Clearly Cam Newton received money, tests etc. Reggie Bush did too. So have hundreds of other players who just happen to have agents, coaches, ex coaches etc who are keeping their mouths shut. I'm not sure how much longer the NCAA is going to be able to treat this like steroids in baseball before they start making some sweeping overhaul to recruitment policies and what it means to be a scholarshiped student athlete at these schools.

Do we start to pay players? How would that affect boosters/schools from giving kick backs etc? Should the NCAA start giving more death penalties in hopes of deterring future behavior? Should the NCAA relax its rules on recruiting which are clearly being broken daily and say let the best program win? What say you...

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Team Cutler.

The NFL should just start some Minor League or Developmental type system. The college system is completely corrupt and broken. Screw the NCAA.

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After listening to my fair share of the Paul Finebaum radio show (Birmingham college radio show on XM Radio now) and watching the program since Bo was rackin' up yards, I think I can safely say this is a slimey program. All these allegations against Cam Newton reflect there lack of focus on character. They are more focused on beating the Crimson Tide than creating a program that focuses on graduating student athletes with character. The SEC is a wretched hive of scum and villainy... and Auburn is one of the worst violators in that conference.

Recently I stumbled across this which I think helps put their history is some context. "Auburn was the first school in the SEC to go on probation for football. They enjoy the rare distinction of being put on probation twice in a single year, which no team in NCAA history besides Auburn has ever experienced. They are second in the nation in football probations with five. They have been put on probation a total of 13 years since January 1957, or "30%" of the time for the last 44 years. From 1957 to 1995, Auburn was on probation 33% of the time. That's a year of probation out of every three for nearly forty years! Auburn's six probations in that span work out to an average of a probation every six years or so, with an average length of over two years. From 1951 to 1998 -- NEARLY 50 YEARS -- Auburn didn't have a single head football coach who didn't operate under probation at some point."

I'll take our 6-3 record knowing that our program is much more focused on doing things the right way. I'm proud of our Cats and the program that Fitz has built. Yeah, I drink the cool aid, and I do believe that we do things a bit differently in Evanston. Excuse me while I Windex my glass house.

As a casual NU fan, I think the same thing. But to think that NU hasn't or won't participate in some shady dealings is setting yourself up for a fall. Also, I think NU tends to be the exception to the norm across the NCAA landscape. Football is such a cash cow for these schools that there are crazy incentives to do whatever necessary to get star player X on the field. The schools that have been caught and punished hasn't even made a dent in the desire for most programs to do whatever necessary to win.

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Team Cutler.

That's kinda why I made the glass houses comment. I know NU football ain't perfect. I'm not that naive to think that everything is all unicorns and rainbows with the program. But I'm close enough to the program to know that offering kids money is just not the MO of the program. Fitz doesn't make excuses for their tight academic standards... kind of refreshing to see that. And he's scared enough(maybe he's just too young) to not try to get near the gray areas of recruiting. I think, to some extent, the lack of pressure (or low expectations) help NU avoid many of these problems that go on in the SEC.

Cam Newton apparently about to be suspended by the NCAA...

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Team Cutler.

The NCAA Storm sounds like a WNBA team

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Wowzer.

(sung to the tune of "The Candyman")
Who can take a thread...
About one topic...
Switch it around...


BTW...that XM Alabama station, just listening now, in a five minute span has said that Newton is being "assassinated", it's a "witch hunt", "the destruction of a young athlete who has learned from his mistakes", etc. Jack Arute is pissed at the media.

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You know me like that.

source?

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The guy is backing off the story now. Just listening to 670. Blogger misquoted/represented a story. Nothing to see here

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Team Cutler.

I don't think you can pay the players. I believe that the players do get a small living allowance as part of the scholarship. It's designed to offset the fact that they can't work in college. I may be wrong about it though. I could see them increasing that number. However, paying them like NFL players, where they get contracts, would actually be much more damaging. You'd have even more agents around. You'd have holdouts. You'd still have under the table dealings unless you don't limit the amount that can be paid and that would be crazy. You'd be giving a lot of money to 18 year old kids and you'd have agents at the age of 16 paying players for future cuts of the "negotiations".

The NCAA needs to be more active for investigations and when something like the Cam Newton situation comes up you offer the school two options:
1) Suspend the player pending the results of the investigation.
2) Tell them that if the allegations end up being true that they will be banned from bowl games for the next year or years and forfeit all NCAA money.

If a school is willing to risk it let them but be much harder on them if they are discovered. When Auburn misses playing in bowl games for the next 3 years because they stood by a player they knew did it they'll quickly start to comply.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I want to say that players on a full ride can still take out loans to pay for school and just use the loan money as spending money or the opposite.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Touche!
I see what you did there

A couple things, add paying college players to a Division 1 college football playoff as things that are never going to happen.

I just wonder if Auburn wasn't undefeated and Cam Newton wasn't the heisman favorite, if any of these things would come out.

