On March 3, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports broke the news that NCAA officials were investigating a $25,000 payment made in 2010 by the University of Oregon to a Houston man, Will Lyles, for providing recruiting services for the school’s football program.

After Robinson’s report, Ken Goe of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN reported, “Lyles has a mentoring relationship with Oregon running back Lache Seastrunk.” (From 2009-2010, Seastrunk was a heavily recruited high school football prospect from Texas.)

11 days after Robinson’s initial report, Thayer Evans of FOXSports.com reported that LSU had paid Lyles $6,000 in 2010 for providing recruiting services for the school’s football program.

After noting that Lyles had told him he made $36,000 in 2010, Whitlock asked Lyles:

“You got a check for $25,000 from Oregon, where was the other $11,000?”

Lyles:

“The other $11,000 was $6,000 from LSU and the other $5,000 was from Cal-Berkeley.”

On Feb. 26, 2009, Greg Biggins of ESPN.com reported that then-Texas high school football prospect Lache Seastrunk took a recruiting visit to Cal the last week of February.

In the same piece about Cal’s “Junior Day” recruiting event, Biggins noted of then-Louisiana High School recruit Trovon Reed:

Trovon Reed (Thibodaux, La.) was expected to be on hand but won’t be able to make it. Reed is one of the elite receivers in the South and is holding offers from schools like Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss and Arkansas.

“I couldn’t get out there but I’m going to try and make it for their next Junior Day,” Reed said. “I like Cal and I liked how they used Desean Jackson. They want to use me in a similar way so I’m definitely interested in checking them out.

On April 1 I reported of Reed’s close association with Lyles and Seastrunk. Excerpt from that report:

On Feb. 16 I broke the news that NCAA officials had recently visited Thibodaux, Louisiana, to investigate the recruitment of a current Auburn football player, Trovon Reed, and a recent football signee to the school, Greg Robinson.

At the heart of that NCAA investigation was Thibodaux resident Sean Nelson. Nelson, who is an associate of Reed and Robinson, has been characterized as a street agent who exerted possible undue influence on the two recruits in their decision to choose Auburn. Nelson is also a known associate of the NCAA’s current public enemy #1, Will Lyles. Lyles’ one-man recruiting service was recently paid $25,000 by the University of Oregon for recruiting videos that the school has yet to produce to the public.

Oregon has, to this day, not produced any materials to the public that it received from Lyles for his recruiting services.

Speaking of Cal, on March 13, Thayer Evans reported on the relationship between Lyles and Houston-area high school football prospect Trevon Randle:

Randle said Lyles talked to him a lot about California and Miami. He said Lyles didn’t have to talk to him much about Oregon, because “I told him about Oregon.” But Randle said Lyles knew Ducks coach Chip Kelly well.

Just over a month after meeting Lyles, Randle committed to LSU at a Tigers junior day. Randle said he consulted with his parents before choosing LSU, but said his father is “pretty tight” with Lyles.

Having committed to LSU, Randle said he later spent time with Lyles while attending LSU summer camps. He said Lyles was particularly close with (LSU Assistant Coach Brick) Haley, who recruited him for the Tigers.

It was Haley who cut the $6,000 check to Lyles on behalf of LSU.

Despite that transaction, and LSU commit Randle saying Haley was “particularly close” with Lyles, Haley denied even knowing Lyles in the same FOXSports.com story:

A week later, (Trevon Randle’s Clear Springs (TX) High School Football Coach Clint) Hartman crossed paths with Lyles again. This time he was with LSU defensive line coach Brick Haley, who had come to see Randle. When Lyles tried to walk onto the field, Hartman told him to return to the parking lot.

Hartman later called Haley and told him that Lyles was never to return to Clear Springs High.

“I didn’t know the guy, Coach,” Hartman recalled Haley saying of Lyles. “He showed up and said he was helping the last guy here for LSU.”

Hartman knew that wasn’t true. After all, LSU had never previously recruited at Clear Springs High.

Three weeks ago Dan Rubenstein and Ty Hildenbrandt of SolidVerbal.com interviewed Cal football coach Jeff Tedford. During the visit, Rubenstein asked Tedford:

“I want to call them characters in the nicest possible way that we’ve been seeing this offseason on the fringes of recruiting.  How do you and your staff address those types of situations?”

