Last Friday Mark McCarter of the HUNTSVILLE TIMES reported University of Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore addressed the “current controversy” involving Alabama football players and T-Town Menswear in Tuscaloosa.
Of the business, which operates three miles from the University of Alabama campus, Moore said:
“The university has responded to this maybe six months ago. Meeting with the store owner (Tom Al-Betar), his attorney, our players, everybody that we could find that was involved. Our compliance people, Mike Ward, his people, have done an outstanding job with this. It was responded to properly.”
As noted here yesterday, NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1 states:
“After becoming a student-athlete, an individual shall not be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics if the individual accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind.” (Page 74.)
In a camera-timestamped January 29, 2010, photo of Alabama football player gloves posted to his Facebook account, T-Town Menswear owner Al-Betar wrote in a caption under his photo of the gloves: “mark ingram glovs you like to see come to t-town it is on desplay.”
In a photo taken inside T-Town Menswear, Al-Betar and Ingram could also be seen holding a framed Alabama football memorabilia display piece that included Crimson Tide football player gloves similar to the gloves in the Jan. 29, 2010, Al-Betar camera-timestamped photo.
In a September 15, 2010, photo seen on Al-Betar’s now-deleted Facebook account, the T-Town Menswear owner could be seen standing next to a prominent store display labeled with large text that read, “The Mark Ingram ‘Heisman’ Suit.“
Ingram could be seen in the same suit inside T-Town Menswear in one of Al-Betar’s Facebook photos, while another Al-Betar formerly online picture showed an Ingram-autographed helmet and jersey in a storefront display in a camera-timestamped October 19, 2010 photo.
Additional photos from Al-Betar’s defunct Facebook account placed Ingram at T-Town Menswear on June 25, 2010 - along with former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy.
An Al-Betar photo of another T-Town Menswear storefront display dated May 26, 2010, contained a large image of Ingram as part of an Alabama football collectible print. A photo dated September 15, 2010 by Al-Betar’s Facebook account showed additional, high profile displays throughout the store that included Ingram.
Ingram could also been seen inside the store taking a picture with a Tuscaloosa Police Officer in a Facebook-dated October 26, 2010, photo inside T-Town Menswear. Caught in the shot of Ingram and the police officer by Al-Betar was a large action photo of Ingram seen above the two men on display next to the store’s checkout counter.
9:16 pm on August 1st, 2011
Brooks, Brooks, Brooks, there are so many holes in your and Clay’s reporting of this story. You guys better have more information that we don’t know about, because what you have so far probably would not even warrant an NCAA investigator coming to check out the story. You’ve got a bunch of photos which are really really redundant. I think you and Clay scour the same Facebook accounts, blogs, and message boards, and then share with each other.
1.) NOTHING shows/proves the players received any kind of compensation.
2.) It is impossible to definitively prove that players CONSCIOUSLY “permitted” Albetar to use their signatures to advertise for the store, nor can it be proven that they “recommended” the store for advertising purposes. How do you even prove that? Do you ask the players if they knew, and then when they say no, you cry “liar!”? How can that even be proven?
3.) Mark HAD TO GO SOMEWHERE to get his suit. What if he had went to another store and someone saw him and started calling friends and before you know it, many people have arrived just to see Mark Ingram. By default, hi buying something from that store would have brought attention to the store and technically, advertising. Has he committed a violation? No.
This is a joke of investigative journalism. You and Clay both throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, and then hope it sticks. Y’all haven’t come out with anything new since the story broke. Literally zero rules have been broken by simply visiting a store frequently and taking pictures with the owner. Zero.
9:36 pm on August 1st, 2011
oh drew….completely missing the point of the by-law. These player gave up their amateur status by allowing this guy to use them as advertising tools. Whether they got benefits or not is irrelevant. Although, one must wonder why out of the kindness off their hearts…these players would do these things.
9:51 pm on August 1st, 2011
Well, the bigger story might be (and always has been) is what is that parked behind Mark Ingram in the alleyway where he is holding the framed print? Sure looks like a shiny black Yukon Denali with some pretty blinged up high dollar rims. So, bammer nuts, explain to me how Mark Ingram could afford to drive a $60,000 dollar premium luxury SUV with probably $10,000 worth of custom rims on it while he was still in college? All you hypocrites like to scream $cam Newton and all your BS, and yet Cam JUST RECENTLY bought his first car (a Yukon Denali) AFTER he signed a $1 million dollar Under Armor Contract and a $22 million dollar NFL contract. However, while he was at Auburn (and received the now famous $200,000 according to your “sources” such as Danny-Boy Sheridan) Cam Newton rode around on a SCOOTER! Boy, he was really living the high life wasn’t he?
Brooks, I REALLY wish you would dig into the extremely expensive rides that the Tide players drive around in. A good place to start would be Trent Richardson, since he immediately backed away from allowing a police report to be filed when someone else banged up his ride during a hit-and-run. Now, doesn’t that just seem a WEE BIT SUSPICIOUS?
UAT football fans, pot calling the kettle black since the 1960s!
9:52 pm on August 1st, 2011
isnt it amazing how SBB was so credible according to bammers when he was reporting on cam and now he has lost his credibility? stupid cousin grinders.
9:55 pm on August 1st, 2011
Ineligible. Now and forever.
9:56 pm on August 1st, 2011
You will stop with your antics. There is nothing wrong with ALABAMA PLAYERS recieving gifts for their signatures and celebrity status in Tuscaloosa. Albetar profited more from having a mini Bryant Musuem than any BAMA player just getting a few suits. WE ARE ALABAMA AND WE WILL MAKE SURE THE NCAA WILL NEVER STOP OUR PROGRAM. I WILL TAKE TRENT RICHARDSON ON A LITTLE BOAT TRIP AND ALL OF THIS WILL DISAPPEAR. ROLL TIDE ROLL (BAMA BOOSTER)
9:56 pm on August 1st, 2011
Hmmmmmm. I would guess that MI standing infront of displays that contain his photos and auto would be tantamount of his knowledge.