What I thought would happen before some reports came out that he may be suspended this week, is that he would finish the regular season and get suspended for the bowl game, if he gets suspended before Saturday, the TCU people would be the happiest, I know Georgia is playing well, but Auburn could get past Georgia without Cam, but not Bama. To add to the suspension rumors, this could be small, but the gambling line is off the Georgia-Auburn game.

I would imagine Cam plays this week, because last week Cam's father gave the NCAA financial records, and since Auburn is off for the next weekend and play Friday after Thanksgiving, that I could see Cam not playing if they find another account that has Auburn money in it.

My guess is no.

Rumors are going around that Auburn is going to hold Cam Newton out of the game this weekend.

I was listening to a sports radio show on Tuesday where one of the experts claimed then that it was "50/50" that Cam Newton would play that weekend. I don't remember who it was though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Does it really matter though? If they find him to be ineligible wouldn't it be retroactive to the beginning of the season. If they already have to forfeit 7,8 or however many games they have played thus far what does having 4 you don't have to forfeit do for them? Lesser punishment in the end by showing some self punishment I guess?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Yeah, isn't the issue that Auburn paid him $200k which is why he was asking for $180k from Miss. St.?

So, if he's guilty, then Auburn is guilty regardless of any self-policing they might do. They're screwed anyway so they might as well play him.

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You know me like that.

I could see the NCAA being harder on them if they knew that the accusations were true and yet didn't do anything even when there is clear evidence out there it is true. It's somewhat similar to when IU jettisoned Kelvin Sampson midseason when there was evidence.

Auburn has to be concerned about an SMU style death penalty punishment given the new NCAA policy of actually caring about stuff like this.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Aren't they also coming off a sever penalty 10 or so years ago? I thought I remember them having an undefeated season yet having a post season ban.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

It looks like Auburn runs into major problems about every 10 years for the last 50 years.

A case could be easily made about being a "repeat violator".

This article is really interesting considering it's not about the current stuff at all. http://www.dawgsports.com/2006/7/16/1376/16504

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

So playing the part of Bruce Pearl here....Mississippi State?

Sounds to me like it would be Dan Mullen, who, if I'm not mistaken, would have been one of the coaches to recruit Martin to Florida.

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One thing that should be fixed by the NCAA is the 4 Year ride! If a kid gets a Scholarship, it should be for 4 years. Not 4 1 year deals as it currently is! If a team needs to cut a kid, thats fine, but he still keeps his ride and housing. This is one of the worst rules they have.

There isn't a player not getting cash on the side. When the stipends come out for meal money in an envelope, maybe the NCAA rule is $24 a day per kid, an extra hundo finds its way into the envelope. Happens EVERYWHERE.....Yes, Even Northwestern, where it is called Pencil Money.

I have had this conversation with numerous ex players at schools such as Northwestern, Illinois, Arizona and DePaul. Most of these guys are average players at best. Not one of them wanted to talk about it, but each one admitted to it.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

With the key difference that it looks like Newton is, you know, guilty. Thomas was exonerated, ruled eligible, and the NCAA said that Pearl was not credible.

Maybe, but the NCAA usually doesn't slap that label unless a team has a long string of violations in quick succession, or if they are already on probation.

Think of the SMU situation, of which this would be somewhat similar (though less severe; SMU had recruiting payouts and regularly scheduled payments to players on the roster). SMU was hit with probation four times inside of the decade before they were finally nailed with the death penalty. The NCAA went from probation; to probation and bowl ban; to probation, bowl ban, and mega scholarship reductions; to death penalty. You need to really ask for it to get labeled repeat offender. And while the NCAA has ramped up the enforcement regime over the past year or so, the same was true of the mid-1980s.

My guess is that they know they are screwed, the NCAA has already informed them they are screwed, and has also told them that further playing him will result in more severe sanctions. Auburn might potentially be in the clear going forward -- the violation is that Newton is ineligible because of his father, not that Auburn has done anything wrong necessarily. But if Auburn thumbs their nose at the NCAA, then they might be on the hook for more than the forfeits earlier in the year. That's my best guess, anyway.

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Fire Phil Emery

I agree with you but most schools outside of the SEC will actually do this. It's not guaranteed, mostly because of needing to keep the option open in case of behavioral issues, but very few schools can afford to treat a kid like that without getting a reputation and hurting recruiting. It's going to be hard to convince a parent you will take care of the kid if you get rid of players you no longer find useful.
A lot of the stuff comes from anonymous untraceable care packages. It's not huge but it helps.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Just envelopes left in lockers, no real undercover missions and 100$ handshakes

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

This is going to excite Lipid.

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Does that mean that it would be coming from inside the program? If I'm an AD or coach that sounds like a really bad idea. I'm not necessarily talking about any specific school but I've heard that the best way is to have some "Good Samaritans" who know how to send stuff anonymously through the mail with no help from the athletic department.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!