN THE SEC and possibly the nation. There will be a reckoning for the havoc that has been internationally brought upon the Crimson Tide. We will have to be dealt with in the future. We will not go quietly into the night. The Alabama nation has united as one and will show the world the injustices that have been levied upon us.
In the words of Joe Namath: "I guarantee it".
Introduction
To look to the future we must first look to the past. What does it mean this mess we have made over the past decade? Having numerous strategic blunders, making poor hires, fielding some of the poorest teams in 50 years, falling behind other schools in terms of facilities and management skills, fostering vicious infighting, and reaping the severest of NCAA sanctions are all the product of one thing – lack of leadership.
I’m a great proponent of moving on past Coach Bryant. But one thing he provided that we haven’t had since was unquestioned authority and leadership over our athletic dominion. To this day we have yet to find a way to fill the vacuum left by Coach Bryant’s retirement and untimely death. Had he lived a few more years, he could have been a steadying influence during the transition away from his coaching days. Unfortunately, fate didn’t allow us that luxury.
Even though I will pinpoint Sorensen’s arrival as the genesis of our troubles, truth is one could just as easily see all of the same strains and tensions of the Sorensen years in Joab Thomas’s relationship with Ray Perkins and the athletic program in general. That Thomas thought the football program was something that needed to be controlled by the academic wing of the University and that it was something that had to be put in its proper place and perspective. Thomas somehow thought football detracted from greater things that the University should be doing. I think this kind of thinking is a absolute disaster. I also believe it led to a number of decisions regarding personnel and long range planning that through a tragic series of events has landed us where we are now.
The notion that big time athletics can’t co-exist with academics is at best laughable. Furthermore, the idea that one can divorce football from the fundamental psyche of Alabama students, graduates, fans and supporters is even more laughable. A large part of the fabric of our love for this school and in a larger sense our culture is informed by the images and experience we share through our beloved football team. In short, any attempt to “de-emphasize” football within the larger University is not only doomed to failure, it is fundamentally impossible.
Say what you will about Auburn, Tennessee, or even Florida but one thing they have done that Alabama has not has realize that a MAJOR part of their Universities image is their Football Program. Could you think about Kentucky without Basketball? What about Duke? What if someone has a degree from Gonzaga or Xavier, are you more than likely going to know of the university because of their Athletic program or their Debate team? Not trying to single out a Jocks vs. Academia match-up --- rather, I am trying to make people understand that you can not separate Football from the University of Alabama no more than you can separate Finebaum and Baldness.
Now, to make it even easier for the NON-Jocks to understand, would you put LEE ROY JORDAN in charge of Academics at the University of Alabama? Then why in the hell has their been this obsession ever since Bear died tried to put the Athletic Department under the Control of the President?
In fairness, the failure to recognize and embrace this fundamental truth over the past decade is not the only cause for the failure of leadership. Limited resources available to the University itself from the state have only made worse the tensions between Rose Administration and the football complex. The blame for the lack of leadership runs to the highest levels of the State. The failure to put our state’s fiscal house in order, the starving of our universities of much needed revenue has only served to force our Universities to seek alternative means of maintaining funding for its most basic missions. How could an anti-athletic attitude not be present when the multi-million dollar demands of the University’s educational mission and infrastructure are contrasted with similar financial pressures on the athletic department to keep up with the other SEC Powers of college football.
Too many people in the Alabama orbit like to point to one event, or person as the cause of our troubles. But it’s far too complicated for that. Without a strong leader with people to follow his direction you get the factionalism and infighting that inevitably lands you in the jailhouse. It produces disgruntled people who pursue narrow agendas without accountability. It breeds disharmony and discontent that our enemies exploit and feed off of. We don’t have a good ole boy problem, or a booster problem, or a coaching problem, or a management problem, or an academic problem, or a financial problem, OR A NCAA COMPLIANCE PROBLEM. We have a leadership problem. Without a strong leader with the authority and power to back up what he says – good people become mediocre, weak people become useless, and bad people become cancerous.
“Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don't
have a good one at the top, you don't have a cut dog's chance. If you do, the
rest falls into place. You have to have good assistants, and a lot of things,
but first you have to have the chairman of the board."
Chapter 1
The seeds of the current situation were sown over a decade ago in the mishandling of the Antonio Langham affair. Our facilities were in good shape relative to other programs thanks to Ray Perkins, Alabama had won the 1992 national championship, and we had a stable coaching situation. Unfortunately, an arrogance permeated the Alabama football program. When the Antonio Langham case was botched, (partly due to the our own arrogance) and the vindictiveness of the NCAA Committee Of Infractions towards Alabama Athletic Director Hootie Ingram the downfall of Alabama was inevitable. A great deal is said here about the so called "good ole boy" network around Alabama athletics - usually by a group of juveniles who belong in a nursery rather than in a football stadium. Alabama Athletic Director Hootie Ingram is frequently tarred with this brush. But say what one will, Athletic Director Hootie Ingram and that group knew what a rough and tumble game SEC football was and how to play hard ball. They also knew how to exercise the inherent power that they held back then by actually Directing the Athletic Department. They held enough power that they could keep coaches, boosters, just about anybody tied to the Athletic Department in check.
Whatever Athletic Director Hootie Ingram faults were, and he had some, his and Dr. Sayers departures were the genesis of every ill fated circumstance and disaster that has followed. When University President Andrew Sorensen entered the scene he ingratiated himself immediately with the Alabama folks through his wife constantly reminding people that she didn't like Tuscaloosa and wanted to go back to Gainesville. She even went so far as to bet on a horse one time in front of a bunch of prominent University supporters because "the horse had Florida colors on. (orange and blue) " Not smart. That aside, University President Andrew Sorensen never had any fundamental grasp of the interplay between the health of the football program and the University as a whole. But one thing he did want, was to bring the athletic department under his thumb. And that he did. The first act was in hiring Bob Bockrath as Athletic Director.
Every school where Bob Bockrath had been that University had ended up on NCAA probation. I assume from what I have been able to gather most probably due to the fact that he was a poor manager and a weak leader. At Alabama he was no different and these characteristics would have devastating consequences.
In 1995, the NCAA culminated an investigation into Alabama football by setting an unprecedented penalty for such a relatively light infraction...
Let me backtrack a bit. Let's go back further.
Back in the 80's, after Coach Paul Bear Bryant died, Alabama went through several years of turmoil. Ray Perkins came to Alabama, then left abruptly. Bill Curry was chosen, over the objections of a number of boosters and former players, then ended up leaving just as abruptly. Despite what people have said, neither was forced out, and, in fact, both left at the height of their popularity with Tide fans.
During this turmoil at Alabama (and other SEC schools), Pat Dye had a very stable situation at Auburn. And a couple of SEC titles as a result. In fact, even in Coach Shug Jordan's heyday, Auburn rarely had a period of excellence like they did under Dye.
It all came crashing down with Eric Ramsey however.
I won't bore you with the details and to tell you the truth I don’t know them nearly as well. I have not put a lot of research into the Eric Ramsey case because it happened when I was young and Auburn is not my school. If there is any Auburn equivalent to me out there that is interested in putting the TRUTH out and trying to stop this ugly mess I will be more than happy to offer your side in this “Brief” as well. That being said Suffice I believe it is safe to say that Auburn boosters seethed at what they saw as an injustice and knowing the NCAA it probably was. Alabama fans gloating over Our in-state rival’s "getting caught again" didn't help matters. Alabama and Auburn fans need to wake up and understand that if they don’t start working together, and realize that this hatred of each other must STOP then I fear BOTH universities will destroy each other. To the delight of the rest of the south and nation I might add. Anyway I digress. Some Auburn boosters/fans were anxious to "get even", And, in Gene Jelks, they thought they had their answer. I have found on internet message boards archives references to a Operation ITAT (Its Time for the Auburn Tigers) put into Operation dated as far back as 92. (see Appendix B)
“Pay for Play” And “The
Contract”
Chapter 2
On November 12, 1992, a newspaper ran an article containing statements by Gene Jelks, alleging that NCAA rules violations had occurred during his recruitment and after his subsequent enrollment at Alabama. In late 1992, and early 1993, the NCAA enforcement staff conducted several interviews with the former student-athlete and other individuals who reported potential rules violations.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 1993, a tired but jubilant Antonio Langham was celebrating Alabama's national championship. During the course of this celebration he met an agent. This agent talked him into signing a contract to represent Langham for $400. We don't know whether Langham was drunk or what his true motives were at this time. We do know he did sign the contract.
These 2 events are the catalyst for the 1995 sanctions.
Now before I go further let me tell you Hootie is the key to why we got into trouble with the NCAA in 95 in my opinion. After all they had never really even investigated us before the Langham affair. So after we get hammered the public wants to know why all of a sudden the NCAA was really mad at Alabama. All assumed that it must be because Alabama was always dirty and they just couldn't "get us". Which is wrong, it was just the opposite, we were so clean that no one could catch us doing wrong. We Had to be or we were the most clever bunch of cheaters ever. Look We won 1 National Championship in 92 since then we have had the NCAA up our A—to the point they are almost checking our tonsils. Think how much the NCAA would have wanted to nail Bear Bryant. He had to of been looked at, Can you imagine how much the NCAA boiled after he sued them, won National Championship’s in the 60’s and 70’s etc. there had to be some NCAA investigator who wanted to hammer us.
Fast forward to 92 and There in lies the big problem. When the NCAA shows up on our doorstep Hootie treats them in a very high handed fashion. He knows the Antonio thing is BS plus being one mans word(a bum) against another who was a saint. So Hootie takes the "how dare you" approach. Don’t you know that were ALABAMA...you don’t come down here accusing us as though we were Auburn......and the NCAA really gets a case of the "we'll show you who has the power "attitude and the fight is on...from then on we were "out there " for anyone to run any kind of scam to put us in the dog house they wanted. Anyway, I digress. Back to Jelks and Langham.
It is known that Gene Jelks met with Auburn boosters on several occasions. It is also known that Gene Jelks lived comfortably in a very nice Atlanta apartment, with about $35,000 in "salary", but no visible means of earning it (this information, courtesy of Jerry Pullen's lawsuit against Gene Jelks, before the judge finally put the clamps on information). It is also known that several unnamed Auburn boosters met in central Alabama, copying a bunch of checks allegedly paid to Gene Jelks. These Checks were supposedly for work that Gene Jelks did not do. This charge made against the man who wrote them was cleared at later time by the NCAA. Now the checks were obtained illegally when an Auburn booster "acquired" them out of the file of a divorce lawyer, who had them as evidence of a X-husband's or former employer of Gene Jelks to prove his financial state. The Auburn booster never said where he got the checks, and no one ever pressed the issue, again.
Yet, despite two years of Jelks accusing, all the NCAA ever found on Alabama were an instance where Gene Jelks received some form of assistance after his eligibility was over (from a source he never accused, by the way). In the first allegation, Jelks initially claimed that he received cash to play football at Alabama. These allegations could not be proven. In fact, during the investigation, information was developed that pointed to Jelks receiving money to MAKE the allegations. The investigation only revealed that Jelks had taken out loans without making the proper arrangements with the university. The loans were obtained at financial institutions where Alabama "boosters" were officers. Some, if not all, of these loans took place AFTER Jelks had used all of his eligibility.
The question that many want to know is what did the university do wrong? From the 1995 NCAA report, "The institution failed to obtain the required documentation for the student-athlete's purchase of disability insurance. These records would have revealed the existence of at least one impermissible loan." Also mentioned in the report is the fact that Jelks LIED to the university during this process.
Was the university at fault to some extent? Yes. We should have been more diligent in our compliance practices. The investigation showed that our process for documenting this kind of activity was lacking. Did we try to hide anything or "cheat"? No, Simply put, our compliance department like many others was not very good in 1989.
The second part of this concerns the Antonio Langham incident. There has been much debate on this and lots of misinformation. In a nutshell, after Alabama had won the 1992 national championship Langham was celebrating and thought about "going pro". Some agent talked him into signing a $400 contract. Langham, when thinking clearly about it, didn't want to go pro. He told Coach Gene Stallings that he had signed up to enter the NFL draft but wanted his name taken off. He neglected to tell Stallings of the contract however. Later in that year, Stallings was made aware of an agent who was claiming Langham had signed a contract.
This is the most hard-to-get-at-the-truth point of this charge. There is no indication that Stallings tried to hide or cheat with Langham. Athletic Director Hootie Ingram has stated that they had 5 or 6 signed, notarized affidavits from Langham stating that he did not sign with an agent. When the agent finally came forward and made Alabama aware that Langham had indeed signed a contract, Stallings suspended Langham, right before the SEC Championship Game. There was no intent to play ineligible players, just a poor effort at finding out the truth of the matter. Langham contributed to the mess by lying to Stallings about the contact with the agent. Stalling’s mistake was trying to investigate this. That was not his job. The mistake was made worse by the ineffective efforts of Athletic Director Hootie Ingram. Both should have turned it over to the compliance officer.
During the course of the investigation (including deliberation by the Committee on Infractions), someone "decided" that Dean Tom Jones, the Faculty Representative, had lied to the NCAA about his actions. The NCAA later regretted making that charge. Jones sued the NCAA for slander. The NCAA, knowing it couldn't back up it's charge, settled out of court for a seven-figure settlement.
So, for this entire investigation, which spanned nearly 3 years, the NCAA found:
1) Our compliance department was not very well organized, which allowed a student-athlete to take out a loan, which he shouldn't have taken out.
2) We botched an in-house investigation of a player signing with an agent.
A. For that, we self-imposed: Disassociation of two representatives of the institution's athletics interests. (Those associated with loaning Jelks the money.)