Tedford:

“We haven’t run across that. We typically deal with the player, the coaches and their families so we really don’t get involved in any of the other stuff.

“Obviously everyone uses recruiting services but that’s just to gather data and not depend on what they have to say or what their opinions are or anything like that. It’s really solely collection the information that you need on where the prospects are so you can have a pretty good idea on where to go recruit.

“But as far as people being involved, we haven’t really run into that. We’re really just focused on what important to the kid and go through the school and his coaches.

” … You do have to keep your head on a swivel and you have to know what’s going on out there because you don’t want to bury your head in the sand but on the other hand you really need to keep everything close to us and try to communicate as much as you can just with the recruits, the student-athletes and their families to make sure the lines of communication are open and everyone is on the same page.”

The year before Cal and Tedford paid $5,000 to Lyles for his recruiting services - and three weeks before Lyles associate Lache Seastrunk made a recruiting visit to the Cal-Berkeley campus - Tedford said the following at Cal’s 2009 signing day press conference:

“It’s a little unsettling because sometimes they go underground and you can’t get hold of them. You don’t know what’s happening, so you just continue to try. With not being able to text now, now you just have to call and you get an answering machine. So you’re really at their mercy. It’s a helpless feeling when you don’t know the information. You can’t counterpoint something you don’t know about, so that’s some of it. But it’s so competitive. No one’s going to give up. Everybody is going to always continue to battle right down to the end. Obviously, the people we are recruiting against are very good programs and very competitive that way.”

Is it unreasonable to think that at least part of the reason Tedford’s Cal paid Lyles $5,000 was to ensure a unique level of access to Seastrunk and other Texas recruits associated with Lyles?

That isn’t to say that Tedford was directly involved in the recruitment of Seastrunk. That duty fell to Cal football recruiting coordinator Kenwick Thompson, who shares a hometown with Lyles: Houston.

There’s nothing wrong with Lyles tipping off schools to talent in his area. Nor is there his taking money for such services, regardless the amount. (Because the NCAA does not stipulate a limit.)

Though Lyles’ “Compete Scouting Services” does not come close to fulfilling the NCAA’s official definition of what constitutes a legitimate recruiting service, the NCAA rules regarding such activity are so vague that until the NCAA gets serious about governing them, it’s hard to hold even Lyles to any sort of NCAA-borne standard.

But Lyles did indisputably violate the NCAA booster rule as it pertained to Oregon’s recruitment of Seastrunk thanks to on-record comments from Oregon assistant coach Gary Campbell. What, if any, penalties Oregon will receive from the NCAA for that misstep remains to be seen.

During the same interview last week in which he confirmed receiving a $5,000 payment from Cal and a $6,000 payment from LSU,  Lyles was asked by FOXSports.com columnist Whitlock:

“Do you ever steer kids to schools?” Read more…

Spring Practice got underway this week in Eugene.

(What, Chip Can’t Afford To Cash Out?)

The good news for Oregon is that - as Ken Goe of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN reported Tuesday - after a disappointing freshman redshirt, Lache Seastrunk has been impressive this week during drills.

Or is that bad news? (That is, that Seastrunk is even on the field.)

According to Oregon Coach Chip Kelly it’s definitely the former.

On March 3, the same day Oregon confirmed it had paid $25,000 to the one-person “recruiting service” run by Seastrunk “mentor” Willie Lyles, Kelly told John Canzano of the Oregonian: “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

So why then did Kelly and Oregon fork over $25,000 to Lyles, who went from not knowing Seastrunk before he became a college football prospect to reportedly living with Seastrunk?

The above invoice for the transaction confirmed Oregon was to receive “Game Film and Highlight Film” from 22 states - including Oregon.

But when Kelly was asked by Canzano what Oregon got for its 25 large, Kelly said, “names and phone numbers.”

The payment to Lyles, subsequent discrepancy over services rendered and Lyles’ “Complete Scouting Service” falling well short of NCAA “recruiting service” guidelines soon drew a visit from NCAA investigators to Eugene.