9:58 pm on August 1st, 2011
Only a month after being hired, Auburn started getting commits like Tyric Rollison, Demond Washington, and other highly sought after players, even though AU was coming off a losing year, Chizik had a 5-19 record as a coach and none were from an adjoining state or had previously followed Auburn. It is tough for ANY school to get players to come from far away. Particularly to a school like AU with no great academic traditions or history for greatness in any particular area (other than fielding a professional football team and giving out free grades to jocks). Not even Football. Uh HUH! Cash invovled.
Then, this was confirmed that same summer, when the top 3 RBs in the entire country put Auburn at the top of their list,their favorite. None were from Alabama, none were even from Florida, Tenn, Miss nor Georgia. Not one of the three was from nearby. Then all summer and fall they flew back and forth from places like Arkansas, Texas, and South Carolina. Where did they get the cash to do that every week? What HS kid can afford to do that?
Finally, the next recruiting season, with AU having only an 8-5 year, with Alabama as National Champions, AU outrecruited UA. They continued to get recruits from places where it is usually difficult for the established, great, schools like Notre Dame, OSU, UA, OU and Texas to recruit - that is, in non-adjoining states.
So AU outrecruited the National Champions with kids actually willing to go to school a long way from home to play for a so so program with a so-so record, and a for coach with a losing record. What does that tell you? Players like Cam Newton switching instantaneously from his favorite to a school he just heard of a week before.
A school already known as the Notre Dame of Cheating leading the SEC with 7 major probations and one short of the national record. Now with the revelations coming out of Miss State, we know that they are indeed paying players. We know that he cost more than a scholarship. We know he went to Auburn. His dad admitted to shopping him. Has the NCAA gone nuts. AU belongs in the NFL not college football.
9:59 pm on August 1st, 2011
So many Holes in the reporting when it’s Alabama, but brooks’ articles are gospel when it’s about Auburn, OSu, etc. You Bama fans ate hilarious…..
tick tock.
10:03 pm on August 1st, 2011
OK! OK! OK! Now! You Got Us!!! Move On!!!;)
10:11 pm on August 1st, 2011
Row Dam Tahd. My eight grayd education done telled me this aint nothin to worr bout. Shet my break over.bak to the factree.
10:12 pm on August 1st, 2011
Poor Matt…
10:16 pm on August 1st, 2011
Back from mah brake. hey matt keep up the good work copyin an pastin’ ever dah. row dam tahd. got 17?
10:16 pm on August 1st, 2011
I am jealous of you udder roll tahders. i betchu got two go to collj over yonder in bham where the baear croached.
most educateed poples no that alabama fans is mostly attended the colog there in bham at legend field.
got 24?
10:17 pm on August 1st, 2011
AU scholastics are Dr Petee’s directed readings sociology. their FB program is SEVEN league leading probations. Nuff said.
10:19 pm on August 1st, 2011
Wow, Mark Ingram was ineligible for the entire 2011 season. I can’t believe they were so stupid to let this happen. So, Alabama will end up 0-13 instead of 10-3. Well, at least they won’t have to forfeit a win to Auburn.
10:20 pm on August 1st, 2011
Well you guys can play dumb all you want but AU never had a number one class in their entire history, and all of a sudden they get one at a time you’d expect them to have a hard time getting a top 25 class. Chizik was 13 - 24, AU was coming off an 8-5 year, and was competing with the National Champions in their own state.
Now, from the wealth of exposes coming out about Auburn, we know why! And I think the NCAA cannot fail to believe the worst after reviewing what AU has been getting away with for 20 years.
Hint: go to the OSU website and take a look at the class they had before Trooper and Luper left. Click on each recruit to see who recruited them and you’ll see they were NOT great recruiters before coming to Auburn. (not that it was a great class no matter who was responsible.).
10:22 pm on August 1st, 2011
Ex-Auburn players say they received thousands in payments
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-03-29/ex-auburn-players-say-they-received-thousands-in-payments#ixzz1I3rEmrQJ
10:22 pm on August 1st, 2011
When this is all said and done, Alabama will have had to vacate 31 wins since 2005 between the text book scandal and suitgate.
10:24 pm on August 1st, 2011
Mullen’s comment to the B’ham MMQbC before Camgate broke
Scroll down to Newton’s Mississippi State recruitment I think this is VERY important.
Mullen is the head coach and not an assistant. He was willing to put himself on the record (for no particular reason) to the Monday before Camgate broke on Nov 4. This tends to substantiate the fact that Cam was forced by his father to go to Auburn. I have wondered from the beginning if it wasn’t Mullen himself to whom Cam said:”The Money was just too much!”
If true that is, by far, the single most important piece of allegation in the whole affair. It proves Auburn did pay. It proves Cam knew, and it also suggests that UA and Jody Wright had nothing to do with this mess.
The NCAA would certainly have to take serious an allegation by one of the SEC’s head coach. Would he actually RUIN a player’s reputation by making up something like this?
10:25 pm on August 1st, 2011
Way to copy and paste Matt!
AU has no tradition. Wrong. Since the drunk horse raper died AU has dominated bammie in almost all statistical categories. Has one of the greatest Heisman traditions of any school in the country. Has put countless players in the league.
Let me ask you Matt. How did little nick recruit so well after being a failure in the NFL and bammie coming off of a horrible year?
All this coming from fan base who’s school was PROVEN to pay 200,000 dollars for a dlineman.
10:31 pm on August 1st, 2011
Move on Brookie Boy, the NCAA does not want any of Bama, we have people in place who will sue their ass off.
The NCAA does not have the money to take on Bama.
When you say football you think of Bama, 13 National Championships.
We are the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA we can pretty much do as we please, so suck it.
10:34 pm on August 1st, 2011
AU = 4 undefeated seasons, 4 scandals. Four for paying players. One also for giving out free grades?
10:35 pm on August 1st, 2011
Goo job Brooks!