B. Reduction football Scholarships by 4 during the 1995-96 academic year.
The NCAA Enforcement Staff had reached an agreement
with the university on that penalty.
However, when this went before the NCAA Committee on Infractions, they decided to tack on:
Public reprimand and censure.
Three years of probation.
Prohibition from participating in post-season competition in football during the 95-96 academic year.
Loss of 4 football scholarships during academic years 95-96.
Loss of 13 football scholarships during academic years 96-97.
Loss of 9 football scholarships during academic years 97-98
That is 22 ADDITIONAL scholarships.
Forfeiture of the 11 regular season football games during the 93-94 academic year.
Requirement that the institution continue to develop a comprehensive athletic compliance education program, with annual reports to the committee during the period of probation.
Requirements that the university send four individuals to an NCAA rules seminar each year of probation and Recertification of current athletics policies and practices.
In the history of the NCAA, this was the most blatant overreach and over-penalization ever. The NCAA used a bazooka to kill a gnat. To this day, Alabama fans cannot understand why the NCAA chose to "hammer" Alabama for so seemingly minor infractions. And keep in mind, we are not now claiming we were innocent, just let the sentence fit the crime. Also, one thing this should not have done was set a precedent of how the NCAA would deal with Alabama in the future. The NCAA should deal with each institution equally, equitably and fairly.
One more thing to keep in mind. Alabama disassociated the boosters who were involved in the minor infractions. We didn't hide it, didn't fight it, didn't excuse it. We did NOT let our boosters run amuck. We took our punishment and implemented the changes. My opinion Alabama was hit with excessive penalties in the case, and the faculty rep to athletics was slandered. We also know that Roy Kramer asked for the level of severity Alabama received (courtesy of Joe Buffington, a former NCAA investigator who was there when Kramer asked for it). The penalties were eventually reduced, in appeals, and Dr. Jones, the faculty rep, received a nice out of court settlement.
Key point, here, missing from all the other talk: Alabama's 1995 NCAA penalties had nothing to do with recruiting, and were questionable.
Chapter 3
Before I go any farther let me re-state that Whatever Alabama Athletic Director Hootie Ingram faults are, his and Dr. Sayers departures were the genesis of every ill fated circumstance and disaster that has followed. Enter New University President Andrew Sorensen. Andrew Sorensen never had any fundamental grasp of the interplay between the health of the football program and the University as a whole. But one thing he did want, was to bring the athletic department under his thumb. And that he did. The first act was in hiring Bob Bockrath as Athletic Director.
But, before the final decision on Bockrath was made, Head Football Coach Gene Stallings called Sorensen to put his two cents in on who the Next Athletic Director should be. He had yet to be consulted up to this point. Stallings suggested that Mal Moore be given a chance and that he had heard some disturbing things about Bockrath from Texas people. Furthermore, as the head coach, he would be comfortable working with Mal. Sorensen thanked him for his call and said he'd consider it. Stallings thought Mal was going to get another interview. Instead, he got a call five minutes later from Sorensen saying he wasn't getting the job.
Stallings decided to quit then and there. He decided that he couldn't work for a man like Sorensen. So forget all this garbage about Bockrath running him off after the Miss. St. game, Stallings retirement was dictated by that day's events (Bockrath's hire) and ANDREW SORENSEN.
With Stallings immanent departure (not yet known), Bockrath promptly went to work in the athletic department isolating those people he thought were connected to the "good ole boys." He used a number of snitches and rats, most of whom are still there, to spy on people and then feed the dirt back to he and Sorensen. But most of all, he simply retreated into his office feeling spurned by the Alabama community. I remember attending an event at the Museum shortly after he was hired and in a room of 200 people, he was standing in a corner by himself talking to no one. The guy never made much of an effort. He walked in from day one smelling a stink and never got that stench out of his nose.
When it came time to hire a new Head football coach, Bockrath and Sorensen wanted to get a non-Bryant connected coach. We all know about Beamer. Frankly, had they gotten their way, things could have been much worse than they are now. But, under pressure not to wreck a good thing and get a dedicated Alabama recruiter in there, Bockrath caved and hired Mike Dubose. This was not to be the last case of the fans running the program. It was a problem to be further and further exposed over the next four years. Having a weak sister like Bockrath as Athletic Director without the authority or fortitude to lead - for better or worse - only further exacerbated the problem.
Mike Dubose’s problems as coach have been dissected to the hilt - but I think can they be summarized by saying he was in over his head. He was neither a leader, an organizer, a tactician, nor a man of good judgment. In becoming head coach he simply out kicked his own punt coverage. Mike's lack of success his first season was promptly blamed on Stallings' holdovers, probation and poor recruiting. And for all of Mike's failures, he knew how to spin some yarn with the faithful and get folks to buy his excuses. It's worth noting that Stallings believed he could have won seven or eight games with the 97 team. I have no reason to doubt him.
A further aside on Mike's character is that he did far more agitating against Coach Stallings than Bill Oliver ever did. A fact lost on many fans to this day. And on Mike's staff, the backbiting and infighting among the coaches - in the absence of a leader - would only become more cancerous than on Stallings staff.
Like every coach who is over his head, Mike pushed the panic button after his first season and decided that recruiting was everything. He convinced himself that the state of Alabama didn't have enough quality athletes to support his program and that we had to pass over a bunch of good kids to get the "best." Thus started the exodus of a number of kids who grew up loving Alabama, had NFL talent, and were left crying by Mike's recruiting decisions.
Enter Ronnie Cottrell. I'm not going to say much about Ronnie. Ronnie has had enough accusations as an evaluator of talent and of his close relationship to Logan and some other boosters to last a lifetime. However due to a lack of talent, coaching, leadership or maybe a little of all what we ended up with as a result of our staff’s efforts was a vast number of kids who were here for the wrong reasons, had poor character and work habits, were misplaced track stars or simply over hyped to start with, and didn't give a rats behind about Alabama. In the end they quit on us, Fran, and Alabama. Period.
Chapter 4
UT coach, Phil Fulmer had a hatred of Alabama going back to his playing days at UT. After watching what happened to Bill Battle, Fulmer knew that keeping his job
was based on beating Alabama on a regular basis, which he finally managed for
the first time against a Alabama team on probation in 1995. Keeping Alabama in a
weakened state seemed the easiest way to get a leg up on the Tide, but Fulmer
knew Alabama wasn't going to suffer from scholarship limitations forever, unless
something could be done to get them back into the sights of the NCAA Infractions
Committee. It was at this time that Fulmer began laying the plans to take down the Tide again if it became necessary.
As it turns out Fulmer had his own problems to deal with first however. In 96 a female trainer in the athletic department name Naughright filed a complaint in court with numerous claims of sexual harassment against UT coaches and Players. This became known as the “Manning mooning” incident. At first Typical of the UT Spin machine they tried to paint her as a vindictive employee out to get the University etc. However when she showed up with over 30 tapes that according to the Paul Finebaum Radio Show have proof of the harassment, drug test fixing, paying players, grade fixing, and Fulmer giving one player a list with 5 names of Boosters on it to go to for money. She reportedly received a $300,000 settlement from the university in 1997 Very Quickly OUT of Court, and had to turn over the tapes where they sit right now to this day in Knoxville, TN. Inside a safe at a lawyers office slated to be destroyed in May of 2005. After The book Border Wars was published, that from all accounts used TennStud as a main source, She served UT in Gainesville, Florida a second time right before UT was scheduled to play Florida at the “Swamp.” Tennessee, lost the game by the way. The 2nd suit was reportedly settled for seven figures!
Now This was not Fulmer’s only headache he had in 96, Academic professor Linda Bensel-Myers was starting to grumble about how awful she was being treated along with the tutors set up for the “special needs” athletes in the athletic department. It gets so bad that one of her assistants Mrs. Wright sends a letter on Jan. 6, 1999 to Fulmer and explains why she has resigned to take a job as Director of the Academic Assistance and Resource Center at Stephen F. Austin State University. She cites the higher salary in her new job, and says she was frustrated with the "lack of respect" she got in the UT athletic department. She says she was "prevented from developing the top-notch academic program that I am capable of creating here." She even places the letter on Fulmer's desk, to ensure delivery.
But all of this does not stop Phil. The first part of his plan went somewhat unnoticed in early 1998. Fulmer learned of Woody McCorvey's grudge against Alabama in general and against Mike DuBose in particular after Mike DuBose first beat out McCorvey for the head coaching job at Alabama and then summarily fired him from his staff after the disastrous 1997 football season. Knowing that McCorvey might be itching for revenge and finding his intimate knowledge of the Tide football program a useful fringe benefit, Fulmer hired McCorvey to coach wide receivers.
Fulmer launched the second part of his plan around the same time. With DuBose's hiring of FSU Recruiting Coordinator, Ronnie Cottrell, Alabama had a top-notch recruiting machine for the first time since the Ray Perkins era. Cottrell immediately made his presence felt with the 1998 signing class, which was widely regarded as the best Alabama had signed in nearly a decade. With a program built on running a wide net for recruits, Cottrell's success immediately caught Fulmer's attention, and his worry over a potential return to greatness by Alabama became a full-blown obsession.
Around this time “operation Rogue Booster” is put into operation by ITAT members. This is observed on Auburn and Tennessee internet message boards. It should be noted that Tee Martin The UT Quarter Back also accepted $4,500 and a car form Wayne Rowe around this time as well. Now Luckily for Fulmer and the ITAT members, he had a useful stooge practically under his nose. Fulmer turned to longtime Tennessee rogue booster and all-around disgusting human being, "Tennstud" due to Tennstud's longtime association with high-profile Alabama booster, Logan Young. Fulmer knew of the hatred that had erupted between the two men after their falling out a couple of years previous, and Fulmer knew he could use Tennstud's desire for revenge against Young to his advantage. Fulmer used the "TennStud" to start numerous internet rumors that Young was paying players to go to Alabama. These rumors appeared as early as signing day 1998, when Alabama landed star DL, Kindall Moorehead out of Memphis-Melrose, but they really began to take on a life of their own, fueled by Tennstud, with David Paine's recruitment in 1998 and the Albert Means recruitment in 1999. This was the setup for what was to come, as the seeds were planted by Tennstud that Young and Alabama were crooked and buying players in Memphis and that this rogue attitude permeated the entire program and was the sole reason for Alabama's newfound recruiting success. With as many enemies as a successful program like Alabama has made over the decades, Fulmer and Tennstud had little trouble finding willing ears and minds to absorb their stories and to accept them as fact.
In the meantime, the situation with Athletic Director Bob Bockrath was further eroding. A number of folks had come to the conclusion that a lack of leadership from Andrew Sorensen was going to be the wreck and ruin of our program. It was said University President Andrew Sorensen, was fundamentally unaware of what other programs in the SEC were going to do to us if we sat back and stuck our heads in the sand. When the athletic department was banned from raising money or engaging in capital expenditures and delaying the stadium expansion only further added to this perception. Furthermore, the rumblings had started up North about "Alabama cheats." Fulmer had threatened Tim Thompson at Melrose point blank about sending players to Alabama during the 98 recruiting season and having a spurned Woody McCorvey in Knoxville wasn't going to help anything.
Yet Alabama limped through the 98 season with the perception that things were turning around. In reality they were getting more rotten. The Music City Bowl only further exposed Mike's limited ability but everyone wrote it off as a learning experience. During this period there was a good bit of grumbling about how the BOT didn't understand what was going on and that Sorensen was destroying us slowly.
At that point, morale in the Athletic Department was at rock bottom under Bockrath's hand. The cancer from the void of leadership was beginning to grow into a full fledged tumor. No effort was being made to modernize the department in personnel or modern management techniques - much less the future of the Alabama facilities.
Tyrone Beamon
Chapter 5
In 1998, assistant basketball coach Tyrone Beamon was recruiting a hotshot basketball player out of Houston. Beamon got the bright idea (according to him, I guess) to contact boosters and solicit funds from these boosters in order to pay coaches to "steer" their players to Alabama. Beamon contacted 2 boosters in Montgomery and set up a lunch. Over lunch he laid out his plan and request. The boosters told him they would get back to him.
After returning from the lunch, OUR BOOSTERS called our athletic department and notified them of this illegal request. The athletic department initiated an internal investigation. Upon verifying the facts, the coach was summarily fired and, in keeping with the new procedures requested by the NCAA for good Institutional Control, filed a report with the NCAA, notifying them of the rules violation.
At this point it is important to notice, we did EXACTLY what the NCAA wanted. The institution took care of a rules violator and notified the NCAA. The NCAA praised our compliance team. Tyrone Beamon, the only person in the incident who broke the rules, had a show cause order placed on him for 4 years. Yet, inexplicably, the repeat violator window was extended for the university of Alabama. Little did we know how huge that ruling would become.
So, as it stood in the summer of 1999, the University of Alabama had a history of:
Making drastic changes to the Institutional Controls in the Athletic Department.
Disassociating boosters who broke rules.
Having boosters who did not tolerate illegal activity.
Self-reporting known rules infractions to the NCAA.
1999
Chapter 6
Going into the 99 season, Bockrath was on thin ice with most of the program's major supporters. He was viewed as just one element that had to be removed in order to put things right. I think it's important to note that no one who was disgruntled with Bockrath thought for a second that Mike was much of a coach and I think everyone harbored grave reservations about him - especially those who knew the limited abilities of his coaches, saw his poorly organized practices and were aware of the overall loose reigns he kept on things.