That visit though may now be an extended NCAA stay after a March 13 FOXSports.com piece by Thayer Evans detailing longtime Oregon assistant coach Gary Campbell’s relationship with Lyles in Texas.

In an article titled “Is Lyles most powerful street agent?“, Evans reported that Lyles accompanied Ducks assistant Campbell to at least two Texas High Schools - Clear Springs High School and Dekaney High School - while Campbell was recruiting football players for the Ducks in 2010. Evans:

Campbell said he did visit high schools with Lyles, but doesn’t recall how often.

Campbell on Lyles:

“I just don’t understand what the big deal about this scouting service and paying Will is all about.

“I don’t think Will did anything wrong. I mean, I know he didn’t do anything wrong with us because he knew that we weren’t going to do anything outside of the rules.”

Apparently Campbell is unaware of the NCAA’s criteria for a booster, or “representative of the institution’s athletics interests” (NCAA bylaw 13.02.14):

an individual, independent agency, corporate entity (e.g., apparel or equipment manufacturer) or other organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution’s executive or athletics administration to:

(c) Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes;

Again, keep in mind that before Seastrunk was known as a high school football prospect, Lyles had no prior relationship with him or his family.

If Campbell isn’t aware of the rules governing recruiting, it wouldn’t be the first time. The Oregonian reported last January:

The lone blemish on Campbell’s reputation was his 2003 interaction with junior-college running back J.J. Arrington, who had committed to California but was wavering back toward Oregon. In Campbell’s presence, Arrington signed with the Ducks after the midnight deadline, forging his father’s signature. The NCAA gave Oregon two years’ probation.

“It was a mistake,” Campbell said.

But Oregon stood by him, as he had the Ducks for so long. He so appreciates his coworkers’ longevity that if the Ducks’ coaching staff ever fractures or moves to another program, Campbell said, he might just retire.

The verification of the forgery caused Arrington to subsequently sign with Cal and landed Oregon in hot water with the NCAA.

Speaking of (in this case, alleged) undue influence over recruits, Oregon starting quarterback Darron Thomas said of Lyles in another FOXSports.com piece:

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

Oregon star LaMichael James on Lyles in the same story:

“He’s very influential to me and I know to Lache and just different players.”

For all we know Lyles is a good egg who had no design on personal gain when he struck up a relationship with Seastrunk and his mother. The fact that those relationships happened only after Seastrunk became a major college football prospect, and that Lyles has subsequently moved out of the Seastrunk home and cut off his relationship with Seastrunk’s mother after her son signed with Oregon may be complete coincidence.

Like the $25,000 from Oregon to Lyles right after Seastrunk signed with the school was only for “Game Film and Highlight Film.” (Or was it “names and phone numbers“?)

But as Lyles visited multiple Texas high schools with Campbell, by NCAA rules he’s defined as a booster who is forbidden any contact with Oregon recruits.

NCAA bylaw 13.1.2 (Page 96) on what constitutes a “Permissible Recruiter”:

All in-person correspondence on and off campus recruiting contacts with prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete’s relatives or legal guardians shall be made only by authorized institutional staff members. Such contact, as well as correspondence and telephone calls, by representatives of an institution’s athletics interests is prohibited.

There are some exceptions to that rule, but Lyles doesn’t fulfill any of them.

Lyles and Oregon have already violated the booster-contact rule thanks to Lyles’ relationship with both Seastrunk and assistant coach Campbell. Campbell confirmed the violation himself to FOXSports.com with his comments to Thayer Evans.

That violation would not, unto itself, render Seastrunk ineligible. But we’re now to the point with Oregon where the circumstantial evidence is impossible to ignore: Read more…

On Feb. 16 I broke the news that NCAA officials had recently visited Thibodaux, Louisiana, to investigate the recruitment of a current Auburn football player, Trovon Reed, and a recent football signee to the school, Greg Robinson.

At the heart of that NCAA investigation was Thibodaux resident Sean Nelson. Nelson, who is an associate of Reed and Robinson, has been characterized as a street agent who exerted possible undue influence on the two recruits in their decision to choose Auburn. Nelson is also a known associate of the NCAA’s current public enemy #1, Will Lyles. Lyles’ one-man “recruiting service” was recently paid $25,000 by the University of Oregon for recruiting videos that the school has yet to produce to the public.

