TheMatador
All-ACC
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2012
- Messages
- 13,848
There is a whole racket with guys like Genron, where they work as "scouts" for bullsh*t recruiting services that have direct ties to certain schools and boosters from those schools. They are basically paid to hustle kids to certain schools, take them on unofficial visits, block out other programs, etc. The NCAA has tried digging into this before, including everyone's good friend Charles Fishbein's shady @ss operation that was employing street agents and he had to fire at least one after the NCAA came after them.
People dont realize the entire industry that exists in many places to hustle these kids and college programs.
The NCAA doesn't have the savvy or wherewithal to dig into this shady racket in south Florida. They'd have to turn into an elite intelligence outfit with covert agents to penetrate this mess. They're a bunch of naive midwestern bureaucrats with no real power to investigate--heck, their investigative powers are so weak that they had to resort to threats and extortion just to try to get information in our case. The improprieties of their actions is just evidence of their weakness.
One of the problems that people have identified is the problem of coaches employed by the high schools. I don't know how many of these are public schools, but it seems like it might be a violation of some code of ethics, if not an outright crime, for public employees (which these coaches presumably are) to accept some kind of benefit for delivering, or at least, directing a kid, to a particular program. If it is not covered by a law, or at least an enforceable code of conduct, it should be.
If lawmakers in Florida cared enough---maybe they could write a law that would regulate, if not outright ban, the activities of the street agents. I said "maybe."
As far as the poster who said "prove" that LSU is paying, such as an ESPN article or something, you'll never find it. If courts required direct proof of every crime, and did not permit circumstantial proof, the criminals would really be running wild. You'll never find it. But what about all the stories about Dwayne Bowe?-if I'm sitting a thousand miles away and believe, based on dozens and dozens of message board posts over the years, that something was not right with Bowe's ending up at LSU, or Patrick Johnson Peterson, then I'm going to suspect LSU. Please remember, college football is the second religion of southerners, or maybe the third after their real religion and hunting and guns (the second religion). You don't mess with their religions. And don't call me anti-southern, anti-religious, or anti-gun----because I'm not.
I don't know what's at play in the Valentine case---but is it true Genron accompanied him? It might be one thing for a HS coach to go on the trip, which is unusual--but street agent, plus TV's mother? It all sounds like maybe the "closing" where they finalize a "deal." Sorry, something still smells.
Its impossible for them to stop it. The NCAA has no subpoena authority. Most of that stuff is all done in cash. There is no way for them to actually catch most of these coaches and street agents doing anything. The only time they get anything done, is when they can tie one of these "services" to a program, like they did with Oregon, and start snooping around, and then the program has to suddenly cut all ties, or do the "mea culpa" and act all shocked that they were hiring a bunch of shady hustlers as "scouts". Its gotten 10 times worse now with the 7 on 7 stuff. Now you have yet ANOTHER layer of shady hustlers involved with that, so even if the HS coaches arent up to their eyeballs in it, the coaches and leeches hanging around the 7 on 7 teams are having a feast hustling these kids and their families.
That's what I'm saying; I know the NCAA has no subpoena power, and all they can do for a witness who lies is to try to punish their school, and what good is that if the witness is a former player or coach who no longer has ties to the school.
There's no way the NCAA can come close to dealing with this. Maybe, just maybe, if the lawmakers were willing and could write a law that could regulate and restrict this stuff, just maybe it could be stopped or at least limited. I doubt that happens.
I remember back when I was in HS in the early '60's the education system tried to ban high school fraternities, and that was a joke. It could never be enforced. Can you imagine the school system or the state trying to regulate this kind of activity? Next thing you know, the kids will be more interested in 7-on-7 rather than HS football, because the former will be more connected to college football and their "business" decisions about where they go. The kids will continue to talk nonsense like facilities, playing time, "family" atmosphere, academics, etc., yet go to the highest bidder. Now, this will not be all kids, just maybe a certain percentage. Next thing you know, programs will have two kinds of players--those that are truly committed to the school and program when they are there, and those who are just there because that was their best deal. That will be a witch's brew for any program to deal with. Then you'll have the kids who are just playing to prep themselves for the league, will not play when hurt, will have less interest in education, and might not care that much about actually winning. Who cares, three years and out! Then you'll have the kids on the team who actually care about school and the team, and might even resent the kids who are in the other group. They'll know.