Many folks think Bockrath was dismissed because we got beat by La. Tech.. The truth is a situation had been brewing for several weeks with respect to Bockrath's use or abuse of his position as AD. Sorensen would have never gone along with the dismissal in a vacuum if it were simply related to the management of our athletic programs. It wasn't. Truth is, Bockrath's departure mattered little. He had checked out on minding the football store long ago.
The whole Debbie gate saga is well known by now. What may not be known is that the mishandling of that situation was the first nail in Sorensen’s coffin. Beyond the embarrassment this caused the University, the loss of Mike’s credibility with his players and the Alabama community. When University President Andrew Sorensen settled the lawsuit unilaterally it sent several Board Of Trustee members into apoplexy namely Drummond, MacMahon, and McDonald. The fact that Sorensen hadn’t even consulted the Board and they simply saw the settlement and the deal with Mike in the paper was signal that Sorensen’s blank check with the athletic department had gone far enough.
At this point they formed the athletic oversight committee to clip University President Andrew Sorensen wings and keep an eye on him. It was this same group who ultimately forced the issue with Bockrath shortly thereafter. Furthermore, while Sorensen was allowed to hire a new AD, there was clearly some influence exerted from these and other quarters to bring some stability and Alabama blood back to the Athletic Director’s position by hiring Mal Moore. University President Andrew Sorensen didn’t want Moore, but eventually moved there to save his own weakened hide. All the while he was stuffing his resume in envelopes trying to get out of Hickville.
While the football program was home alone, they were not without parents. So much has been made of Gene and Marie and their roles in our final downfall. I honestly can’t say that they aren’t anything but another manifestation of the same tensions that existed between the so called good ole boys, the Athletic Department, and University President Andrew Sorensen.
For better or worse, Gene Marsh had enormous power as a result of our probation and his position on the infractions committee. The compliance regime that was put into place was ostensibly to keep us out of trouble. Truth was, it was just another way for Sorensen to keep his thumb on the rednecks striving to run the football program. Marsh and Robbins had little use for what they viewed as the jock culture at the U of A. Furthermore, they were convinced that everyone associated with Alabama athletics was crooked. Unfortunately, they had little appreciation for the unwritten rules of college football and even less understanding of what other schools thought of the rules – nothing.
This situation was an explosive mixture. Ronnie running amuck with the boosters, a vacuum in the President’s mansion, overall weakness and lack of initiative and strategic planning in the Athletic Department and two people who were convinced of the fundamental corruption of those involved in this “seamy” business who had a blank check from the president’s mansion to elevate an expired elevator certificate to an NCAA self reported violation.
Marsh wasn’t helping things by telling people that Ronnie was going to get us into trouble. In contrast, certain boosters were saying it would be over their dead bodies before Ronnie left. The collision course was inevitable.
Mike had mentally checked out on football after the Debbie thing. In fact, most of the 99 season, he didn’t muck around very much with what little game planning went on. Thanks to some super seniors he actually won an SEC championship. Yet, the cracks were visible everywhere even then. First, a star system had developed because Mike had given Shaun star status the previous spring to keep him around. Players had come to expect that upper classmen had earned some sort of special privileges as far as depth charts, practice habits, work outs, etc. This was only further exacerbated by Ronnie and Mike promising kids whatever they wanted to get their signatures. Kids were showing up on campus with an attitude that they were owed something before they ever laced up the first pair of sneakers.
In the fall of 1999, Alabama did something most unlikely: it won the Southeastern Conference Championship, despite a sex scandal involving the head coach and a coaching staff all but at each other's throats. Mike decided he was a genius after the SECCG, therefore he started to coach again in the Orange Bowl. They went to Miami with the idea that a win would make them a pre-season #1 – what they got was a nightmare. With Chris Samuels unwilling or unable to play a key and almost irreplaceable cog was lost. The coaches were at each other’s throats over the spoils of success. As a result, we flat got out coached, out prepared and beat by a team that shouldn’t have beat us.
Meanwhile, Mal had been made Athletic Director and the pieces seemed to be falling into place for improving the facilities. However, Andrew Sorensen kept a lid on the facilities improvements and made it clear that at most only a cosmetic amount of money, if any, would be spent on the facilities. Furthermore, he kept bleeding operating funds out of the Department’s revenues and further starving the operation – a practice that should have ceased 20 years ago. Sorensen also kept his informants pipeline flowing to the President’s mansion to keep an eye on the Neanderthals.
Despite this, Mal plugged along doing what he could do to move the ball in an impossible situation – he couldn’t buck the President, He had Gene and Marie up his rear all the time, Title IX obligations, a broke department, and a bureaucracy in the Athletic Department that was Cancerous at best depleted of good people because of Bockrath, and incapable of forward thinking.
Despite losing a BCS game to underdog Michigan, early polls for the next season consistently picked Alabama as a top-five team. For Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, this was the manifestation of his own worst nightmares. Despite the fact that his program was riding a 5-game winning streak over the Tide, the prospects of a resurgent Alabama and the effect it might have on his "legacy" at UT (and ultimately, his employment), so terrified him that he now felt he had no hope but to put his plans to put Alabama again under the NCAA radar into effect.
Chapter 7
Fulmer had spent time during the summer and fall of 1999 trying to hire Ronnie Cottrell away from Alabama. His failure to do so made Cottrell a personal enemy, but Fulmer wasn't the only enemy Cottrell made while at Alabama. Cottrell's willingness to play fast and loose with some of the pages upon pages of minor and often contradictory NCAA regulations wrinkled some feathers within the Alabama athletic department, most notably those of the compliance officer hired to "get tough" on the rules at Alabama after its 1995 probation, Marie Robbins.
Robbins was suspicious of Cottrell and disliked his methods, and many claim that, as a result, she was far too willing to believe the slightest bit of innuendo that came into her office regarding Cottrell and recruiting violations; a willingness that eventually turned into a de facto witch hunt against Cottrell.
Additionally, Cottrell's success, and the notoriety it gained him, placed him in the gun sights of those who wished to take his place, and so "recruiting analyst," Tom Culpepper came into the mix. Tom had sought to take Ronnie's job and had perhaps gained a bit of favor with those elements who thought Cottrell's fame and his willingness to skirt the spirit, if not the letter of the law were detrimental to either their own reputations and the fortunes of the university (likely in that order). When Cottrell learned of what Culpepper had been up to, he reportedly banned him from the football offices. According to several who heard him speak of Cottrell afterwards, an enraged Culpepper swore revenge on Cottrell by any means necessary.
When word of Culpepper's vendetta reached Phil Fulmer, he correctly appraised Culpepper's value and realized that this man could be yet another useful idiot for him to employ in his plan to take down the Tide. Fulmer learned that Culpepper, through some of his friends and supporters within the athletic department, had come into possession of a litany of purported violations that had allegedly been committed by Cottrell and other Alabama coaches during and predating Mike Dubose's tenure at Alabama. Using mutual friends and acquaintances (one of which might have been on his own staff), Fulmer arranged to meet with Culpepper at the 2000 Hula Bowl to learn what he could. This was not the only angle Fulmer was pursuing, however.
Fulmer knew the events surrounding Alabama's probation of 1995 quite well, particularly how Auburn boosters had attempted to use an Alabama player, Gene Jelks to implicate the Tide in a pay for play scheme. Although the scheme had failed, the Auburn boosters had received nothing in the way of punishment from the NCAA, and Fulmer knew he could tweak the scheme and use it to accomplish his means. Rather than approaching an Alabama player, Fulmer had already laid the groundwork, through corrupt a UT booster, known as Tennstud, that Alabama was paying recruits to sign with the Tide, particularly in Memphis, home of both Tennstud and Tide booster, Logan Young. Fulmer would take this angle to achieve his goals, and the 1999 recruiting season
was the perfect time to launch the trap. Alabama was in need of defensive linemen, and Memphis was home to the #1 defensive tackle prospect in the nation, in Trezevant High School's Albert Means. Even better, an acquaintance of Tennstud, Milton Kirk, was employed by the school district. Tennstud knew Kirk to be a friend to UT and malleable for the right amount of cash, and believed Kirk could be used in a scheme to implicate Alabama in recruiting violations.
In the early summer of 1999, Fulmer met with Tennstud and other UT boosters, many from the Memphis area, in a meeting where the details were set on the trap to come. The boosters would pitch in together to come up with a large sum of money which would be used to covertly pay the purchase fee for Means. Kirk, whose services Tennstud had secured with a cash donation, had convinced Trezevant High School's head football coach, Lynn Lang, to put Means up for sale. After shopping Means around, he would supposedly be sold to Alabama, with Logan Young supposed to be putting up the money. Kirk would make the arrangements for payments to be passed from him to Lang through someone friendly to UT. Lang would never know the true source of the money and would believe the payments to have originated with Logan Young, as he was told. That would establish the innuendo of a money trail leading back to Young for the NCAA to follow when the deal went sour, as planned, and Lang or Kirk started to talk. With the preliminary details in place, the donations were made and Tennstud, Kirk, and local UT-friendly businessman, Carl Sledgewick began arranging the details of the "sale," and payments were made through Tennstud to Lang and Kirk throughout the fall of 1999.
Ok Before I go any further I need to bring up Melvin
"Botto" Earnest. Botto is a character who
helped coach as an unpaid Hamilton High School assistant in the early 80's. Botto, according to Tennstud was the runner,
contact man, individual who set up deals with theses college recruits, to
attend the University of Alabama. Only after the deal had been made by Botto
would Logan meet with the individual prospect or his coach. Tennstud says that Logan
was reluctant to deal directly with any prospect. Now according to Tennstud, after establishing a relationship with
the then Melrose coach, Tim Thompson, Logan dealt directly with Tim, not having
any direct dealing with either the prospect or his family.
Ok now back to Botto. Botto,
according to Milton Kirk, approached Kirk at Trezevant High School football
practice one afternoon with a great deal of trepidation about Lynn Lang, since
Lang was a young outsider to Memphis. Kirk,
was able to convince Botto of any doubts with Lang. Botto then carried Lang to Logan’s
home, according to Milton Kirk.
Now all of that was told to the NCAA, and the FBI by Lang, not Milton Kirk. Tennstud later reveals that Tori Noel told him in story in 2003 how after he had verbally committed to Tennessee, Botto called and took him to a pizza restaurant. There, Botto offered him the same deal that Memphis Curtis Alexander from Memphis Whitehaven, a running back, had received for attending Alabama. Tori said he wanted to accept the deal but Tori's mother adamantly refused!
Botto was questioned VERY early by the FBI. They have known since 2001 whatever he told them. He has never been charged so you assume that he is cooperating with the Feds. They had Lynn Lang, who was NOT cooperating, DEAD-TO-RIGHTS on the original indictments, which was for SOLICITING a bribe. If "Botto" Earnest's story had panned out, they would have indicted Lang for receiving the bribe. They didn't. Instead, they dropped the charges against Lang in exchange for another charge, Racketeering.
Why drop the charges? They were trying to get Logan Young and the ONLY way they could get him was through Lang, not "Botto" Earnest, because they could not prove Kirk's story and what Earnest told them didn't implicate Young. Lang EAGERLY took the plea because they were going to give him NO JAIL TIME on the plea. Look at it from Lang's perspective. There was NO WAY IN THE WORLD he could get out of the original charges. He had at least 5 different college coaches who gave grand jury testimony against him. He was facing serious jail time. If Lang didn't want to go to jail he had to cut a deal.
SO, what does all of this mean? That Milton Kirk is a bald-faced liar. The Feds cannot prove major parts of his story. In fact, Kirk has publicly changed details in his story about 8-9 times. Where does that leave the NCAA? They convicted Alabama on the back of a liar and his story cannot be proven. Happy lawsuits, NCAA.
The key to making the scheme work was the behind-the-scenes involvement of another UT-friendly official, Roy Kramer. Kramer, a great friend of Fulmer and his athletic director, Doug Dickey had gone out of his way to protect UT in the past and had helped them arrange a beneficial football schedule that gave them opportune weeks off before playing their biggest rivals. Kramer shared Fulmer and Dickey's hatred of Alabama and agreed to notify other schools recruiting Means that he was being solicited for a price; all schools that is, except Alabama. With this agreement in place, it was all but assured that Means would be successfully steered to Alabama, sealing the snare and Alabama's fate along with it.
Fulmer followed through with his meeting with Tom Culpepper at the 2000 Hula Bowl, where Culpepper and Fulmer struck up an accord based upon their mutual hatred for Cottrell. Through a little skillful stroking of Culpepper's ego and some promises by Fulmer to help him find a job as a college recruiting coordinator, Culpepper was goaded into revealing some of what he'd learned about the supposed violations at Alabama. Fulmer took mental notes and promised to follow up with Culpepper, who he encouraged to try to find out as much as he possibly could about the violations, particularly those involving Logan Young. Culpepper, who knew Young fairly well, ended up driving him back to Memphis after the Hula Bowl, while Fulmer returned to Knoxville loaded for bear.
2000 Recruiting Class
Chapter 8
In the 99 off season we had the much ballyhooed class of 2000. In reality, it was a bunch made up of marginal academic cases, recruits no one else really thought could play football that they sold to the recruiting gurus as 5 star prospects, and a few legit big timers. What it was short on was qualifiers and great FOOTBALL players. There were warning signs about a couple of players for months before signing day. – especially Albert Means and Harold James. Tennstud internet material was out there for months about Means. My alarm bell went off when I heard that Lynn Lang wouldn’t let Albert go to the Hula Bowl with the Rivals 100 b/c they wouldn’t pay him a 5K stipend. Why we went there, right or wrong, I’ll never know. The screaming from Tenn., Fl., Ark. And others was at a fever pitch. Yes, they were scared of us. But the screaming happened and people at the NCAA listened.