10:38 pm on August 1st, 2011
So what is so bad about paying players. Do you think we’d be able to get 5 star players from Arkansas to come to Auburn any other way? There are many other mediocre schools like AU a lot closer to Arkansas than Lee County
10:39 pm on August 1st, 2011
boomersooner, you ought to come to AU for a spell. Find out what is like to make love to a goat. Our Stadium seats over 80,000 people.
10:48 pm on August 1st, 2011
its just nice to see someone besides AU is crooked for a change
10:51 pm on August 1st, 2011
I keep hearing rumors that the NCAA will make AU desegregate
10:57 pm on August 1st, 2011
good grief sbb, this the fricking MOTHERLODE.
where on earth are these pics COMING FROM?!
10:59 pm on August 1st, 2011
Auburn AUthouse
Is it not concievable that “the money was just too much” was said as “the money “thing” was just too much”. these kids don’t speak the written words reads.
Even if the words that came out of his mouth was “the money was just too much” It could be not spoken the way it is written. It’s all in how it was said. And waht the before sentence is.
I guess what I am saying is Cam might have be saying At Miss St. the money was just too much. Like maybe Cecil had seconds thoughts after he was roped into a deal by Kenny Rogers. Thought better of it in the end and got out. We can’t go to Miss St. because the money was too much
11:18 pm on August 1st, 2011
@OTTO Von Douchcanoe
Come on at least get your facts right. Trooper was recognized as a top-25 national recruiter on two different occasions before coming to AU.
11:28 pm on August 1st, 2011
boomersooner
Thanks, I had Never to Yield photoshop them for me.
11:30 pm on August 1st, 2011
Anonymous
so you are saying CAM DID KNOW?
11:39 pm on August 1st, 2011
How do I gets one of those fancie MI Heisman suits? I gots an important function coming soon and needs to look real nice. TIA
11:49 pm on August 1st, 2011
@brtide
You are a tool. We gonna sue the NCAA. Thats not gonna work bra. Period. Sue them all you want because that will get you no where. Because you Bama gets you no where. Bama has been on probation, lost wins, had scholorships taken away in the last decade you tard. Did they sue then?
FACT: A Player doesn’t have to receive anything, NO MONEY, Free gifts for it to be against the rules. A player can NOT EVER be used in a advertisement PERIOD. If they were, and the pics are very incriminating, BAMA is screwed.
11:58 pm on August 1st, 2011
The rule they didn’t know anything should work.
12:04 am on August 2nd, 2011
Auburn = 4 undefeated seasons, 4 scandals. Four for paying players. One also for giving out free grades?
12:31 am on August 2nd, 2011
Watching you hillbillies eat your own is so enjoyable.
12:32 am on August 2nd, 2011
Clay Travis thinks black people can’t afford nice things
T oday the ever controversial smear blogger Clay Travis appeared on Birmingham’s WJOX pimping his new website, and his words were perhaps very telling of his agenda regarding his latest story.
Travis had reported on the Cam Newton investigation on his site’s first day, but launched into a speculation piece the following day after being “tipped off” by angry Auburn fans.
Let’s get this on the table. We have evidence that the NCAA is investigating Auburn. We know Cam’s dad shopped him because Auburn admitted it. We KNOW AU paid players because FOUR DIFFERENT AU players went on HBO’s Real Sports and admitted it. And that’s only the beginning.
And we know that Auburn’s woes do not originate from Alabama. They originate from the NCAA.
But, we have nothing but B.S. from Clay Travis, a life-long Tennessee fan. And why are these stories positioned next to one another again?
Listen to the interview yourself here, but some interesting nuggets expose Travis for what he is:
Clay Travis on where the source for his information has come from:
“I didn’t know anything about the Alabama stuff till we came back from the (website) launch party out at Sweet Bones, and uh my email just got flooded all of the sudden with tips. And that’s where most of this stuff has come from. I’m not gonna lie. It’s been generated tips from readers.”
Readers? You mean Auburn fans, right Clay?
Clay Travis on why he launched a website:
“I think this is just emblematic of what is going to become more and more of an issue. And it’s one reason I got into the website business with my own site.”
So you simply want to capitalize on the speculative nature of online blogging rumors, eh Clay? Rumors and issues that UA Compliance put to bed months ago? Wouldn’t that make you a media whore? Paul Finebaum is a professional. You are a media whore.
Clay Travis on the verifiability of the pictures in question that he links strong suggestion to UA wrongdoing:
“If it was just completely outlandish accusations that would be another thing. But these photos, I mean people can judge for themselves.”
Really Clay? People can? Guess it matters what colors they wear on Saturday, huh….
A telling point of the interview comes at the 5:32 mark:
WJOX’s Ryan Brown: Do you feel like you gave Alabama a legitimate amount of time to respond to that story? If I understand right, I know you just mentioned you just basically were following tips you got late at night. The story was up the next morning. And I know you tried to contact Alabama in the early hours of the morning. Did they have ample time to respond to that?
Travis: “Umm, well I mean that’s, uh, you know, that’s not necessarily for me to decide. Ummm…”
Brown: “How do you go through that thought process? Like, ‘Alright, I’ve called them at 2:30 in the morning. You know, how long do you wait.”
Travis: “Well, I waited 24-hours for the second story.” (Not the first where the speculative hearsay was vomited all over his site).
“I contacted Alabama and gave them 24-hours to, uh, to respond about, and I still haven’t gotten a response, by the way, about exactly how this character at T-Town Menswear would be classified. I-I think there’s a good case that he’s a booster based on NCAA definitions, based on his access to the program and everything else, which will make it harder for Alabama to argue they couldn’t have had an idea what was going on. I mean the guy had sideline passes, he’s photographed with Terry Saban on the sidelines. All these things…”
I have a photo of me and Terry Saban too, Clay. Guess that implicates me along with thousands of other fans. We’ll be watching our mailboxes for cease and desist letters.
And by the way Clay, with your track record for not exactly being married to the truth, why should anybody care what you “think” is a good case…about anything?
