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:
1) As a booster, Lyles was not permitted any contact with Seastrunk during the recruiting process
2) Oregon paid an exorbitant fee to Lyles, $25,000, for invoiced services that have been contradicted by Kelly
3) Lyles’ “recruiting service” does not fulfill NCAA guidelines
4) Oregon player comments suggest Lyles had influence over Duck players before signing with the school
5) The NCAA placed Oregon on probation for a 2003 recruiting “mistake” by Campbell
If Oregon were to cut Seastrunk loose there’d plenty of schools willing to acquire his services. Not to mention the fact that rumors have persisted for months that Seastrunk was considering a transfer on his own. (Memphis head coach and former LSU assistant Larry Porter, who dealt with Lyles extensively while on Les Miles‘ staff, is one coach who could afford such a risk.)
Then there’s Campbell, who last January was already bringing up the possibility of retirement. If Campbell really does care about the Oregon program he will indeed consider retiring to, at the very least, a voluntary NCAA sitdown.
But Oregon’s fate will depend on much more than placating the NCAA.
In the end the media, not the NCAA, will determine the fate of the Oregon football program.
If you don’t believe me on that, ask USC, which was never directly linked to the Reggie Bush family shenanigans but hammered by the NCAA anyway thanks to AD Mike Garrett’s unwillingness to be more forthcoming with NCAA investigators and just important, reporters.
How else do you explain the NCAA taking down the Trojans with a case mainly based on the contradictory testimony of a convicted felon?
With USC, the NCAA didn’t have a $25,000 check to a known street agent from the school itself. The NCAA didn’t have taped comments from an assistant coach acknowledging activities with a street agent that are against NCAA rules.
With USC, the NCAA didn’t have its own president (Mark Emmert last Thursday) sounding these alarm bells in the middle of its investigation of the school:
“When we have people that don’t want to conduct themselves consistent with the integrity of these games, we need to be ready to deal with that appropriately. We cannot have coaches, administrators, parents or student‑athletes sitting out there deciding, Is this worth the risk? If I conduct myself in this fashion, and if I get caught, it’s still worth the risk. We don’t want those kind of cost benefit analyses going on.”
What the NCAA did have with USC was ugly publicity from an investigative expose and a school unwilling to publicly acknowledge virtually any appearance of its own impropriety.
Sound familiar Ducks fans?
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7:22 pm on April 3rd, 2011
oh man, we are toast
7:41 pm on April 3rd, 2011
The duhks don’t rebuild they rebuy
8:38 pm on April 3rd, 2011
I don’t understand why these stories about Oregon and Auburn aren’t getting more media attention. It’s hardly anywhere else but this site. Sure, you do a great job Brooks reporting, but no one else seems to be talking about it besides the commenters here. I just wish this blog had a bigger influence sometimes!
8:41 pm on April 3rd, 2011
How does it feel to play rent-a-cop for the NCAA?
9:28 pm on April 3rd, 2011
This whole storyline has the jealous fingertips of Texas, A&M all over it.
9:28 pm on April 3rd, 2011
So basically what Brooks is saying is the 2010 BCS National Championship was more like the Super Bowl than a college football game?
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The BCS let two cheaters play for the Coaches Trophy. That alone is reason enough to scrap them and get a play-off system installed.
11:09 pm on April 3rd, 2011
LMAO at Bama Fans talking about someone else cheating, For your Information Bama fans, the recruits in the 1010 recruiting class have not seen Oregon or Auburn on probation in their lifetime, these same 18 year old recruits have not seen Bama when they were not on probation. LMFAO
11:24 pm on April 3rd, 2011
Where are the $25,000 tapes? Oregon could put this thing to rest quickly by just producing them and showing their “value.”
Now, about the payments to Jabari Brown’s AAU coach from Phil Knight. Can’t have an empty Matt Court. Oregon already has the lowest basketball revenue in the conference, and now they have the greatest debt service….a yearly zap to the tax payers of $11.5 million for a program that grossed $3.2 million last season. (While incoming freshman STUDENTS have no place to live.)