LSU also recently admitted it paid Lyles $6,500 last December with the school having since confirmed it will discontinue its relationship with him.

Like Nelson, Lyles has been characterized as a street agent who may have contributed to Texas high school football recruit Lache Seastrunk choosing Oregon. Wednesday ESPN reported that Lyles has also now been accused by current Tulsa assistant football coach Van Malone of soliciting $80,000 in 2007 for the football services of then-Florida high school recruit Patrick Peterson when Malone was an assistant coach at Texas A&M.

Since the initial allegations about Lyles broke regarding the exorbitant payment from Oregon to a single-person business entity created just months before coach Chip Kelly cut the check, Lyles has effectively gone into hiding from the media.

Nelson though is a different story, as I found out today.

Even after the national notoriety now heaped on Lyles, which has placed the Oregon and LSU football programs in possible NCAA jeopardy, Nelson continues to display the above photo of himself, Lyles and Seastrunk on his Facebook page. (In 2009 Reed and Seastrunk together paid multiple visits to various prospective schools, including Auburn, with Lyles and Nelson in tow.)

Somehow worse though is the party promo flyer posted on Nelson’s same Facebook page - as his profile photo no less - for an April 8 shindig at a Thibodaux establishment. The advertisement touts the soiree as a “pre-prom party for Greg Robinson, Cartel Murray, Josh Johnson, Raheem Richard & Jarranisha Allen.”

Robinson is the recent Auburn signee who was interviewed a little over a month ago by the NCAA about his recruitment to Auburn and his relationship with Nelson. Murray, Johnson and Richard are former teammates of Robinson and Reed at Thiboudaux high school with all considered legitimate college football prospects.

Underneath the party flyer posted on his Facebook page, Nelson wrote this note to current Thibodaux high school football player A.J. Bolden after Bolden lamented that he wouldn’t be part of the festivities:

no doubt u is part of it. when i was tryna get in touch wit u i had ur old number. finally i got ur number from neak but flyer was made. kampus smakk and dee daw performing and not on flyer. is gon be crazy

Sounds a lot like Nelson is throwing the party himself, no?
Read more…

Over the weekend Thayer Evans of FOXSports.com revealed more about the relationship between Houston-based street agent Willie Lyles and the University of Oregon football program.

(NCAA violation if Lyles also determined to be Oregon booster)

In a series of meticulously-detailed articles backed by what I’ve since confirmed to be taped interviews, Evans followed up on recent reports from Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports and Joe Schad and Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com that the University of Oregon in its 2010 school budget cut a $25,000 check to Lyles for “recruiting services” under the auspices of a newly-formed, one-person company called “Complete Scouting Services.”

The check to Lyles was processed less than two months after Oregon landed Texas high school football recruit and current Duck running back Lache Seastrunk. Lyles was known to have a close association with Seastrunk and Oregon throughout the recruiting process.

The UO invoice to Lyles showed the Ducks football program received videos of recruits from 22 states from Lyles though the school has yet to produce those videos to the media and/or the public.

Yahoo’s Robinson, who broke the documented payment from the University of Oregon to Lyles, wrote on March 3 of the possible ramification of that transaction:

If Lyles and Flenory aided in or were involved in any way in the recruitment of student athletes to Oregon, they would be classified as boosters by the NCAA, and any payment to them from the school would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13. Bylaw 13 prohibits boosters from directing a recruit to a school.

So when it comes to Lyles and Oregon, what the NCAA wants to know is if Lyles fits the NCAA definition of a booster. If Lyles does, the payment to Lyles would be considered an NCAA violation.

The NCAA’s criteria for a booster, or “representative of the institution’s athletics interests” (NCAA bylaw 13.02.14): Read more…

On Jan. 27, 2010, Lache Seastrunk, the high profile Oregon running back who Will Lyles reportedly “mentored” during Seastrunk’s recruitment, verbally committed to the Ducks. Seastrunk made it official a week later, signing with the school to play football.