Oh and by the way, ESPN’s Joe Schad got a response from the University within 30 minutes of inquiry. Guess journalists have better luck in that department.
Clay Travis on the story gaining momentum:
“And I know for a fact that there are multiple people, multiple organizations digging on this story who may well advance it beyond where I’ve advanced it to this point.”
Gee, wonder if we should watch Phillip Marshall and Jeffrey Lee in the coming days.
And then later, Travis reiterated…
“This is just happenstance. Like I said, I didn’t know anything about this Alabama situation until I started getting tipped off on the early hours of Friday morning when I got back from our uh, our launch party. So the Auburn stuff I had worked for a couple of weeks, the Alabama stuff it just exploded all of the sudden.”
So Clay worked an actual story for two weeks on an official ongoing NCAA investigation into recruiting improprieties at Auburn, with verifiable sources, making it the headliner for his new website…
…but took fan mail from what we can only assume was Auburn fans in the wee hours of the morning the following day and attempted to juxtapose and compare a speculative situation….one with an official response and conclusion from the University some seven months earlier…with the Auburn NCAA investigation.
Can we just conclude that Clay Travis is a slander-filled whore?
Oh, and then there’s this tidbit from Clay from the interview:
“I’m a member of Volsquest.com for six years.”
Then, the kicker that some think painted Clay Travis as an agenda-filled racist:
WJOX’s Ryan Brown: “I think you’re making a suggestion that Julio Jones got free suits.”
Clay Travis: “I don’t know that he got ‘em free.”
WJOX’s Ryan Brown: “I think that’s the suggestion you make by putting that story out in conjunction with the other (Cam Newton) suit story.”
Clay Travis: “Well I think that’s a suggestion that many people can, can work through.”
WJOX’s Ryan Brown: “Well they can, but is it true?
Clay Travis: “I don’t know if it’s true or not….How many people have ten suits. That don’t have jobs and are college kids.”
WJOX’s Ryan Brown: “But do you know Julio can’t afford ten suits? Do you know those are all his? Do you know if two or three guys have the same (size) suits and they trade them around on game day?”
Clay Travis: “I know he’s pictured trying on at least one of the suits on the site.”
A person of color can easily interpret that exchange as extremely offensive, citing a clear racial overtone in Travis’ words. I know a few of my African-American friends did (as did I).
Ryan Brown’s questioning came as a result of another piece Clay featured on his site questioning why Julio Jones was seen on game day in a number of different suits.
Clay had an opportunity to clear the air, but instead chose to continue to suggest that the family of a black college athlete…whose family has incurred zero expenses most families face when their child goes to college…couldn’t afford to clothe their son.
Where’s your hood, Clay? What part of Tennessee do you live in again?
Clay, do you know how easy it is to get a credit card? College students have long been a target of credit card companies, and not all suits have a $4,000 price tag, as alleged in the Cam Newton scandal (one of them).
I can go to Joseph A. Bank today and come home with ten suits for under $2,000. If I’m a huge target in the NFL draft, what’s $2,000 on my card…if I can’t afford them outright. When I was in college I didn’t have a need for one suit. But then I wasn’t required to travel every weekend in the fall wearing a suit either.
But the bigger story to the “story” is, why did Clay Travis, a self-proclaimed Tennessee fan, post speculative, unverified information on his site without giving UA a real chance to comment? What was his agenda?
Simple. He was not going to let facts get in the way of a good smear. Lots of compliance officials are in their office at 2:30am, right?
Clay Travis is simply a media whore trying to pimp his cheap website. And since radio stations in Alabama are apparently not going to take action, as evidenced by handing him their airwaves to spew speculative slander and malice in the direction of our institution, perhaps the University of Alabama should take action.
12:36 am on August 2nd, 2011
NCAA Investigation of Auburn Continues
Published on: July 20, 2011 | Written by: Clay Travis
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Outkickthecoverage.com has learned that the NCAA’s continuing probe of Auburn University’s football program led NCAA investigators to Montgomery, Alabama in the last week of June. NCAA investigator Jackie Thurnes checked in to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery and conducted interviews in conference rooms there. Thurnes investigation dealt with continuing issues surrounding the eligibilty of Cam Newton and other Auburn players implicated in pay-for-play scandals. This revelation comes on the heels of the recent New York Times report that at the SEC’s spring meetings in SanDestin, Florida, Auburn coach Gene Chizik confronted an NCAA investigator and demanded to know whether the NCAA’s investigation was complete. The NCAA representative told Chizk the investigation was not complete, but until now no media entity had provided details about the ongoing probe for months.
As part of the latest round of investigation in Montgomery, Thurnes conducted interviews with Montgomery businessmen with relationships to Auburn University. Reached for comment by outkickthecoverage.com multiple individuals who spoke with Thurnes declined comment. Those interviews dealt with the NCAA’s continuing probe of Cam Newton, but also focused on allegations levied on HBO’s Real Sports by former Auburn player Stanley McClover. McClover told HBO that he’d been paid to play football for Auburn. The NCAA investigating McClover’s claims is interesting because typically the NCAA statute of limitations on collegiate wrongdoing is four years. McClover last played at Auburn in January of 2006, but the NCAA reserves the right to expand the statute of limitations if there is a connection or pattern of wrongdoing.
The NCAA investigation has now stretched into its tenth month, leaving Auburn and SEC officials chastened. In SanDestin at the SEC spring meetings, Florida SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told me that there was no doubt the NCAA’s timeframe often conflicted with the immediacy of media coverage. That dichotomy, between media coverage of allegations and tangible proof of wrongdoing, leaves programs dwelling in a perpetual cloud of impropriety. Often that cloud can impact recruiting, a point that was driven home to me by Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley in SanDestin. Indeed, it was Dooley’s questioning of the NCAA investigator in SanDestin that led to Chizik’s insistence on whether the NCAA had completed its investigation.