I heard about Harold James academic problems months before he signed – and they were severe. I also heard about Justin Smiley and the truck weeks before it hit the news – heard that from a Florida booster. With all this stuff floating around it’s almost inevitable that something was going to blow. Especially when our compliance department gave the NCAA every impression that we were rotten to the core – or at least more so than anyone else in the SEC.
Now throw in the “Juicy”. Juicy Locke had had his hand out ever since he got to Tuscaloosa. Eric signing with Alabama was a huge embarrassment to Fulmer and one that set him off for good (along with the Melrose stuff) on Logan. With juicy, nothing was free and his sorry self quickly washed out of his job in Tuscaloosa and he went to shakedowns to make a living. When he was turned down enough, he put out feelers up North and was assured that he would be taken care of if Eric transferred to UT. He did.
What Juicy says now is largely true. It is apparent that Fulmer really wanted Eric and Juicy to drop a dime on Alabama. Furthermore, Juicy had written an embittered letter to numerous people about his alleged shabby treatment by Alabama – even going so far as to mention Fernando Bryant and stripper parties. What is amazing is that none of those letters ever became public until last 2002 when Tennessee was feeling the heat. But I am convinced the letter about Fernando Bryant and stripper parties ended up at NCAA HQ and that is what pushed the final rock downhill.
Shortly after signing day, we were turned in by at least four maybe five schools for recruiting violations. The funniest thing is that every single one of them were notorious cheaters themselves. Whether it was fear of a Alabama resurgence (Coach Bryant left the Spurrier’s and Fulmer’s of the world deeply scarred), that we had gotten too deep in some people’s backyards or we violated some unwritten recruiting rules one too many times, I do know however I do think this it was coordinated. Word started to bubble up that the NCAA was snooping around on us a few months later, but nothing to indicate they were coming to campus – for the death shot.
Signing Day 2000 brought elation to Alabama fans everywhere, as the Tide landed a consensus Top 3 class in the nation. Elation over Alabama's sine’s was felt not only in Tuscaloosa however, but northeast of there as well. In Knoxville, Phil Fulmer and Tennstud saw the culmination of their plans as Albert Means signed a letter of intent with Alabama. Tennstud and a corrupt cabal of UT interests had acted on Fulmer's behalf, in which they'd purchased Means' commitment to Alabama through Tennstud’s acquaintance, Milton Kirk. Kirk and his benefactors had convinced Lang that the true source of the payment for Means was Logan Young, the prominent Memphis-area Alabama booster. However, events would soon speed up the timeline for Fulmer's plans.
Bensyl-Meyers & the NCAA
Chapter 9
A Tennessee professor, Linda Bensyl-Meyers came forward in the early spring of 2000 with serious allegations of academic fraud at Tennessee. Bensyl-Meyers insinuated that the athletic department under Fulmer and UT athletic director, Doug Dickey had become a sham for the sole purpose of manufacturing winning football teams. Athletes weren't required to attend class or even do their own work, as a fleet of athletic department managed tutors did all of the athletes' class work. The allegations were serious enough to land UT in an "Outside the Lines" expose on ESPN, who was beginning to investigate the story with vigor.
Fulmer turned to Doug Dickey for help, who in turn went to his benefactor in the SEC Office, Roy Kramer. Kramer suggested that he could suggest to his friends at the NCAA that coach Fulmer was ready to come forward with what he knew about the allegations swirling around Alabama's recruiting practices in Memphis and elsewhere. Kramer knew that his reputation with his fiends at the NCAA was sound and that if he personally vouched for the seriousness of what coach Fulmer knew, the NCAA would be willing to listen. With an interview secured, Kramer would suggest that he and Dickey use this as a bargaining chip with his friends at the NCAA to secure immunity for UT against Bensyl-Meyer's charges, and any other allegations that might later surface.
Kramer felt certain that his assurances that the allegations coach Fulmer had brought to him regarding Alabama were so serious that the UT scandal would pale in comparison. To accommodate this, Fulmer would adjust upwards the dollar amount he would allege Alabama paid for Means' services and would bring NCAA investigators as large a volume of material as he could find on supposed Alabama recruiting violations dating back as far as he could possibly manage.
With that in mind, Fulmer contacted Tom Culpepper. After quite a lot of convincing and a guarantee of his assistance in landing Culpepper the recruiting coordinator's job at Texas Tech (for which Culpepper was currently applied), along with assurances that he was only interested in nailing Young and Cottrell and not the University of Alabama Tom agreed to meet with Fulmer and discuss the grab bag of alleged recruiting allegations he'd received from his friends in the athletic department. The meeting, lasting nearly 8 hours in total, took place in the spring of 2000 and was attended by Fulmer, his attorney, and Culpepper. Fulmer arranged for his attorney to tape the most significant portions of the meeting, totaling about 90 minutes of audio, in which the most serious alleged violations were discussed. With this information gathered, Fulmer arranged through Dickey to meet with NCAA investigator Rich Johanningmeier,
whom Roy Kramer had personally requested to work on the case.
Dubose Falls
Chapter 10
Meanwhile, Dubose had made the Strength & Conditioning program voluntary when some upper classmen started complaining. The lunatics were taking over the asylum. Coaches were at each others throats – enjoying the spoils of success and biting each others backs at the same time. Little thought was being given to the upcoming season. Mike was back on top again and sowing his oats as well.
During an intensely hot August it was apparent to many that the players were out of shape, the tempo of the practices were lethargic and everyone was going through the motions. Mike demanded nothing, had no authority to enforce anything anyway, commanded no respect from his players or coaches and was nothing more than a figurehead. Players routinely sassed their position coaches and disobeyed them during practice. When this happened, Mike undermined his assistants and let the players mouth off to their position players coach.
Then the trip to Pasadena exposed the fraud once and for all. We saw it all. An Alabama team get physically whipped by a mediocre UCLA team. An out of shape Shaun Bohannon who made it to practice only a few weeks before who was visibly out of shape and not ready to play. Etc. Etc.
What was apparent to many was that this wasn’t going to turn around in the coming weeks. And it didn’t. After we got pummeled by Southern Miss, I think everyone who had any insight into the situation knew Mike was finished. He had lost the team and would never get it back. There are so many things I could say about that season, but they have been said over and over again.
Mike’s behavior was erratic at best. He was having early morning chant sessions in his office, making references to divine providence all the time, and basically letting practices run (if you could even apply such a term) themselves. After Central Florida, Mike knew the jig was up. In reality, it was probably up after Billy Neighbors sat next to Mal Moore at Tennessee and they both had, had enough – along with a boatload of other people.
Butch Davis, Fran, &
Points to Consider
Chapter 11
When Mike Dubose was dismissed, the NCAA almost simultaneously showed up on campus. Nothing could have been more inopportune. Andrew Sorensen wanted to form a committee for a search for a new coach but was flatly overruled by the Board Of Trustees athletic group under the thought that we hired Mal to do a job – let him do it. The Board knew that the only thing Sorensen would do is muck it up again. There are a number of popular myths about the coaching search – not the least of which is that Tommy Bowden was offered the job. We all know Ricky Davis now. Well ole Ricky tried like heck to get Tommy the job. Problem is, Mal wouldn’t call him back. He called everyone from the Drummonds to Jeff Rouzie to try to get Tommy’s foot in the door. It didn’t happen.
A deal was struck with Butch Davis. That’s a fact. What happened before it was consummated was that Fulmer, Tuberville and Houston Nutt got to him, told him the NCAA was going to crush us and he didn’t want to go through that again. After Davis fell through, Athletic Director Mal Moore knew he had to get a pure football coach who could do more with less, was a disciplinarian, and a leader – both to fix Mike’s problems and to get us through a potentially rough set of sanctions.
Now my question this, How did Fulmer, Tuberville, and Nutt know that we were going to get hammered? I mean as far as we know the investigation had barely started, there was no news out there, and Alabama had been a ”model” of compliance since 95. Did these 3 coaches know something that all of us did not? This is a question I would most like to hear Paul Finebaum ask Butch Davis, did he get a call from some coaches in the SEC, and after that call did he decide to decline on the job at Alabama?
Anyway as stated After Davis fell through, Athletic Director Mal Moore knew he had to get a pure football coach who could do more with less, was a disciplinarian, and a leader both to fix Mike’s problems and to get us through a potentially rough set of sanctions. Dennis Franchione fit that bill perfectly. And as Mal Moore researched Coach Fran more and more and looked at it from different angles, getting feedback from Larry Lacewell and others, it was clear that he was the right man. And, despite what he did to us later, he was at the time.
Meanwhile, the NCAA interviews went badly. No active players had anything to offer up. Ronnie was of course offended and defensive. Ivy talked to the press. Mike threw up his hands and said he didn’t have any clue what his staff was doing – effectively throwing us under the bus wheels. I’m told he even remarked to Neil Calloway that he (CNC) needed to get a lawyer. Neil said he hadn’t done anything and Mike told him he had. All in all, a bizarre exchange. Furthermore, Mike also told Mal on his way out that to add insult to injury – the player who really caused this – Albert Means – was a bust.
In the ensuing panic, Sorensen found himself again empowered. Marsh and Robbins were set up to handle it under the theory that Marsh was an NCAA insider and could mitigate the damage. In truth, the panic was largely overwrought.
Chapter 12
In feeling like a vigorous defense had gotten us nailed in 95 and believing that our repeat offender status would be used against us, it was decided, by Gene Marsh and Sorensen, to in effect aid the NCAA in convicting us – using the “cooperative principle” to mitigate the damage. Given the fact that Marsh and Sorensen started from a standpoint that they assumed we were guilty that seemed to them the logical course. What they failed to understand was that this was a high profile case – not something that shows up in the Weekly Shopper. Cooperation would only cede our defenses and make it easier for them to arrive at where they were going from the day the Means story broke, and that was to cripple us.
Fulmer met with Johanningmeier in May, 2000 and detailed the Means scandal as he'd crafted it, along with his enhanced version of Tom Culpepper's litany of allegations, augmented by select bits of the audio he secreted from the meeting with Culpepper when necessary. Johanningmeier took the bait and ran with it, just as Kramer knew that he would, and the next phase of Fulmer's plan had begun.
The NCAA was now officially investigating the Alabama football program while the allegations against his own program had vanished, as promised. Now all that remained was for Fulmer to strengthen his hand. Over the next several months, Fulmer, Dickey, and the UT mafia met with several of their most trusted news sources to discuss details of what was transpiring with Alabama in Memphis. All of the details were played up and sensationalized, and it was agreed on that that news would be released in Memphis by Commercial-Appeal writer and friend of Tennstud, Gary Parrish, at a time when it would do the maximum damage to Alabama's recruiting..
Additionally, efforts were made to strengthen UT's hand by ensuring that Albert Means' victim hood was played up in the press as well, while securing Means' financial stability and his loyalty to his new handlers. Tennstud had connections to yet another official with an axe to grind against Alabama, in University of Memphis head coach, Rip Scherer. Scherer had been Alabama's offensive coordinator under Bill Curry during Curry's first season, and had been fired at the end of that season after poor offensive performance. Scherer felt that Curry had made him a scapegoat and harbored a grudge against both Curry and the university thereafter.
Tennstud knew Scherer as, by Tennstud’s own admission, he'd paid University of Memphis athletes in the past, both during and before Scherer's tenure. Scherer was to become Means' new mentor and friend after the revelation of his "purchase" by
Alabama became public knowledge, quietly bringing him under the influence of Memphis-area interests friendly to UT. Scherer would be rewarded by arrangements to be made to allow Means to enroll at his school and participate in football right away, rather than having to sit out a year. Scherer was also beneficial to the UT plan because of his connections to NCAA Infractions Committee Chairman, Tom Yeager, for whom Scherer had once coached. Scherer would be a vital link in passing sensationalized and fabricated allegations about alleged recruiting violations by Alabama directly to the Infractions Committee's head, bypassing the investigative staff and any chance Alabama officials might have to respond to or refute these allegations.
In a further attempt to bolster there allegations attempts were made to secure David Paine as a source against Alabama as well. On Fulmer's authorization, Milton Kirk acted on behalf of Tennstud, offering him cash, a car and guaranteed entry to the University of Memphis and its football program in exchange for his testimony that Logan Young had paid him to attend Alabama. When Paine refused to agree to the deal, preparations were made with the UT-friendly media to actively pursue Paine's story, but to publish it in such a way as to make him look untrustworthy and suspicious.
Fran
Chapter 13
What Fran found was a mess of giant proportions. While he did a marvelous job of fixing the football problems, he also was ill suited emotionally for what he was to face off the football field. The first thing Fran found when he got here besides the obvious lack of discipline was that he had 20 or so academic cases on his hands. I think his handling of Strength and Conditioning, the classroom, leadership problems and many of the hard cases left by his predecessors is well documented. But if anything can encapsulate his first few months here it was that he was convinced that from a character, work ethic and talent standpoint that he had inherited a number of hopeless cases. His building job was going to be steeper than advertised.
He also had to get the sorry habits out and bad influences away from the players in order to rebuild them. He spent a good part of his first year trying to get some of the posse’s around the players who were associated with the previous group away from his players. Simply because we changed coaches doesn’t mean that the players relationships with their old coaches or other “friends of the program” had ended. And by friends of the program I don’t mean boosters or $100 handshakes. Just people who might undermine what Fran was trying to build by sowing dissension and feeding the sense of entitlement that got us in the mess to begin with.