Six weeks later Lyles was sent a check for $25,000 by the state of Oregon after invoicing the Univ. of Oregon for providing the Ducks football program with recruiting videos from 22 states. Oregon football coach Chip Kelly has yet to confirm if he or a member of his staff ever received the videos.

Those facts have the NCAA wondering if Oregon paid Lyles for services that were never rendered. If that indeed was the case, then the NCAA might also examine the possibility that Lyles, who is well-known in college coaching circles as a street agent who pushes recruits to certain schools, had undue influence over Seastrunk during his recruitment.

Though if you believe multiple reports from main media sources and comments from Seastrunk himself, the former Texas high school star may have actually committed to Oregon Pac-10 rival USC instead had then-coach Pete Carroll not left for the Seattle Seahawks less than a month before signing day.

On Feb. 1, 2010, John Hunt of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN wrote:

The comparison most often made is to former USC running back Reggie Bush, and Seastrunk was set to follow in Bush’s footsteps until coach Pete Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks.

On Jan. 27, 2010, Kristian Dyer of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED wrote:

Considered one of the nation’s top running back recruits, Seastrunk was originally considered a USC lock. But the departure of former Trojans head coach Pete Carroll led Seastrunk to re-consider his options. The source said Seastrunk settled on Oregon in early January, around the time he played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

From the June 2009 video below from Kevin Carden of Scout’s SCPlaybook.com, it isn’t hard to understand why main media reporters and recruiting experts thought Seastrunk a lock for USC.

During the annual “Rising Stars Camp” for high school football prospects held at USC, an off-camera Pete Carroll can be heard encouraging the players during drills. Also in the same proximity to Carroll and mostly off-camera is the same Will Lyles who “mentored” Lache Seastrunk.

How do we know that? Read more…

Sunday in a piece by John Canzano of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN, Oregon football coach Chip Kelly addressed the 2010 $25,000 payment made to Willie Lyles, the alleged “mentor” of Oregon football player Lache Seastrunk.

(Keep the “names and phone numbers.” Where’s the videos?)

From Canzano:

A purchase order obtained by The Oregonian details that Lyles billed them for “Game films, Highlight film” from 22 states. And if you ask Kelly what was provided he’ll tell you the Ducks received contact information for players — “names and phone numbers.” Basically, access.

The only thing listed on the invoice submitted by Lyles to Kelly was the aforementioned video.

So by saying that he received “names and phone numbers,” is Kelly telling us there are no videos? And if Oregon does soon produce some manner of video purportedly from Lyles, why didn’t Kelly, when he had the chance, just tell Canzano exactly what he had? (Confirming the videos now would do nothing to dissuade suspicion.)

If Oregon’s NCAA rules compliance department knew that the state of Oregon was paying Lyles $25,000 based on an invoice that wouldn’t deliver what it promised, is it unreasonable to think that compliance would not have signed off on the transaction?

While we’re at it, where are the “names and phone numbers” which Kelly paid $25,000 for? If the coach doesn’t soon reveal what he actually received from Lyles, we’ll know soon enough thanks to a Freedom of Information request submitted to the state school by Canzano.

So unlike the vast majority of NCAA rule disputes, we absolutely will get to the bottom of this so-called ‘compliance’ issue.

From Oregon’s reaction so far to media inquiries about what changed hands between the school and Lyles - and I’m not talking about what may end up being a meaningless invoice - would non-UO devotees be surprised if the school actually received next to nothing for its $25,000 in taxpayer funds?

Thanks to the extraordinary nature of what appears to be smoking gun evidence against the Ducks football program in its seeming lacking transaction with a notorious college football street agent, this case may also extend beyond the NCAA. Read more…

Yesterday I reported that top Oregon football recruit and former L.A. high school football star De’anthony Thomas Tweeted from his personal account that he had met with NCAA investigators on Wednesday.

(Snoop Dogg’s son Cordell Broadus and De’anthony Thomas)

Thomas, one of the top 2011 high school football prospects in the country, recently signed to play football at Oregon in what reportedly may have been a last second change of heart. (Thomas spurned the hometown USC Trojans.)