The NCAA’s ten-month investigation is further complicated by the continuing fount of allegations, many untrue, levied by Alabama fans in the state. These allegations have thrust ordinary citizens into the forefront of the rumor machine. One such individual, Thomas Buckelew, a tailor at Buckelew’s Clothing for Men in Montgomery, Alabama, finds himself buffeted by allegations that he provided high-priced suits to Cam Newton at reduced costs. The very suits, you guessed it, that Newton wore at the Heisman ceremony. According to sources, Newton’s suits, ties included, cost in excess of $4,000 each. NCAA investigator Jackie Thurnes was informed of this allegation, and the NCAA has spent time investigating its validity.
Since providing the suits at a reduced rate, if proven, would constitute an improper benefit and hence an NCAA violation, the NCAA has to take each allegation seriously. Indeed, last week Georgia Tech’s 2009 ACC title was stripped for a mere $312 in improper clothing benefits. In a state as football crazed as Alabama, with fans as passionate as Alabama and Auburn, how in the world do you determine what allegations have any merit and which do not? Particulary since we’re talking about a state where, in the wake of the poisioning of the Toomer’s Trees, truth is often stranger than any fiction.
What, if any, truth there is to the reported discount remains unclear. Two weeks ago when reached for comment by outkickthecoverage.com, Bucklew acknowledged the he knew Cam and had worked with him but then stated, “I’d rather not get into any of it, but I have not talked to anyone with the NCAA about Cam (Newton).”
Reached again on Monday morning Bucklew reiterated that he had not spoken with the NCAA, but stated, “Any issues have been taken care of.” He went on to stay, “There’s absolutely nothing I could add to the story.”
Then, with a chuckle, Buckelew said, “I honestly hope it (the attention and rumors) keeps up. It’s been great for business.”
Only in Alabama.
1:17 am on August 2nd, 2011
Why did Ingram go to this guy for a suit? Doesn’t the school purchase player’s suits for awards? If so, did someone associated with the school go with Ingram to the buy the suit? If someone went then they would have saw the illegal activity well before a letter was sent.
Why didn’t the school address the problem when they first noticed it? This seems like a cover-up.
1:53 am on August 2nd, 2011
Maybe the CIA or the KGB(look I can use letters as well). The only letters bama needs to worry about is the NCAA. They are still on probation, as they have been for the past 17 years.
Keep chasing Bowden and Dye, hell the last time bama wasn’t on probation was when Terry was still the coach. I hate it for you that this will vacate all your wins from the past two years. Luckily for everyone else, Auburn went ahead and beat Alabama so the NCAA won’t have to worry about that one.
28-27
1:56 am on August 2nd, 2011
A jew and a jig. you know some funny business is going on at T-Town
1:57 am on August 2nd, 2011
I should think that the FBI, the IRS, the AG of the US would be very interested in the Auburn football if the failings of the bank were at the expense of Auburn athletics. If Bowden is correct, the FB program, when Dye, Hall, and Lowder have their way, amounts to an enterprise of at least 1.5 million for a team (4 recruiting years). In addition he said special players got monthly salaries of 600 dollars a month. This is over a period of 25 years, give or take periods of coach imposed abstinence from cheating.
Dye was not only a shareholder but a board member; indeed the men on the board other than Lowder knew nothing about banking whatsoever. Lowder knew little enough, his dad handed him that fortune. And remember, Lowder used colonial money to support gubernatorial candidates who would support his ambitions as a trustee again and again.
Auburn made perfect fools of the NCAA after 1993, continuing their practice of paying players until Hall was fired in 1996. That cannot sit easy with the infractions committee of the NCAA. Not only that, but Auburn thumbed their nose at the NCAA by immediately hiring Dye to advise the President.
This insolence will not go unpunished
3:13 am on August 2nd, 2011
A. The Heisman Foundation bought Ingram’s suit. They bought Cam’s too. This guy then used a replica as a promo. Thus the cease and dissist. I guess UA should have burned the mall down instead. Wonder if SBB would have lauded Saban as a hero for running into the mall with a WWII flame thrower.
B. As to Julio’s collection of $125 crappy suits, it is not uncommon for a guy in his position (presumptive millionaire) to have 6-7 credit cards, and run up $10-15k in debt in his jr year. Some take out private education loans for a few grand too. They live like kings as a jr and know they will get a contract worth far more than their debt (even a 6th rounder will make 400k). Don’t you wish you had that problem?
6:29 am on August 2nd, 2011
very interesting. did not know the verbage in the NCAA rule. But this is blatantly obvious that these players ‘permitted’ the use of their names and likeness to promote this guys suit store. They are all ineligible as a result…guess the last 2 years worth of wins are doneski! UA HOME OF THE PERPETUAL ASTERISK *********
6:30 am on August 2nd, 2011
I notice Ingram and Richardson both adopted the same TD celebration of showing off their gloves to the crowd. Good way to make that a hot selling item.
7:18 am on August 2nd, 2011
This TTMW stuff really smells, but Bama is a school that most of the media isn’t going to mess with.
7:30 am on August 2nd, 2011
The Bamzos should do what we do. We have the players, like Cam, get mastercards. Then Corky Frost just pays off whatever the kids charge on line. Foolproof and impossible to trace.
7:39 am on August 2nd, 2011
Schools from five of the six the automatic-qualifying BCS conferences — Auburn (SEC), Ohio State (Big Ten), USC (Pac-12), Oregon (Pac-12), Georgia Tech (ACC) and West Virginia (Big East) — have been subject to NCAA investigations in recent months. There goes the notion that the NCAA picks on only the little guys.
Could death penalty give NCAA new life?
The “death penalty” sounds as if it should be the ultimate deterrent for major college football, a sanction last lodged against Southern Methodist University more than two decades ago.
SCANDAL SEASON
NCAA’s limits being pushed by this string of scandals.
SMU was forced to cancel its 1987 season after a string of violations, and the Mustangs are just now recovering.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see that again,” SMU coach June Jones told FOXSports.com. And some within college football could very well be working under that assumption.