In retrospect, it’s clear he adopted a defensive attitude from the time he got here. I believe now that he had read too many horror stories by the national media about how intolerant Alabama fans were and maybe never fully understood that we were so low when we got here that we had embraced him quickly like no coach since Bryant (maybe other than Coach Stallings). He thought we might turn on him at any moment.
The other interesting thing about Fran was that he never really got close to anyone in the alumni community or the University as far as I can tell. Probably Mal was as close to him as anyone and I think he was even a mystery to Mal at the end. Part of this was a result of his tireless work ethic and focus. But again, in retrospect, one would think that it was also because of some fundamental level of mistrust of the Alabama family. He said and did all the right things, but his attachments to the University and its people remained at best superficial. It’s easy to see now how it was so easy to pick up and leave in the absence of any deep ties to anyone in our community.
To say that Fran was a tightly wound spring is an understatement. Furthermore, he was most assuredly a glass half empty person. Honestly, I think without his constant crying about facilities and other issues some things that needed to be done would have never happened. His complaining and our delicate situation gave Mal the stick to get what limited things he could out of Rose Administration. Unfortunately for Fran it was usually a half measure that stopped short of the commitment he wanted. Add to that a concern about the backward nature of our Athletic Department and Fran had all the ingredients for a rationalization that we weren’t committed to winning.
NCAA Investigation Continues
Chapter 14
In the meanwhile, the investigation moved forward. While they turned over every conceivable rock, the fact is as late as that summer, little had turned up to corroborate the tale from Memphis. What was clear is that Coach Rich Johanningmeier the investigator was out to nail us and particularly Logan Young at any cost and wouldn’t stop until he got it. Two well documented cases of Rich Johanningmeier telling Logan and later another “booster” that he didn’t care about Tennessee are absolutely true. He also exploited tensions between numerous people by claiming falsely in some cases that a particular individual had accused them of something – hoping that all the rats would turn on each other and run out of the bushes. He also accused anyone even remotely connected to UA who had done business with Logan as being his bag man. The outcome of the case was already determined. The only issue was how to get there.
I now believe wholeheartedly that the course of the investigation – from its instigation to it’s conclusion, was dictated by Tennessee folks. I also believe that the relationships between the NCAA enforcement staff and some folks in an around the Tennessee orbit were absolutely beyond any ethical bounds. My one great hope about Ivy and Ronnie’s lawsuit is that all of this comes out and the level of corruption at the NCAA is exposed for the world to see.
That being said, the salient point in all this mess was the same old tension that I discussed earlier between the Sorensen/Marsh anti-jock – clean out the good ole boys group - and the football program and culture as whole was guiding the University’s conduct of the investigation. No one will ever know, but I think now that Sorensen made a calculation along with Gene Marsh that if they could mitigate the NCAA penalties and get rid of Logan, that they would finally break the back of the football crowd. Starting from the assumption that we were guilty, it’s no wonder that we start talking about secret witnesses, Marsh aiding the NCAA by allowing it, and conceding charges against Logan without any real proof. It all makes sense in light of their attitude toward Logan and others who had traditionally supported the program, Let the NCAA accomplish what you couldn’t – run them off.
As for the SEC office’s role in this whole affair, I really don’t know. I’m sure there was aiding and abetting going on. Anyone can see that now. To what level of detail or extent of the machinations, I truly don’t know. What I do know is that many folks who were close to the situation believed firmly that Roy Kramer had a major hand in dealing us the blow in the Langham affair and have no reason to doubt he played us again this time.
Probably the funniest thing I heard about the University’s conduct of the investigation is that they wanted Logan to pony up a “donation” to the University to pay for the trouble he caused all the while getting ready to toss him over the transom. They weren’t too proud to bleed him for money before they had to wash their hands of him.
When the letter arrived, it appeared that the plan was working. The University escaped any institutional charges and with it the assumption dominated that we could impose penalties that we could manage, avoid a crippling blow and toss the “bad guys” overboard. Our response was dictated along those parameters. Offer up the bad actors, ask forgiveness and put it to bed. Again, a gross miscalculation that the NCAA would be impervious to the publicity surrounding our case or the perception that we were as dirty as SMU in 86 and Oklahoma State in 88.
Meanwhile, Fran was indeed fixing the team. We all saw steady improvement in the last half of his first year. There is no doubt that the wheels started falling off Fran’s wagon the moment the penalties were announced. Again, since no one ever got close to Fran, it’s hard to know what went through his mind after the penalties were announced before signing day. Cecil Hurt’s articles are probably the best insight you’ll get on that matter. What is clear now is that either he didn’t think he could ride out the probation or he didn’t think we’d let him. Maybe he just didn’t want to swim upstream anymore after doing it his whole career.
I do know either before or after the sanctions were announced he had already complained that he needed some scheduling relief – that he didn’t want to go to Penn St. with 50 players and get his tail kicked. Maybe that was a very realistic attitude, but it also illustrates the level at which the sanctions ate at him. Add to that the constant barrage of dirty SEC recruiting which I don’t know if he ever got used to, and you can see how his hole (at least in his mind) got deeper and deeper.
One thing the announcement of the sanctions did do was blow the final hole in Sorensen’s bow. He and Marsh had handled the conduct of our response to the NCAA and when it blew up in their face they had nowhere to run. The immediate response from the Board Of Trustees, just like the rest of the fan base was total outrage. Everyone, including Sorensen, wanted to fight. And those lawyers who had originally volunteered their services to fight the thing were finally listened to. In the end, some Board Of Trustees members called in Bobo Cunningham for a consult on a Saturday on whether there was a case to be made for relief. Cunningham concluded that their was a case and even offered to work pro-bono when the subject of a fee was brought up. The feeling was now that we were finally going to fight back.
It didn’t take Cunningham long to realize that we had thrown the baby out with the bathwater in ceding so much up front to the NCAA without challenge. Nonetheless, he mounted a brilliant defense. But in the end, it didn’t matter. The NCAA had their backs to the wall on high profile case – there was no backing down.
At the same time, the Board Of Trustees knew we had to undertake some drastic steps to survive the sanctions. First was locking Fran down for life. Second was coming off the stalled facilities program and fund drive. Mal was green lighted to move fast on the facilities issue. Which he did. Sorensen’s last stand came when he tried to limit the facilities program and was told in uncertain terms that it wouldn’t be done half hearted and he needed to disappear. In fact, if you remember, he wasn’t even at the roll out of that program.
Sorensen had been trying to promote his way out of the University for years. The board as well as the Chancellor had seen enough by now so a mutual split was inevitable. Honestly, at the time no one really believed he could find a job but were more than willing to help. Luckily for all parties South Carolina fell for him and hired him.
As for when Fran decided to hit the road for sure I don’t know. I was told in October by a friend that a prominent Aggie had said that they were hiring our coach. I didn’t believe it. Much has been made of the contract issue and whether the University botched anything. Truthfully, they offered him a blank check, and in large part anything else he wanted to stay. I think he was gone for months before that and nothing we could have done would have altered that course of events. He did a marvelous job on so many fronts. But in the end, I think he was overwhelmed to be at Alabama and simply cracked under pressure that wasn’t even there.
Was Alabama Treated Fairly?
Chapter 15
Before I go any further... I give Tennstudd of Memphis a lot more credit than he deserves in what has happened. There is no doubt that something untoward happened in Memphis. But, unless all the parties come forth and tell the complete truth, we may never know what that something is. What I do know is that Tennstudd, and men like him, did what they could to keep this in the press, and friendly press members started applying pressure to the NCAA to "do something". Tennstudd is used here, because he's one name that's well-known, here, not because he's the ONLY one doing it.
A lack of facts, or worse, a distortion of facts, gave an incorrect impression of the University of Alabama’s football team as a "rogue program", and the University as either blind or sympathetic with wrongdoers. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, the impression has stuck in the minds of many. And when some media members get a notion in their minds, they run with it, come hell or high water.
What is the truth? Did Logan Young give $200,000 for Means' signature? Of course not. No proof was ever given to such. Did he promise such an amount? I haven't a clue, and neither does anyone but Young, Lang and Means. However, the Media Circus printed Milton Kirk's accusation as fact. To this day, Logan Young was has only been indicted of promising $115,000, to Lang, some for Kirk and the rest for the Means. The testimony used to make this assertion is from Kirk, with corroboration from the Secret Witness.
In the summer of 1999, word began to spread about the activities of Lynn Lang as it pertained to the recruitment of Albert Means. No one has yet answered the question why our compliance department was not aware of these rumors. As just previously noted, ALL rumors of misconduct by Alabama coaches or boosters were thoroughly investigated and misconduct reported to the NCAA. The NCAA soon learned about the stories coming out of Memphis. For some unknown and unexplained reason though, the NCAA failed to give any warning or notification to the University of Alabama.
In February of 2000, Alabama signed Albert Means to a National Letter of Intent. In July of 2000, before the football season began, the NCAA was conducting a full-scale investigation into Albert Mean's recruitment. Still, the NCAA did not notify the University of Alabama. Means played in almost every game that season. At some point during the season, Alabama compliance officials became aware of the Means rumors. All indications are that the compliance team investigated the rumors but could not substantiate the allegations. There is still no explanation why the NCAA did NOT officially notify the University of Alabama about the rumors and information it had received.
In January of 2001, several media outlets ran stories alleging that Albert Mean's high school coach had been paid $200,000 dollars to "steer" Means to Alabama. This set off a media feeding frenzy of Titanic proportions.
In February of 2001, the NCAA issued a Preliminary Letter of Inquiry into the football program at Alabama. Thus began the most massive investigation in NCAA history. The NCAA had already put their "chief bloodhound" on the case. Hundreds upon hundreds of witnesses were interviewed. I know of cases were players from Mississippi State University were interviewed by the NCAA, even though these players were never even recruited by Alabama. The NCAA spared no expense and effort to uncover every "questionable action" they could find.
During the course of the investigation, Alabama's compliance department worked diligently and forthrightly to uncover all evidence possible. From the NCAA report " In this case, by contrast, university officials cooperated fully with the enforcement staff, often at great personal criticism, in a diligent effort to develop complete information regarding the violations." Yet through all of this, the NCAA still withheld evidence and the identities of at least one witness. What was the NCAA trying to do?
Even more troubling was the inclusion of a FORMERLY CLOSED case concerning the recruitment of Kenny Smith of Stevenson, Al. The NCAA had previously been notified of this case, had taken a preliminary look at it and declined to pursue it. It was beyond the statute of limitations cited in the PLOI. Yet, the NCAA included it in this case on the word of a secret witness, and only to establish a "pattern of conduct" by one booster. It is apparent they wanted to "nail Logan Young".
Now comes the question of the conduct of the investigators. Several people who were questioned have said that they had more information to give the investigators, but the investigators were not interested. I don't know about you, but I believe an investigator should always be on the lookout for information. You never know when you might need it on that case or on another case. One of the boosters named in this case has stated that there were a dozen or so people who could testify to the facts of the case regarding a vehicle "given" to a student athlete. None, and I repeat, none of these witnesses were ever questioned.
Many have said that the questions asked by the investigator led them to believe that he had already made his mind up. He wasn't asking for information, just confirmation. If their answers didn't confirm his beliefs, he wasn't interested in talking to them. To any rational person, it would sound as if the people doing the investigating had their minds made up before they gathered the evidence.
Alabama's strategy during this entire investigation was to cooperate totally. This was done AND recognized by the Committee Of Infractions. Imagine the surprise that our legal team received when, at the Committee on Infractions hearing on Nov. 17, the Enforcement Staff presented evidence that had NOT been made known to Alabama at the pre-hearing conference 2 weeks earlier. The pre-hearing was the opportunity for both sides to essentially present their case and evidence to each other so that the Committee on Infractions hearing would be free of any surprises and that both sides could effectively deliver their case. This NCAA bylaw stipulates:
32.5.12 - NCAA Summary Case Statement. Not later than 14 days prior to the date of the institution's appearance, the enforcement staff shall prepare a summary statement of the case that indicates the status of each allegation and identifies the individuals upon whom and the information upon which the staff will rely in presenting the case. This summary shall be provided to the members of the Committee on Infractions and to representatives of the institution and involved individuals prior to the hearing. The committee may waive this 14-day period for good cause shown. (Adopted: 10/12/94)
In this case, the NCAA violated this bylaw. Why would they do that? That is just one more indication of unfair treatment by the NCAA.
Finally, at the end of this entire investigation, the chairman of the Committee on Infractions stood up and leveled a bitter, threatening tirade against the University of Alabama. He was very unprofessional in his comments. He used the words "repeat offender" and "death penalty" over and over, yet the death penalty could NOT have been invoked because of our compliance team's and the University's cooperation and was never even voted on by the committee. He was obviously grandstanding. Why?
Can anyone not look at this entire case and the previous cases and see where the fans of the University of Alabama feel that the NCAA has treated us unfairly? Make the assumption that every allegation leveled against Alabama by the NCAA is true. We received no Failure to Monitor or Lack of Institutional Control. No former coaches or Administrators were charged with any wrongdoing (save Ronnie Cottrell's answer to a question about a legal loan.) Yet we were hit with over double the penalties that Kansas State and Wisconsin were subjected to.
In the case of Kansas State, they had 7 boosters giving money to student-athletes. They were a repeat offender, the previous case being in women's basketball. They only had probation extended for 1 year and lost NO scholarships. They had NO bowl ban.