11:37 pm on April 3rd, 2011
Let’s see …… Lache Seastrunk’s decision came down to Oregon or AUBURN?
Auburn and another street agent?
Pattern here that only the ncaa cannot figure out.
12:48 am on April 4th, 2011
I don’t get the problem duck fans.
Mr. Nike will just write a check and make it all go away.
6:57 am on April 4th, 2011
SalOleGal.
*U is tied for second with the most NCAA probations with 7. Arizona St and SMU (who got the death penalty) are tied for first with 8. *U is currently under investigation on MANY fronts, including with Lyles. Fortunately, smart coaches can smell him coming for miles and steer away from him. His actions are very shady.
I find it VERY odd that *U and Oregon were tied in a dead heat for Seastrunk and BOTH schools happen to play against each other in the BCS Championship. Today, it’s a tainted championship game because both schools are under NCAA investigation.
In the end, *U will lose their title. Their investigation isn’t just about $Cam Newton. It’s about MANY players from various states. Dyer, Lemonier, Reed, Robinson, Wright, Mosely and others. Schools from their respective states turned *U in because of their eagerness to pay players. See the recent HBO special about 4 *U players who currently confessed to being paid. More will come out soon.
Street agents and such and are ruining the game of college football and there’s an outrage against schools who use them. The media are calling for major sanctions against schools who use them, especially schools like *U.
*U will be just one school who will get hammered. Each day the NCAA doesn’t say anything publicly about *U, means that they found more to investigate and their hammer is being cocked back one click at a time.
Question is, what other schools will get hammered with *U?
9:31 am on April 4th, 2011
“I find it VERY odd that *U and Oregon were tied in a dead heat for Seastrunk and BOTH schools happen to play against each other in the BCS Championship. Today, it’s a tainted championship game because both schools are under NCAA investigation.”
This is actual incorrect. Auburn had stop recruiting Seastrunk and he was USC bound before Pete left. He would be a Trojan if Pete had not bailed.
11:31 am on April 4th, 2011
Uh, SalOleGal - Seastrunk had nothing to do with the Ducks getting to the Natty - he redshirted last year.
11:34 am on April 4th, 2011
Here’s another thing that isn’t clear to me - how can a “booster” be a booster of more than one University? If Lyles is sending kids all over the country, how can he be a “booster” of any one school? That does not compute.
11:48 am on April 4th, 2011
I find it odd that Brooks keeps crying about Oregon “needing to produce the tapes” they received from Lyles, but he is either unaware or afraid to acknowledge the simple fact that Oregon HAS produced what they received from Lyles to the ONLY entity that matters in this case… the NCAA.
Oregon has been totally forthcoming with the NCAA on this, completely the OPPOSITE of what USC was and THAT is why (IMO) the NCAA smacked USC so hard; because they were arrogant pricks about the whole process.
If Oregon weren’t being so upfront with the NCAA, then I would have some concern.
The only thing that is going to come of this is that Oregon MIGHT get a wrist slap for “bending the rules, but not crossing them” and there will be new/stricter rules and regulations placed on these recruiting services.
If Oregon is actually cheating, they are absolutely AWFUL at it and have a lot to learn from the real cheaters out there.
12:26 pm on April 4th, 2011
people saying that “Oregon should produce the tapes” seem to be ignorant of the digital age
according to reports (that never get mentioned because they aren’t “sensational”) the video product is rights-protected digital video and clients buy a digital key to access the video. There re not tapes or disks
12:55 pm on April 4th, 2011
I wonder if Lyles and Seastrunk were together at Auburn’s Big Cat Weekend? Who else was there? Other street agents? Nelson? W. Williams? Was there media there? ESPN’s Luginbil?
2:30 pm on April 4th, 2011
First off, if Brooks is going to use Canzano as evidence, he should READ the articles first. In fact in the interview in question, Kelly says nothing about whether film or video was part of the package or not. If you carefully cut up the comments, you can make it sound like film or video was not part of the package - which is NOT what Kelly was saying. He actually doesn’t comment specifically on film or video in any way - this interview was done right after the story broke and at that point there was no allegation the film or video doesn’t exist - so Kelly probably didn’t feel the need to clearly address that point.