Postseason bans, like the current one levied against USC, are as deep as the NCAA goes these days, although several large programs have been put on probation, lost scholarships, been docked recruiting visits or had records and titles vacated.
But, as Jones suggests, even after a recent string of scandals, the NCAA’s most powerful means of scaring schools straight may be a thing of the past.
“The chances of seeing the death penalty again are small, but I would hate to think that coaches and administrators are sitting in their offices and doing a cost-benefit analysis,” said Illinois State associate professor Chad McEvoy, who has studied the impact of sanctions on athletic programs for years. “If you are a big-time college football or basketball coach who is bending the rules, you’d want to know the negative outcomes if your violations are discovered. The data suggests that repercussions are relatively minor compared to the advantage you might gain from cheating.”
For coaches, the biggest downside of violating NCAA rules recently is the loss of employment. Ohio State’s Jim Tressel resigned under pressure after an investigation showed he concealed information about quarterback Terrelle Pryor and other players allegedly trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos. On Wednesday, the University of North Carolina forced out Butch Davis after the school was told by the NCAA that there had been nine major violations in the football program under his watch.
FIXING COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The question isn’t whether college football has problems — it does — but, rather, how to repair a broken system. The Daily’s panel of experts has some interesting solutions.
The repercussions for the schools involved haven’t been nearly as biting.
Miami, Auburn and Alabama both won national championships in the past decade after each was tagged with serious sanctions in years prior. Off the field, booster money and ticket sales tend to rebound, as well. And as other major programs like Oregon are subject to ongoing investigations, the stigma that once tanked a school’s credibility could even be lessened these days.
“This persistent drip, drip, drip of allegations that turn into sanctions may not resonate like it once did,” said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. “A lot of fans have gone tone deaf. I think there is a belief out there that there are so many programs running afoul of the rules that it’s becoming impossible to regulate. It’s like when you hear of so many doping cases in the Tour de France or a baseball player testing positive for steroids a few years ago. With respect to college athletics, I think there are a lot of fans out there rolling their eyes.”
No matter the punishment, a 2007 study by McEvoy found that programs typically rebounded from NCAA sanctions. His findings, based on 35 teams studied over a 15-year span that ended in 2002, showed that the teams’ winning percentages actually rose, from .547 to .566, in the five years after they were sanctioned. The 10 schools with the most serious sanctions had their combined winning percentage drop only slightly, from .634 to .614.
SMU hasn’t been so lucky.
Before Jones arrived for the 2008 season, the Mustangs — who also decided cancel the 1988 season on their own — had one winning season since the scandal, which involved several players linked to payments by boosters.
But Jones says the death penalty was only partially responsible.
INFAMOUS CASES
Plenty of college football players and programs have gotten in trouble over the years, but these might be the cream of the crop.
“There were some at the school that didn’t want SMU back in big-time football,” said Jones, who has led the Mustangs to consecutive bowl appearances. “They didn’t help the coaches. SMU was falling behind in academic support to players and they didn’t allow coaches to invite a kid on a recruiting trip unless he had an 1100 on the SAT, even if he was qualified by the NCAA academically. SMU was over-complying and over-adjusting to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
Josephine Potuto, a law professor at the University of Nebraska and former member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, said the reason no other school has joined SMU on the death penalty stage is the mere fact no other football program has so egregiously violated NCAA rules in the years since.
“The kinds of violations were pretty serious at SMU,” Potuto said. “There was a level of institutionalized activity there.”
Those around college athletics also have learned one way to avoid major sanctions: disclosure.
The NCAA, which refused to comment for this story, is an independent organization that has no subpoena power, unlike government authorities. That means NCAA investigators largely rely on the cooperation of schools as they delve into allegations, something the University of Kentucky failed to provide when its men’s basketball program was first investigated in the 1980s.
“Right before I got there, the Kentucky basketball [program] had a scandal that involved some of the former players,” said David Roselle, the former Kentucky president who helped stave off a death penalty by forcing out coach Eddie Sutton and making other changes. “When the NCAA first came in, they all clammed up and the NCAA was not able to prove any wrongdoing. The NCAA went away thinking that Kentucky was guilty and that they would really pursue anything that came after that.”
Roselle, unlike the previous administration, didn’t stonewall when allegations that players had received improper benefits emerged.
“We surprised the NCAA in two ways,” Roselle said. “At our hearing, the NCAA presented a few infractions and we came right out and said we were guilty. I don’t know if anybody had done that before. Second, we surprised them with a list of infractions that they didn’t know about, many a hell of a lot worse than what we were initially accused of. We just came completely clean.”
The Wildcats basketball program suffered a two-year postseason ban and was put on probation for three years.
Roselle’s approach runs opposite of what Georgia Tech officials tried as the NCAA recently investigated comparably minor violations, including one player receiving $312 from a sports agency employee. The NCAA wrote in a July 14 news release that the school “failed to cooperate and protect the integrity of the investigation.” As a result, the NCAA took the rare step of fining the Yellow Jackets $100,000 and accepted four-year probation for the school’s football and men’s basketball team. The football team also was forced to vacate its 2009 ACC championship.
Georgia Tech didn’t have to surrender any of its scholarships, one of the most stinging of all NCAA sanctions.
“That affects the foundation of the program,” said Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, who inherited a football program banned from the postseason and docked scholarships in 1987. “You have to have players to be successful, and when you’re working with fewer players, that directly impacts your program.”
TRESSEL OUT AT OSU
Get all the details on Jim Tressel’s departure and the latest on Ohio State’s NCAA troubles.
Beamer weathered penalties similar to what Southern Cal dealt with under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin a season ago. In time, Virginia Tech was back in the postseason and hasn’t missed a bowl game in 18 consecutive seasons. Beamer, like many within college athletics, has less of a problem with the sanctions the NCAA levies, and more of an issue with how long it takes to finish an investigation.