In the case of Wisconsin, they had 2 previous cases of LOIC. This case involved dozens of athletes getting impermissible benefits from a booster. Also, Wisconsin not only "didn't disassociate boosters long enough" (as we were charged), they actively and defiantly refused to disassociate them, AT ALL, prior to their COI hearing. Yet the NCAA only subjected them to 12 scholarships lost (up from the incredibly brassy 2 they self-imposed). No post-season ban was imposed. In fact, no college or university not cited with (at least) Failure to Monitor has ever been given a bowl ban. Ever. Until Alabama.
I believe it is apparent that Alabama was singled out and "made an example" of by the NCAA on 2 different occasions. We are NOT claiming innocence. All we want is fairness and equitable treatment comparable to other institutions by the NCAA.
What does it all mean? Does it really matter who used the press as a weapon, if it is true? Well, let me tell you what it meant to the NCAA. It was "proof" they put a show cause order on Ivy Williams and said he was in on the scheme which is why he was originally charged and it was "proof" that Logan Young was in the loop, when coupled with un-corroborated secret witness testimony.
But... there's that little word that does so much trouble... but...
The fact is, no one has yet been able to find much of anything about the money and Lang. We now know Means was shopped. We also know that knowledge of that shopping was sporadically given. One or two individuals, not associated with the NCAA or the SEC Office, may have warned off Arkansas, Ole Miss and Auburn coaches. These generous people didn't do likewise for Marie Robbins and the Tide. We know that Means did, in fact, sign with the Tide. And, we know that numerous phone calls were made from Ivy Williams to Logan Young, and vice versa, on signing day.
IF there was a deal for Means, why so many phone calls? If one wasn't reached until signing day, there must have been active bids going on (assuming there was a bid, at all). By whom? Did the NCAA ever check to see who all were in touch with Lang? Did anyone ever check other boosters to see who was calling who? Did anyone check to see if the Means' phone was busy? If so, how many people were bidding, were they doing so knowing the NCAA was watching? We know a few schools were warned of Means. Is this proof positive that this sharing of information was very, very selective? Were Alabama, and Kentucky left off the list for a reason?
Plus, despite Years of grand jury testimony, where is the evidence against the coaches? If Williams has so many calls to Young, why did the NCAA drop the charges against him? Could it be that some of the evidence didn't add up? Or, as some have suggested, maybe some weren't willing to confront the accused face to face? If not, why not? The NCAA had no problem going after the school, despite the Alabama’s best efforts to get to the bottom of it all. The NCAA didn't have enough to charge Williams, but DID have enough to make the school pay for his alleged crimes?
Where is the due process?
I'll tell you where. The NCAA has no standards for assessing penalties. It has no obligation to follow its own rules. It can pretty much do anything it likes. Alabama... Ah! Alabama, now there's a story! Scandal! Intrigue! Even a by-damned Federal Investigation! Woo-hoo! The NCAA may have felt it had no choice BUT to hit Alabama, hard, despite all the compliance efforts. And the press, being the press, chimes in. "Alabama fans are arrogant". "Alabama fans are unrepentant". Thomas Yeager himself said that we "better pray we don't come before them, again, any time soon".
The "Fact" that Alabama is a rogue program is "well-established", thanks to the media circus a few helped orchestrate. The media circus was used to justify the NCAA's side-stepping the 1999 case, in which proper compliance was the issue. Plus, the media circus was used to overlook the fact that this was the first time Alabama had been brought up on recruiting violations, which is the center of any true "repeat offender" status.
But... there's that little word full of trouble... the truth always comes out.
Alabama people have been backed into a corner. Alabama In my View acted appropriately, and did everything in it's power. On the evidence that was clear and compelling, Alabama moved to address the issues and self-impose. The school followed the rules, to the letter. If Alabama is a "rogue", it is because we were labeled so, not because it is a fact. And, it is long overdue to change the image to meet the facts.
Appendix A
BamaK
TerryK
XenS
BamainKy
MadDog
BBA
ESPN
Bamachris
TennStudd
ITAT
Autigers.com
Gridscape.com
TI.com
Rivals.com
CNNSI.com
AP Wire news releases
NCAA major enforcement Database ncaa.org
Appendix B
Fulmer Statement to NCAA
May 23 2000, Phillip Fulmer Alleges in a sworn Statement as a Secret Witness to The NCAA Lead Investigator Rich Johanningmeier of Numerous NCAA Violations by XCMD, Bear Bryant, Shaun Alexander, Ivy Williams, Ronnie Cottrell and the University of Alabama, Kentucky, and Miss St. For this Co-operation Tennessee was granted a pass on violations by UT Football And Athletic Department. In Johanningmeier Interview summaries, the investigator wrote in all capital letters: " Fulmer should be regarded as a confidential source of information and this Memorandum should not be included in any custodial arrangements that could be made in the future with the University of UA, Tuscaloosa." UT Coach and Tom Culpepper Met at the Hula Bowl initially, where Tom Culpepper said he wanted to help bring down UA then With his lawyer's advice, Fulmer secretly recorded 90 minutes of an eight-hour conversation with Culpepper in Chattanooga during The summer of 2000 in which Culpepper discussed information he could provide regarding NCAA rules violations at UA.
1) According to Johanningmeier interview summaries, Fulmer said a friend of his who worked with Game Day Centers, a group out of Opelika that Developed condominiums near college football stadiums, had information pertaining to former UA running back Shaun Alexander and a Dr. Porch. The friend, according to Fulmer, said Porch's daughter told him "that her family was looking forward to being assigned another UA Football student-athlete" after enjoying a close relationship with Alexander.
2) Fulmer also told Johanningmeier that Culpepper could provide information to the NCAA on several fronts against UA. Some of which are:
-- That Young has long been "known" to have been Bear's "bag man" to buy recruits.
-- Arrangements were made to pay Alexander to play his senior season of 1999;
-- Arrangements were made to obtain a fraudulent ACT score for former Tide player Harold James;
-- A person who monitored standardized tests was paid by Cottrell to ensure that prospects being recruited by UA would receive qualifying scores;
-- Young paid part of the cost of Cottrell's home and was providing Cottrell with cash payments;
-- Arrangements were made to pay for Santonio Beard, a former Tide player, and Mac Tyler, a former UA signee, to attend Milford Academy.
-- Young used casinos in Tunica, Miss., to withdraw sums of untraceable cash to buy football prospects;
-- Young had made payments for seven years to Memphis Melrose High School coach Tim Thompson to deliver football prospects to UA;
-- Cottrell was involved in helping obtain Tide signee Michael Gaines' fraudulent ACT score.
-- Arrangements were made to provide a loan to Terri White, the mother of UA football player Justin Smiley.
Appendix C
David Housel Speech (Transcribed) Before 2002 Alabama Auburn Game
it was replayed before the Alabama Auburn game in 2003
This is a transcript of Auburn University athletics director David Housel's seven-minute radio commentary, which he did for the Auburn Network before Tigers' 28-23 win in 2003 over UA. If you wish to hear the recording, go to auburntigers.com.
"I, like you, have read everything. I've heard everything, and I've seen everything. Now the time has come - the time has come to decide who we are, what we are and what we're going to do. "You UA fans listening in to see what we're saying, how we're feeling, how we're thinking, how about giving us a moment alone, just us Auburn people so we can talk among ourselves. "Would you do us that favor? We'd appreciate it. Take a break. Go to the bathroom. Get another beer. Do whatever you want to do. I don't care. Just give us Auburn people a moment alone. "Well, now that we're alone, what do you think? Oh, I know they're still there. I know they're still there listening in on what we're saying. But so be it. I'm not scared of them, and you're not scared of them, either. Not since Coach (Pat) Dye came, none of us have been scared of them anymore. None of us. "If they weren't scared of us, they wouldn't still be listening in and thinking we didn't know they were there. Funny thing is they probably thought we were stupid enough to think they would leave when we asked them to leave. They're the ones with the problem (laughs), not us. "In fact, I want them to hear what we're saying and what we're talking about. I want them to know what we're thinking. They need to know, and when they find out, they won't sleep good tonight, tomorrow night, any night. We're coming after their butt. We're coming after them today. We're coming after them tomorrow. We're coming after them the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. "We will not rest. We won't sleep. We will not be deterred until we reach our goal, and that goal is simply this: to paint this state - the entire state, not North UA, not South UA, not East UA, not West UA, the entire state - orange and blue. "Now Terry Bowden and I didn't always agree, and we didn't always see eye to eye on everything, but we did agree on one thing: We might not get them, the UA mommas and papas, but we were going to get the sons and the daughters. We were going to get the children, and we are getting them. Birmingham was once their bastion, their home ground, their turf. "Look at the statistics. Statistics don't lie. Birmingham and Jefferson County students are coming to Auburn as never before. We're winning the battle there, and we're winning the battle everywhere else. Take a snapshot here, take a snapshot there and it might not be evident. But in your heart, in your heart of hearts, you know we're winning the battle, and you know we're winning the war. "Where are their sons and daughters going to school? Think about your UA friends and the number of their children who are coming to Auburn. Inch by inch, person by person, child by child, we're winning the war. It might not be evident in every battle, and it may or may not be evident today, but we're winning the war. "All we have to do is keep the faith and keep on fighting - every day in every way in every arena. The future is ours. All we have to do is fight for it and take it. Keeping the faith - that's the key. And I don't want to get anybody mad, and I don't want to offend anybody, but think about the Vietnam War. Think about it in the context of the Auburn-UA rivalry. Time and time again, we Americans claimed victory. We read about it in the paper. We heard about it on television. We beat ourselves on the chest. And what did it get us? "In the little things in the hearts of the people, that's where wars are won and lost, and we're winning this war with UA. Just as sure as you hear the sound of my voice, we're winning it. You know it, and they know it. That's what will keep them awake tonight. That's what will keep them awake in the nights to come. "Winston Churchill, he of the Auburn heart, said it best: 'Never, never, never, never give up. We will fight on the land. We will fight on the sea. We will fight in the air. We will fight until Hitler and his Nazis are driven from the face of the earth.' "Now, I'm not comparing UA to Hitler and the Nazis. Not at all. There are many good UA people, and I have many good UA friends, at least a few, and I have great respect for them and their program for what they've accomplished down through the years. But this is not about them - this is about us. Who we are, what we are, and what we are going to do. "We are going to fight them today. We are going to fight them tomorrow. We're going to fight them every day and every way. We won't win all the battles, but we're going to win the war. You UA fans out there, still listening in, eavesdropping voyeurs that you are, lurking there in the deep dark shadows of radio land, you can bank on it. We're going to win the war. Remember Dunkirk. The gallant British army was virtually driven into the sea. That was but one battle. It was a long, long war, as this has been, and will continue to be - a long, long war. No, this is not about you. "This is about us, the Auburn people. And this is a call to arms - today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that, and the day after that. We will fight until victory is ours. And as for today, Coach (Shug) Jordan said it best and that's 'Beat hell out of The University of UA.' "We will fight until the victory is ours. We may get knocked down, but we will not be knocked out. We will get up and fight again. We may occasionally be downhearted, but we will not be defeated ... never. And it is not in out nature, not in our makeup. It is not in our heart and it is not in our soul. "Remember Goliath, remember the Roman Empire, remember Ozymandias. Learn from them, my UA friends. Learn from them and prepare to join them. (Laughs.) No, Ozymandias was not Ozzie Nelson's cousin. "Now go listen to Eli (Gold). He's a good man. He'll tell you who Ozymandias was. Back to you, Paul (Ellen). Let's get it on.".
Appendix D
Posted on autigers.com as a classic post
Murphy speech marks official end of Operation Pole Dancer.
Mark Green, Roy “Tennstud” Adams, Roy Kramer, Jimmy “get those Coca
Cola Selling Bastards” Lee. Special Ops agent Destiny, EAGLEKLAW, all
members of Operation Pole Dancer, and my fellow Auburn ITAT members:
Major operations have ended.
In Operation Pole Dancer, The Auburn ITAT members and our allies have
prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in a plan to assure that we
take full advantage of Alabama’s weakened state.
In this operation, we have fought for the cause of right, and for our place
at the top of the college football world. Our Family and our coalition are
proud of this accomplishment.
Yet it is you, the members of Operation Pole Dancer who achieved it. Your
courage, your willingness to face danger for your Football team and for
each other made this day possible. Because of you, our position is more
secure. Because of you, the Price regime has fallen, and the Tide is in Chaos.
Operation Pole Dancer was carried out with a combination of precision,
speed, and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the College Football
World had not seen before.
From Gulf coast hotel rooms or distant strip clubs, we sent dancers and
hookers out that could arouse and entice a 57 year old man who never
made a mistake in his life.. ...You have shown the world the skill and might
of the Auburn ITAT members.
This Auburn Football Program thanks all the members of our coalition who
joined in a noble cause. We thank the websites of Rivals, The Bunker,
Gridscape, Volchat and especially TiderInsider for helping to perpetuate and
spread this rumor and we thank those who shared in the hardships of
dealing with delusional Alabama fan base.
And tonight, I have a special word of thanks for EAGLEKLAW, for starting
the rumor and Special Ops team “Arety’s” including Destiny for going above
and beyond the call of duty, Your 'Shock and Awe" Lapdance was brilliant.
Then you unleashed the WMD (Weapon of Mal's Destruction) "The
M.O,A.B.B."(Mother of all Breakfast Bills) and it was as good as over.
Destiny it is now safe to grow your beard back and remove the duct tape.
We also send thanks to team “Sammy’s”, team “Babe’s Show Club” and team
“Royal Go Go” you were not needed, but you were in place and we know
would have served admirably had your time come. Auburn Football is
grateful to you all for a job well done.
The character of our ITAT members is obvious. The daring of Operation
Clappy-Gotta-Go, the fierce courage of Operation-Rogue-Booster and
Teats-Be-Gone, the decency and idealism that turned enemies like the
University of Tennessee and the NCAA into allies is fully apparent in this era.