After my report, Thomas Tweeted that NCAA investigators did not ask him about Oregon during his meeting with NCAA investigators. Instead, Thomas indicated - also via his Twitter account - that USC was the sole topic of conversation.

Following his Tweets, Thomas denied to Bryan Fischer of CBSSports.com that he had met with the NCAA and that the aforementioned Twitter account containing the Tweets in question did not belong to him.

I followed that up with a report proving that Thomas did own the Twitter account from which the NCAA and USC Tweets emanated.

Today, Thomas changed his story again. Read more…

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports and Joe Schad and Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com reported Thursday that NCAA officials are investigating a recent $25,000 payment made by the University of Oregon to a Houston man who reportedly may have steered high school football prospects to the school’s football program.

(Oregon Coach Chip Kelly, Lache Seastrunk, Seastrunk “Mentor” Willie Lyles)

In a line-by-line expenditure breakout from a University of Oregon budget summary dated June 30, 2010, a $25,000 payment from the university was authorized to Willie J. Lyles of “Complete Scouting Services.”

Ken Goe of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN reported Thursday, “Lyles has a mentoring relationship with Oregon running back Lache Seastrunk.”

In 2009, Seastrunk was a heavily recruited high school prospect from Temple, Texas.

ESPN.com reported Thursday:

Oregon athletics department spokesman Dave Williford confirmed to ESPN.com on Thursday that Oregon paid Lyles $25,000 for his recruiting services. Oregon’s payment to Lyles was made shortly after Seastrunk signed a national letter of intent in February 2010 to play football for the Ducks, choosing them over California, LSU and USC.

As noted by the Yahoo.com report:

If Lyles and (Dallas-based Baron) Flenory aided in or were involved in any way in the recruitment of student athletes to Oregon, they would be classified as boosters by the NCAA, and any payment to them from the school would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13. Bylaw 13 prohibits boosters from directing a recruit to a school.

In the wake of the Yahoo and ESPN reports, a source familiar with the NCAA’s examination of possible recruiting impropriety involving the Oregon football program told me late Thursday that NCAA investigators will be in Eugene on Friday to initiate a more direct inspection of the recruiting tactics of school’s football program. I’m told the NCAA’s imminent presence in Eugene was in response to revelations in the Yahoo and ESPN reports published Thursday. Before the dueling, breaking news broke Thursday, the NCAA had no plans to be in Eugene.

Thanks in part to information detailed in the Yahoo and ESPN reports, I’ve also learned that the NCAA may request Oregon provide evidence of the “recruiting services” rendered by Lyles in particular. According to records obtained from the Harris County (TX) website, Lyles is the sole proprietor of the unincorporated “Complete Scouting Services” - the same business the University of Oregon paid $25,000 for recruiting services.

The one-person Complete Scouting Services operation is, according to Harris County property tax records, located at Lyles’ home address in Houston. Read more…

At halftime of the Stanford-Oregon game in Eugune on Saturday night, Oregon Coach Chip Kelly showed his dissatisfaction with the officiating during an interview with Erin Andrews on ABC-TV.

(Credit: Portland Oregonian, ABC-TV)

During his comments about a lack of communication with the presiding game referee, Kelly went so far as to flippantly suggest that perhaps the ref was ignoring him because the official was “friends” with opposing Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.

Transcription and video of Kelly’s comments are below. Read more…

The official Twitter.com account of Univ. of Oregon football posted a message Wednesday reporting that Jeremiah Masoli has been kicked off the Ducks football team.

QB Jeremiah Masoli has been dismissed from the Oregon Football program effective immediately.

Oregon Football Coach Chip Kelly said of his decision:

“I had a plan in place for him to follow and if he didn’t follow it, he was gone. He didn’t follow it, so he’s gone.”

“There was no guarantee he was going to be back for the 2010 season.”

A possible replacement for Masoli at quarterback for the Ducks in sophomore Darron Thomas. George Schroeder of the EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD reports today that Thomas was with Masoli when the police incident took place: “Quarterback Darron Thomas was a passenger, but was not cited.”

Kelly told Schroeder that Thomas will not be punished: “Darron wasn’t charged with anything.”

Read more…