“If you break the rules — no matter the level — you should serve the consequences,” Beamer said. “My only wish is that they could do these sorts of investigations faster. I know it takes time for the NCAA staff to investigate allegations, but it seems like it takes so long that the players and coaches who violated the rules are no longer in the program. That leaves the guys left behind to pay the consequences.”
Potuto said such investigations take time, much like the NCAA’s probe into allegations that running back Reggie Bush received improper benefits at USC. The charges went back to 2004; in June 2010, long after Bush had joined the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and coach Pete Carroll had taken the head-coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks, USC received one of the stiffest punishments since the NCAA imposed the death penalty SMU. USC would have to forgo the postseason for two years, lose 30 scholarships over a three-year period and serve five years of probation.
“Even in a criminal investigation, it can take some time to unravel a complicated scheme,” Potuto said. “This is not unique to college sports. I would be very reluctant to speed things up, because you might miss something.”
Schools from five of the six the automatic-qualifying BCS conferences — Auburn (SEC), Ohio State (Big Ten), USC (Pac-12), Oregon (Pac-12), Georgia Tech (ACC) and West Virginia (Big East) — have been subject to NCAA investigations in recent months. There goes the notion that the NCAA picks on only the little guys.
“You hear that the NCAA is afraid to go after the big dogs,” Potuto said. “I don’t think that was the case at all.”
Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager, former head of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, said the perception that there are more investigations and penalties these days is largely just that: perception.
“You see a lot more activity on social media and a lot more outlets tracking all this stuff,” said Yeager, who is also a former NCAA investigator. “This used to be localized to a state or an individual community. Now, it’s a national story every time. I think it’s been on par with what we’ve seen in previous years.”
Potuto points out just because an investigation is launched doesn’t mean sanctions will necessarily follow. And since colleges now tend to self-report infractions more consciously, there are, in turn, more investigations and less-severe penalties since issues are excised before they balloon.
This all makes for a climate where the NCAA issues less-lethal options.
“When it’s reported by the media, it may sound like a really big case,” Potuto said. “Just because you think something happened doesn’t mean you can prove it
7:41 am on August 2nd, 2011
just moved to the south a few years ago, live in birmingham, seems to me that ua would have to cheat to compete with au, why in the world would a kid who had a chance to go to both schools go to alabama? tuscalosaa is aweful, all equal auburn in a much nicer place, if alabama wasn’t in ttown might be a different story
8:32 am on August 2nd, 2011
I can’t believe you idiots are dismissing this as nothing. I don’t care who you are a fan of this is against NCAA rules and once the NCAA gets involved they will learn that the memorabilia signing business went much, much deeper than relics on display in the store. Kiss the 09 and 10 season goodbye, as all those wins will be vacated. And as of now, Trent Richardson is ineligible for 2011 and if Bama plays him all of those will be vacates as well.
8:39 am on August 2nd, 2011
Mal Moore is full of bama.
8:49 am on August 2nd, 2011
One such individual, Thomas Buckelew, a tailor at Buckelew’s Clothing for Men in Montgomery, Alabama, finds himself buffeted by allegations that he provided high-priced suits to Cam Newton at reduced costs. The very suits, you guessed it, that Newton wore at the Heisman ceremony. According to sources, Newton’s suits, ties included, cost in excess of $4,000 each. NCAA investigator Jackie Thurnes was informed of this allegation, and the NCAA has spent time investigating its validity.
Since providing the suits at a reduced rate, if proven, would constitute an improper benefit and hence an NCAA violation, the NCAA has to take each allegation seriously. Indeed, last week Georgia Tech’s 2009 ACC title was stripped for a mere $312 in improper clothing benefits.
9:04 am on August 2nd, 2011
As Auburn head coach Gene Chizik recently found out in Destin, Florida after a rather testy exchange with NCAA Vice President of Enforcement Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA’s investigation into Auburn is not over. More specifically, Chizik will “know when we’re finished, and we’re not finished.” Now according to a report from outkickthecoverage.com, we know that the NCAA was in Montgomery asking questions as recently as last month.
According to the report, NCAA investigator Jackie Thurnes was in Montgomery interviewing a businessman with ties to the school.
As part of the latest round of investigation in Montgomery, Thurnes conducted interviews with Montgomery businessmen with relationships to Auburn University. Reached for comment by outkickthecoverage.com multiple individuals who spoke with Thurnes declined comment. Those interviews dealt with the NCAA’s continuing probe of Cam Newton, but also focused on allegations levied on HBO’s Real Sports by former Auburn player Stanley McClover. McClover told HBO that he’d been paid to play football for Auburn. The NCAA investigating McClover’s claims is interesting because typically the NCAA statute of limitations on collegiate wrongdoing is four years. McClover last played at Auburn in January of 2006, but the NCAA reserves the right to expand the statute of limitations if there is a connection or pattern of wrongdoing.
Here’s our original story on Stanley McClover.
One allegation that Thurnes is reportedly looking into has to do with the suit Cam Newton wore to the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
One such individual, Thomas Buckelew, a tailor at Buckelew’s Clothing for Men in Montgomery, Alabama, finds himself buffeted by allegations that he provided high-priced suits to Cam Newton at reduced costs. The very suits, you guessed it, that Newton wore at the Heisman ceremony. According to sources, Newton’s suits, ties included, cost in excess of $4,000 each. NCAA investigator Jackie Thurnes was informed of this allegation, and the NCAA has spent time investigating its validity.
Since providing the suits at a reduced rate, if proven, would constitute an improper benefit and hence an NCAA violation, the NCAA has to take each allegation seriously. Indeed, last week Georgia Tech’s 2009 ACC title was stripped for a mere $312 in improper clothing benefits.
When contacted by outkickthecoverage.com Buckelew admitted that he knew Newton and had worked with him but then said he’d “rather not get into it” and that he hasn’t talked to anyone with the NCAA about his relationship with Newton. Buckelew also went on to say that he hopes the attention on him continues because it’s been “good for business.”
Maybe for him, but should these allegations turn out to be true and the NCAA keeps looking around and finds more violations at Auburn, it won’t be very good for business at Auburn.