When the enemy looked into the faces of our operatives, they saw
beauty(hey, he was drunk), kindness, and good will, masking their
true intentions. When I look at the members of ITAT, I see the best of our
Auburn Family, and I am honoured to be your Administrator in chief.
In the images of falling coaching staffs, we have witnessed the arrival of
a new era. For a hundred years of football, culminating in the modern age,
NCAA management was designed and deployed to inflict sanctions on a
scale favoring the traditional powers. ...The NCAA was used by powers
like Alabama and Bear Bryant to keep teams like Auburn at bay...No device
of man can remove all inequalities… Yet it is a great advance when the
guilty have far more to fear from the NCAA than the innocent.
In the images of celebrating Auburn fans, we have also seen the ageless appeal
of equality. Decades of lies and cheating could not make Auburn family accept
their oppressors or their arrogance.....We have difficult work to do in Memphis.
We are bringing order to parts of the City that remain dangerous. We are
pursuing and finding leaders of the Alabama regime, who will be held to
account for their crimes.
We have begun the search for hidden slush funds and NCAA violations,
and already know of hundreds of witnesses that will be deposed in Memphis
and Tuscaloosa. We are helping to reform the Alabama Administration, where
the regime built museums to the Bear instead of building an honest Program
for the people.
And we will stand with the new leaders of Alabama if they establish a Program
that operates by, and for the NCAA rules. The transition from cesspool to
respectability will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay
together until our work is done. Then we will leave and we will leave behind
an honest Alabama.
Operation Pole Dancer is one victory in a war on cheating that began over half
a century ago when evil operatives left illegal inducements on the porch of Don
Fuell and the war goes on. That terrible morning, the shock troops of a hateful
ideology, gave Auburn and the rules abiding programs a glimpse of the
Bammers ambitions.
They imagined, in the words of one cheater, that the Don Fuell sanctions would
be the "beginning of the end of Auburn." By seeking to turn our city’s high
schools into Alabama farm teams, the regime and their allies believed they
could destroy the Auburn Program’s resolve, and force our retreat from the
world of college football. They have failed. WE PREVAIL!
In Operation Rogue Booster, we destroyed the Memphis Slave Traders where
they operated. We continue to help the Memphis people clean up their high
schools, restore honesty, and educate all of their children. Yet we also have
dangerous work to complete.
And as I speak, a special operations task force, led by the Federal Grand
Jury is on the trail of the Rogue Boosters agents and those who seek to
undermine the NCAA’s rules on recruiting. ITAT and our coalition will finish
what we have begun.
From Tuscaloosa to Pensacola to the High Schools of Memphis, we are hunting
down the regime. Years ago, I pledged that the cheaters not escape the patient
justice of the ITAT Operatives. As of tonight, nearly one-half of the Alabama
regime’s senior operatives have been deposed by the Federal Prosecutor.
The dismissal of Pappy is a crucial advance in the campaign against cheating.
We have removed allies of the regime, and cut off a source of the cheaters
funding. And this much is certain: No coaching staff will gain advantage from
the slush funds, because that Rogue Booster network is no more. ...With those
slush funds, the Alabama Program and their supporters declared war on Auburn
Football and war is what they got.
Our war against Alabama is proceeding according to principles that I have made
clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning NCAA violations or
cheating against the Auburn Football Program becomes an enemy of this Football
Program, and a target of the ITAT members.
Any person, organization, or regime that supports, protects, or harbors cheaters
is complicit in the corruption of the innocent, and equally guilty of Cheating.
Any outlaw coach, fan, or booster who has ties to the Alabama Program, and
seeks to procure athletes for the Alabama Program, is in grave danger from the
ITAT forces, and will be confronted.
And anyone, including the NCAA and the University of Tennesee, who works
and sacrifices to stop the cheaters working with the Alabama Program has a
loyal friend in ITAT.
...The use of ITAT force has been, and remains, our last resort. Yet all can
know, friend and foe alike, that our Program has a mission: We will answer threats
to our Family, and we will defend the Auburn Football Program.
Our mission continues. Alabama is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells
of the cheater network still operate in many locals, and we know from daily
interaction that they continue to plot against Auburn football.
The proliferation of slush funds remains a serious danger. The enemies of Auburn
are not idle, and neither are we. Our membership has taken unprecedented
measures to defend the program and we will continue to hunt down the enemy
before he can strike.
The war on Alabama is not over, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day
of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the Tide. No act of the regime
will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is
lost. The Auburn programs will press on to victory.
Other teams in history have fought cheating programs and sought to exploit the
defeated. ITAT members following a victory, want nothing more than an even
playing field. That is your direction tonight.
After service in the Pensacola theatre you are homeward bound. Some of you will
see new ITAT family members for the first time, 150 TiderInsiders have converted
to ITAT while you were deployed in Pensacola. Your ITAT family IS proud of you.
All of you, all in this generation of our membership have taken up the highest calling
in Auburn Football history. ... And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope,
a message that is ancient, and ever new. Play by the Rules.
Thank you for serving our Football Program. God bless you all, and may God
continue to bless Auburn!
Appendix E
NCAA TIMELINE Of Events.
Oklahoma State
Year: 1989
Violation: Bulk of the widespread violations involved two assistant coaches, an
administrative assistant and at least 14 boosters, one of whom was a former member
of the school's board of regents. One athlete allegedly received $5,000 after signing
with Cowboys and cash payments his first two years with the team. He also was given
an "expensive and distinctive" sports car at no cost, with payments and insurance
allegedly coming from three boosters.
Major penalties: 2-year TV ban, 3-year bowl ban, maximum of 20 new scholarship recruits
for each of three years (down from the usual maximum of 25 recruits).
Severity of sanctions: 4
Notable: Cowboys coming off season in which Barry Sanders won Heisman Trophy as
a junior. NCAA gave receiver Hart Lee Dykes immunity to in exchange for information about violations involving Oklahoma State, Illinois, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
R. Johanningmeier was one of the NCAA investigators.
Memphis
Year: 1989
Violation: Booster allegedly paid one player twice the going rate for summer employment,
resulting in extra benefit of $690. Coach Charlie Bailey was accused of asking booster to
pay excessive rate to player, then instructing the player to lie to NCAA investigators.
Major penalties: 1-year bowl ban, 1-year TV ban, loss of 4 scholarships for one recruiting
year, 1-year ban on off-campus recruiting, campus visits cut to 55 (from maximum 85).
Severity of sanctions: 3
Notable: Memphis avoided "death penalty" as repeat violator. But scandal cost job of Bailey,
who later caught on with UTEP.
Hired Chuck Stobart then in 94 Promoted Rip Scherer from OC to Head Coach.
Clemson
Year: 1990
Violation: On at least two occasions in 1985, a player allegedly received between $50 and $70 with the idea of distributing it to another player. The committee also said that the player allegedly received $50 from a booster in '87, and prospects also were given clothes and impermissible car rides.
Major penalties: None.
Severity of sanctions: 0
Notable: Investigation led to resignation of Danny Ford, who had led Clemson to the national championship in 1981 but was head coach during the era of the violations.
Ford a former BAMA man and Bear Disciple, Considered by many "The ONE" to replace Bear.
R. (Jo)hanningmeier was one of the NCAA investigators.
Year: 1991
Tennessee
Violations: Assistant coach allegedly arranged for an airline ticket on credit for a prospect to attend a special camp. Other accusations included improper off-campus contacts, impermissible transportation and recruitment of prospects before completion of junior year. Assistant coach also cited for allegedly encouraging witness to lie.
Major penalties: Reduction in total number of scholarships for two years to 85 (from
then-maximum of 92 in '92 and 88 in '93).
Severity of sanctions: 1
Notable: Vols, ranked No. 6 in coaches' poll on day sanctions announced, were relieved
that they received no serious penalties. "We have a good future," coach Johnny Majors
said at the time.
This Ultimatly Cost Majors his Job.
1991
Tennessee
In part to accommodate athletes' practice schedules, Linda Bensel-Meyers, head of
composition for the English Department, and Carmen Tegano, head of the academic-services
unit for men's athletics, agree to create a satellite tutoring facility in the athletic department.
The arrangement allows players to take a one-credit English writing lab there under the
supervision of an instructor approved by the English Department.
Tennessee
UT faculty senate passes conflict-of-interest resolution requesting that its members who
serve on boards monitoring the athletic department no longer receive tickets, airfare and
lodging at road games, watches, clothing and other gifts from the athletic department.
1992
Phil Fulmer replaces Johnny Majors as head coach of UT football team.
Jan 1993 ALABAMA WINS 1992 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
BY THIS TIME R. (Jo)hanningmeier and the NCAA are on campus in full force
trying there best to implicate a Pay for Play scheme involving former Tide player
Gene Jelks.
1995
The NCAA finally finds something besides a minor violation and slams BAMA, seems one of the players bought a Insurance policy? wow huh!
"Tennstud" ends longtime association with high-profile Bama booster, Logan Young. The two men ended their firendship after a falling out.
1996:
Alabama UT Football Game moved from 3rd Saturday in October to 4th Saturday in October. Since Then UT has been scheduled an OFF week every year the week before the Rivalry game except in 97.
2-29-96 Trainer Jamie Naughright complained about Manning "mooning" and sexual harassment to Fulmer and his staff.
Aug 96 Naughright complaint filed in court Filed numerous claims of sexual harassment
against UT. She reportedly received a $300,000 settlement from the university in 1997
As part of Settlement she had to turn over 30 tapes that according to the Paul Finebaum Radio Show have proof of the harassment, drug test fixing, paying players, grade fixing, and Fulmer giving one player a list with 5 names of Boosters on it to go to for money.
late 96 Kenny Smith signs with Alabama, not accepted for academic reasons.
1997:
NCAA approves Kenny Smith to go to Univ Tenn, no classes, etc.
Naughtright complaint settled for $300K, paid by Tenn.
Naughtright evidence of wrong doing on Fulmer locked in safety deposit box until June 30, 2005, at which time they are to be destroyed.
8-22-97 Eric Locke commits to Alabama
Dec 97 Ronnie Cottrell hired by Alabama
1998:
Feb 98 Eric Locke is visited on eve of signing by David Cutcliffe, a
violation of ncaa dead period. Cutcliffe also put the Locke’s on
telephone with Gov. Sundquist. Eric signs with Alabama.
1998
Jason Trahan, a tutor working with learning disabled players, is fired
after Wright suspects that Trahan at least co-wrote a paper for a player.
Wright said the player admitted that Trahan "typed" his paper for him at
the player's home, which is another athletic department violation because
tutors are required to do all tutoring in the athletic offices unless given
approval.
Mar 19: In a memo to athletic department tutors, Wright says that it has come to her
attention that "some tutors have been actually helping to write the papers
side-by-side with the student athlete in front of the computer." Among the
tutors she later says she was referring to is Victoria Gray, who works with
learning disabled athletes. She reminds them that such activity constitutes
excessive collaboration and is a rules violation.
Spring: DuBose first beat out McCorvey for the head coaching job at Alabama and
then summarily fired him from his staff after the disastrous 1997
football season. Knowing that McCorvey might be itching for revenge
and finding his intimate knowledge of the Tide football program a useful
fringe benefit, Fulmer hired McCorvey to coach wide receivers.
August:Wright promoted to Coordinator of Academic Programs, which includes
responsibility for most of the athletic department tutors, rather than just those
who help on English papers. Among those she says were not under her direct
supervision: tutors for the learning disabled, who report to Prislovsky, and
longtime tutor Ron Payne, who reports to Tegano, because she says Tegano
refused to let Wright get rid of him.
Aug. 19: Wright writes in an email message that goes to Prislovsky and Gerry Dickey,
her boss, that she discovered a "definite case of excessive collaboration"
involving a sophomore defensive tackle (who has since left Tennessee). Wright,
who has on file athletes' in-person writing samples and compares them to the
papers turned in by athletes, contends that a paper written by the player was "far
too polished" for him to have completed. She says tutor Chris Bumpus, when
confronted by Wright, acknowledged that he "typed" it as the player told him the ideas. She says Bumpus was contrite and was unaware that he had broken department rules.
Sept. 9: Wright sends memo to Dickey expressing her continuing objections to Payne's
"tutoring methods." She writes that since Tegano has made it clear to her that he
is unwilling to stop using Payne, she does not want to be responsible for Payne.
She says other English tutors also object to "Ron's spoon-feeding answers to players" and "his constant interruptions of legitimate tutoring sessions." She writes that she has requested to Tegano that Payne tutor in another building to avoid those interruptions.
Fall: Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey promotes Tegano to Associate Athletic
Director for Student Life, with little change in his duties. He oversees all academic planning, advising, tutoring, career development and other services for male student-athletes.
Oct. 19: Wright sends memo to Tegano about Roderick Moore, a graduate assistant and
former small-college football player responsible for monitoring the study hall. She writes that, without permission, Moore was helping a freshman linebacker and other football players complete their papers. She also writes that an instructor is accusing the linebacker of plagiarism and has already written a letter of misconduct. She writes that Moore also, without permission, hired a tutor for a freshman defensive back in math, and that the tutor, a member of the Tennessee dance team, admitted to her that she had gone to his classes and taken notes -- both a "clear violation of rules." She said that when questioned, Moore tried to physically intimidate her by standing over her in her office and saying, "If they don't get the help they want over here, I'm going to help them with their English papers." In the memo, she laments that "freshman think the tutors should do the work for them." Later, she says, Gerry Dickey tells her Moore has taken over responsibility for the hiring of mentors but that Wright should still handle the paperwork.