9:21 am on August 2nd, 2011
As part of the latest round of investigation in Montgomery, Thurnes conducted interviews with Montgomery businessmen with relationships to Auburn University. Reached for comment by outkickthecoverage.com multiple individuals who spoke with Thurnes declined comment. Those interviews dealt with the NCAA’s continuing probe of Cam Newton, but also focused on allegations levied on HBO’s Real Sports by former Auburn player Stanley McClover. McClover told HBO that he’d been paid to play football for Auburn. The NCAA investigating McClover’s claims is interesting because typically the NCAA statute of limitations on collegiate wrongdoing is four years. McClover last played at Auburn in January of 2006, but the NCAA reserves the right to expand the statute of limitations if there is a connection or pattern of wrongdoing
9:25 am on August 2nd, 2011
Why do all my fellow Bama fans copy and paste so much? Are they too ignorant to come up with something original?
10:28 am on August 2nd, 2011
I swear I HOPE THIS just desappears! I hate these stories brooks, WHERE DO THESE PHOTOS KEEP COMMING FROM? you are probabbly PHOTOSHOPPING THEM BROOKS! I Bet they ARE NOT even REAL! please don’t take away our championship I SWEAR
11:33 am on August 2nd, 2011
for all the Barn fans on here claiming Brooks is the gospel of journalism for reporting on Ttown…… Just remember this in a few weeks when Brooks is reporting on $$$$$ and the Newtons. It’s coming and you can’t dodge it.
11:39 am on August 2nd, 2011
PleaseNoGuilt and Brooks must both be “messeng” the I on their keyboard.
11:59 am on August 2nd, 2011
Seems pretty clear to me. Bama players were knowingly endorsing his store.
1:19 pm on August 2nd, 2011
WOW>>> THIS IS AMAZING, Brooks… Wonder why the uat’s no longer love you…. Love to see them slither, but as we all know they can do no wrong and the NCAA is scared of them along with ESPN and a few others… Let the Eagle SOARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! uat red elephants can’t fly….
3:33 pm on August 2nd, 2011
This is such a cover up job, bama did a completely secret investigation even hand delivering the docs themselves so there would not be a record of delivery to the store that could leak out to the media.
Saban goes and the radio and says no one can give him a reason to keep his players away from a disassociated booster? You just disassociated the guy I would say they found reason themselves. The truth is they didn’t want Albetar out in the public eye because he is running a business with the players.
When the OSU story broke bama decided to shut down his mall kiosk by typing up a form letter to no one in particular. When Albetar didn’t stop bama delivered that crazy letter disassociating him even though he really was never really associated for rules that he never really broke.
The fact is bama is already in penalty phase they know their players are caught they just want to appear that they distanced themselves from Albetar the only problem is they forgot to tell the head coach he was still giving stage one’s story while they were on stage two.
5:01 pm on August 2nd, 2011
The power of Saban in Alabama and as you said if Auburn-Chizik had made that statement after the photos were made available it would have brought the house down.. I don’t understand how they (NCAA) went after Ohio State and North Carolina, but not even a whimper in regards to UAT by the “mighty ESPN” and all the other mainstream media networks. How can this be??? Can Saban really throw sand in the NCAA & SEC’s face? Do you think this is going to be swept under the rug and forgotten?? That would be hard to take given the scruitny Auburn, Ohio State, & NC have received… And LSU. What’s going on????
6:55 pm on August 2nd, 2011
To the moron who made the comment about Ingram’s ride……..HIS DAD WAS AN NFL SUPERSTAR, so I think his family is doing okay.
7:06 pm on August 2nd, 2011
Ingress dad is in prison and he blew through every bit of money he had. Oh, by the way, he wasn’t a “superstar” moron!
7:08 pm on August 2nd, 2011
Ingram’s dad is in prison also.
7:10 pm on August 2nd, 2011
His DAD MAYBE in prisoned but AT LEAST HE DID NOT get paid “180,000 thousand” FOR HIS SONS SERVICES . ROLL MF TIDE baby! brooks please write abotu auburn now please
10:39 pm on August 2nd, 2011
Love how someone has copied my name and posted ridiculous comments.
10:43 pm on August 2nd, 2011
Again, we’re getting into semantics. How can you prove someone “allowed” their name to be used to market a store? Because they didn’t rip the memorabilia from the wall the next time they walked it? No. That’s iffy, at best. And if that’s what people who wanna see the UA program punished are hanging their hats on, it’s desperate at best.
11:28 am on August 3rd, 2011
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college/files/2011/08/Baylor_Heisman_Trophy-575×290.jpg
Here’s a Baylor jersey with a players signature on it pushing for the Heisman Trophy. Jump on it Half Breed, I meant Brooks……
2:05 pm on August 3rd, 2011
I think the interpretation of the word DIRECT in the by-laws is key…otherwise players across the country would be ineligible. How does a signed picture or jersey DIRECTLY promote the sale of a SUIT? The answer is it does not!
6:30 pm on August 25th, 2011
you guys are idiots mark ingram purchased a used car and just because his dad is in jail doesnt mean his mom isnt a educated money making woman you dubasses ms.ingram makes close to 90,000 a year how do you know what mark purchased HE WAS NEVER INELIGABLE FOR THE 2011 SEASON YOU FANS ARE SOMETHING ELSE ESP AUBIES! yall are just mad have fun with $CAM NEWTON!
5:43 pm on September 2nd, 2011
How in the world can internet posters from Alabama know about a player’s personal finances? I mean really. Do you think a reasonably intelligent person would believe what you propose? I find it ludicrous that the Alabama fan base postulates some of these things and expect the rest of the country to believe it. And, this absurd tactic of “throwing the monkey” on other programs back is failing miserably. Sorry, but everyone is looking at this. You can disparage Brooks all you want. He has done an amazing job of compiling this information and presenting it.
2:32 pm on March 8th, 2012
THE NCAA IS ON THE WAY UAT>