Oct. 19: Wright sends note to all tutors in her group reminding them that "no one is
supposed to work on the actual final drafts of papers with the athletes except Writing Center tutors."
Oct. 28: Wright sends email to Prislovsky saying that Gray, who works with learning
disabled athletes in Prislovsky's group, is "getting out of hand" and "essentially doing ALL the work on the papers for these guys. She's out there now doing" a baseball player's "paper while he sits near and looks around and visits. This has got to stop. I have a roomful of tutors out there who are watching her plagiarize that paper and all my talk of academic integrity ain't worth a sh--. She has gotten bolder and bolder till she is essentially taking their classes for them." The note is copied to Gerry Dickey.
Oct. 30: Wright sends another email to Prislovsky about Gray, this time because she believes Gray helped a center on the football team plagiarize a paper that Wright read. "The paper I just saw, in the hands of anyone else, would bring this program down and I've worked too hard to build an amicable relationship with the English dept to let her screw it up," she writes.
Nov David Payne A former Parade All-America football player from Memphis, Tn. says he was offered $25,000 to make allegations of illegal recruiting tactics by the University of Alabama said former Trezevant High School assistant football coach Milton Kirk made the offer and asked him to lie about his recruitment by UA. Paine told The Tuscaloosa News that Milton Kirk first approached him in November 98 with an offer of a car and made the cash offer to him and his mother 2 weeks later. NCAA investigators questioned Paine about Alabama's recruitment of him. Paine has said repeatedly that Alabama used no improper tactics during his recruitment.
Dec. 11: Wright sends email to Gerry Dickey and Tegano saying that two nights earlier she caught Jenai Brown, a mentor with football players, typing a paper for a freshman
receiver in violation of athletic department rules. In the memo, Wright says that the
athlete's instructor just called to say that the paper is "copied from something" and that she will allow him to re-do it.
Dec. 18: Wright writes memo to Tegano saying that, per their discussion, Brown will no longer be working for Student Life in any capacity next semester. Brown, she says, was
dismissed after being observed typing an athlete's English paper in the Student Life area, despite "repeated warnings against helping with English papers." Brown had no written paper to work from, she writes, which constitutes excessive collaboration.
Fall 98 Operation Rogue Booster Put Active according to Autigers.com
1999:
Jan 99 Univ Tenn wins NC. Tee Martin is MVP.
Jan. 4: Tennessee beats Florida State 23-16, completes 13-0 season and wins national
championship.
Jan. 6: Wright writes letter to Fulmer and explains why she has resigned to take a job as
Director of the Academic Assistance and Resource Center at Stephen F. Austin State University. She cites the higher salary in her new job, and says she was frustrated with the "lack of respect" she got in the UT athletic department. She says she was "prevented from developing the top-notch academic program that I am capable of creating here." She places the letter on Fulmer's desk, to ensure delivery.
Oxford, Ms.
Roy McClendon bought a 1999 GMC Yukon Denali what connections the deal had with Senatobia businessman Louie Dickerson are being looked into by a joint NCAA and Ole Miss probe (as of 2003). Louie Dickerson is A member of the Loyalty Foundation, the chief fund-raising arm of the Ole Miss athletic department.
April 26: The Tennessee Faculty Senate executive committee hears faculty complaints that members may not have honored the 1991 resolution requesting that committee members not accept tickets and other perks from the athletic department.
1999: Tom Culpepper sought to take Ronnie's job and had perhaps gained a bit of favor with Marsh & Robbins who thought Cottrell's willingness to skirt the the letter of the NCAA law were detrimental to their own reputations and/or the fortunes of Bama
(likely in that order). When Cottrell learned of what Culpepper had been up to, he reportedly banned him from the football offices. According to several who heard him speak of Cottrell afterwards, an enraged Culpepper swore revenge on Cottrell by any means necessary.
July: With Wright gone, the athletic department's Tutor Guidebook is amended by removing some of the 1996 safeguards that Wright put in place to prevent plagiarism. From now on, any tutor -- not just those trained by the English department -- is allowed to assist players in grammar and use of transitions, and to help the athlete learn to proofread and edit the paper. Unlike Writing Center tutors on the main campus who work with regular students, athletic department tutors are also once again permitted to type
papers for athletes.
Aug. 1: Amid hopes that he will raise new funds for a university hit with budget restrictions, J. Wade Gilley becomes the new president of the University of Tennessee, succeeding Joseph E. Johnson, who retired. In his role as head of a statewide collection of public universities, Gilley has ultimate authority for athletics on the Tennessee campus.
Oct. 1: Tennessee reinstates four players before the Auburn game because, according to
Gilley, the school's preliminary investigation found no Academic wrong-doing by
the players. Although some key witnesses have yet to be interviewed, Gilley also
declares there will be "no NCAA investigation." The NCAA, which does not discuss whether it is investigating a school or plans to, offers no comment.
Feb 99 Wayne Rowe wires money from Diane Sanford, a Univ Tenn supporter
from Mobile, AL to Tee Martin.
Sumr 99 Illegal meeting between Fulmer and Richard Locke
Eric Locke transfer to Univ Tenn. Fulmer told Richard Locke to
tell his son, Eric to go back to Alabama and "keep tightening
the screws on DuBose".
6-9-99 Fulmer recruits Eric Locke illegally through illegal contact in
meeting in Fulmer's office with Richard Locke and Eric's HS
coach.
Oct 99 Dickey flies to Mobile to investigate Tee Martin--does not report
anything to ncaa
10-3-99 Univ Tenn academic problems unfold--Linda Bensel-Myers
Wintr 99 Kenny Smith has plagiarism problems--Fulmer handles problem with
professor
Dec 99 ncaa begins to research claims of Bensel-Myers
2000:
Mar ncaa on UT campus to investigate claims of Bensel-Myers
3-9 Fulmer, 3 coaches (Washington, McCorvey and Caldwell) and
Dir FB Operations meet with (Jo)hanningmeier. Caldwell mention to Jo that Jo should talk to Duke Clement, but he probably would not since SEC treated him badly. So SEC is already investigating even though its policy is not to do investigations.
Mar 00 ncaa looks at Bensel-Myers documents--announce it is no problem,
drops case in Bensel-Myers complaint
5-2-00 Jo goes to talk to Richard Locke about problems at Univ Alabama
May 7: ESPN's Outside the Lines reports that the starters on the football
team were 16 times more likely than non-athletes to receive a grade of incomplete, based on an analysis of the transcripts of the 24 players who started at least three games on offense or defense last season. The nine players in most danger of losing their eligibility -- those with a 2.2 cumulative GPA or less -- are 31 times more likely to get an incomplete which allows a student up to a year of extra time to complete his class-work.
5-7-00 AP runs story saying Tenn investigation by ncaa has new info in Bensel-Myers case. Ron Barker, ncaa investigator will be back on May 23 to follow up.
spring 00 Fulmer meets with TCulpepper after meeting him for the first time at Hula Bowl in Jan 00 and continued to meet and talk during the spring.
5-20 ncaa announces no further investigations coming at UT
5-23 ncaa investigator does not come--says case is closed. Ncaa converses with Fulmer by telephone about being a confidential source against Alabama
5-24-00 Fulmer misleads public by hiding his confidential agreement interview on Finebaum by stating that he sees no problem with Alabama recruiting and would call DuBose if he has a problem as SEC rules require.
7-26-00 Jo meets with Memphis-Trevezant HS Coach Milton Kirk. Aug 00 Coach Kirk and Jo talk again, one of 5 total meetings. Marsh meets with Logan Young for lunch and told him everything is OK and not to worry.
8-7-00 Fulmer meets as a confidential witness with ncaa again and continues to go after Alabama.
8-13 ncaa meets with Culpepper
8-15 Culpepper called Finebaum to set the scheme in motion to fool Finebaum and the media to get Univ Alabama, Coach DuBose, Coach Cottrell and Coach Williams. Jo meets with Milton Kirk.
9-24 Karl Schledwitz gives secret testimony to Jo.
10-27 Karl Schledwitz gives secret testimony to Jo.
Fall: Miss St: The NCAA Aledges (in late 2003) violations, Among the most serious allegations is the offer to pay off the mortgage on the house of a recruit's mother and provide the mother and the recruit with new cars, free medical care for the mother and an undisclosed amount of cash. Ray Griffin, according to the NCAA document, is Sharon Wallace's cousin and relayed the offers to Ben Wallace from MSU assistant coach Glenn Davis. Sharon Wallace twice refused the inducements, according to the NCAA document.
Chris Spencer now plays for Ole Miss.
Nov 2000 Football staff fired at Alabama. Jo meets with coaches with false information obtained from Fulmer and Tenn booster and Culpepper, according to Roy Adams deposition, Rip Scherer shows up at Roy Adams house with Albert Means in the car. Means is still a student at Alabama.
12-4-00 Schledwitz gives testimony to Jo.
2001:
1-10-01 Milton Kirk story breaks in Memphis newspaper
Jan Coach Phillip Fulmer called allegations he arranged a $50,000 line of credit for current Jacksonville Jaguars tackle John Henderson outlandish and threatened to sue. Attorney John Gallion made that charge (nov 2003) on Paul Finebaum's radio show in Alabama.
March 01 Eric Locke dismissed from Univ Tenn
3-11 Seivers (SEC office) came to see Locke--remember the SEC policy is not to do investigations.
3-17 Locke sets up appointment with Fulmer for 3-21-01, a couple of days before Jo shows up unannounced after Fulmer cancels.
May 01 Ronnie Cottrell has last meeting with ncaa
June 01 Logan Young told by Univ Alabama official that they do not have enough information and he would probably only have a monitor in his box.
July 01 Marsh and Robbins give Jo testimony. Marsh has reservations about motives of secret witness.
8-22 Logan Young receives letter terminating his sky box, something "dropped from the sky" in the investigation
Fall Scherer would be a vital link in passing sensationalized and fabricated
allegations about alleged Alabama recruiting violations directly to the
Infractions Committee's head, bypassing the investigative staff and any
chance Alabama officials might have to respond to or refute these
allegations.
Sept 01 Richard Locke goes public
Nov 01 ncaa hearing in Indianapolis
2002:
2-1-02 ncaa sanctions announced
Spring 02 Bensel-Myers allegations pick back up
Apr 02 ncaa takes TWO scholarships from UT over improper recruitment of Eric Locke. Ignores problem with use of booster's automobile.
May 02 Bob Gilbert goes public with Bensel-Myers. Kramer is furious, calls Gilbert. Kramer sends Seivers to meet with Gilbert. SEC finds UT review thorough. SEC policy is that it does not do investigations.
Aug 02 Univ Alabama appeal denied
Dec 02 Coach Cottrell files lawsuit
Dec 19 Mike Price Hired as Head Football Coach
2003:
1-9-03 Univ Tenn cleared on Tee Martin, saying Dianne Sanford (although
admitted funnelling money to Tee Martin) did not go to Univ Tenn
therefore could not be a rouge booster; however, Logan Young
(Vanderbilt Univ graduate), Ray Keller (Florence State grad),
and Wendell Smith (FSU graduate) did not go to Univ Alabama and
deny giving anything of value to players or recruits.
Mar 03 SEC investigates Tee Martin and does nothing. SEC policy is that
they do not do investigations.
Spring Operation Pole Dancer Put Active according to Autigers.com
May 3 Mike Price Fired as Head Footbal Coach
Oct 03 Gallion announces Univ Tenn problems with Rommie Hawkins case.
Oct. 7 The Tennessee offensive got the ammunition it so desperately sought
when Rommie Hawkins, a former Tennessee walk-on, showed up with
his lawyer for a three-hour debriefing in Shanks' office.
"We kept hearing reports about Tennessee being not just dirty but filthy,''
Shanks told SI.com after the meeting. "We never could prove it till Tuesday
night.''
Sports agent Tim McGee, a former star receiver at Tennessee, once
employed Hawkins, Shanks said. During the meeting with Hawkins, Shanks
said, he also saw bank records detailing payments made by CSM, McGee's
Ohio-based firm, to former UT players Henderson, Travis Henry and Fred
Weary.
According to the most damning allegation, Fulmer sat in on a meeting in early
2001 in which plans were discussed to get a $50,000 line of credit for
Henderson. It was expected at the time that Henderson, fresh from winning the
Outland Trophy, would enter the NFL Draft, but instead he returned for his senior
year before being drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
OCT: Coach Phillip Fulmer called allegations he arranged a $50,000 line
of credit for current Jacksonville Jaguars tackle John Henderson
outlandish and threatened to sue. Attorney John Gallion made that
charge on Paul Finebaum's radio show in Alabama. No suit has been
filed as of Feb 2004. Why the Silence?
Nov03 Logan Young indicted
Jan 04 Document shows Coach Fulmer and Univ Tenn booster Karl Schledwitz
as confidence source ("secret witness").
What a twisted web it seems to be, Was there people in the SEC that wanted it to go the way of the old South West Athletic Conference. There to this day is only hear say testimony against Alabama by people that had A LOT to gain by Lying. After close to 4 years, the NCAA, Memphis DA, and the FBI have still not found ONE document to support the HEAR SAY allegations.
Was it a Coincidence that the ACC office delayed The ACC expansion and their conference championship game until Late 2003 to set it up? Does Logan Young’s Late 2003 success in his Court Battle’s in Memphis have anything to do with this?
The Similarities between the Alabama Case and the Case against Oklahoma State in 1989 Are eerie similar. Is it coincidence that R Johan worked for the NCAA on both cases?