Second, Lyles began mentoring Seastrunk as a high school sophomore, which does predate the UO recruiting him. The points in the article make it sound like anyone who receives money providing a service cannot work as a “mentor” for a recruit.
That would make sense but it actually isn’t a rule yet. Lyles apparently has worked for recruiting services for several years. He also has mentored a number of players for several years. Has he been determined to be a booster of all of these schools?
10:55 pm on April 4th, 2011
Beware False Prophets
You just maid my point, Auburn and Oregon have not been on Probation in my lifetime, or any recruit in the 2012
recruiting class, and Bama has been on probation my entire life and the entire life of 2012 recruits.
Yes Auburn was on probation years ago because Bear Bryant had friends in the NCAA and SEC office “there is a reason the SEC office is in B/Ham” The Bear made the statement ” when the NCAA comes snooping around Bama Auburn goes on probation” but those days ore over.
BAMA fans talking about Oregon and Auburn cheating.
LMAO
2:09 am on April 5th, 2011
“This is actual incorrect. Auburn had stop recruiting Seastrunk and he was USC bound before Pete left. He would be a Trojan if Pete had not bailed.”
Looks like you bought into Laches spin. Check the record, and his own words spoken before Lyles was exposed.
He previously claimed to have chosen Oregon right after the All-Star game from that year. The date of that game was January 4. The announcement that Pete was leaving for Seattle wasn’t made until January 11.
USC fans and players weren’t even aware that he was in negotiations with Seattle, so it’s highly unlikely Seastrunk was given information about Pete’s future before his own players were told.
Besides, the deal was done in three days, meaning Pete wasn’t even contacted about the job until AFTER Seastrunk chose Oregon.
8:07 am on April 5th, 2011
Forbes
Taylor Bean Chairman on Trial — Along With Colonial Bank and Auburn University
Apr. 4 2011 - 9:24 pm | 835 views | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
By WALTER PAVLO
Today, the trial of the first big name from the financial meltdown will take place in a courtroom in Alexandria, VA as the case of the U.S. vs. Lee Farkas moves forward with opening statements.
Lee Farkas, the founder and former chairman of the now bankrupt Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (TBW), is on trial for fraud associated with loans sold to Colonial Bank and other institutions. TBW was a huge feeder of packaged mortgages to Colonial Bank, which was seized by government banking regulators in August 2009 and their assets taken over by BB&T. It was the 6th largest bank to fail in the United States and the poster child of bad loans gone-bad in the state of Florida, where it was heavily invested. Farkas is accused of conspiring with members of his staff and employees at Colonial to sell $1.5 billion in bogus mortgages to the bank. Five people have pleaded guilty including the CEO, president and treasurer of TBW along with two executives at Colonial Bank. Farkas must be sweating it but there’s another interesting story involving Colonial Bank that is still developing.
Four months prior to the Colonial Bank closing, its chairman and CEO, Bobby Lowder, announced his retirement. Great timing. No charges have been filed against Lowder, yet. Lowder, who is on the Board of Trustees for Auburn University and graduate of Auburn, has seen his world crumble these past few years. Besides the bank he founded in 1981 going bust, he had appointed Milton McGregor (Auburn Alum and good friend), to the board of directors of Colonial. McGregor, whose name is more synonymous with being an athletic booster of Auburn football, also owns gambling establishments in Alabama that go under the name of VictoryLand. McGregor was arrested this past October on bribery and fraud charges along with 10 others related to buying votes on gaming laws in the state legislature. Also on the board of Colonial was Pat Dye, former Auburn football coach, who left the program in 1992 under the shadow of NCAA violations for alumni paying players of the team. In fact, there were a number of Auburn alums on the board or in officer positions at Colonial including CFO Sarah Moore, COO Patti Hill, James Rane III (of YellaWood fame), William Powell III (Alabama Cattlemen Assoc) and others. How much of a role, if any, each of these figures will play in the trial of TBW’s Farkas will be seen in the upcoming weeks.
So what did Auburn grad and Colonial Bank chairman Bobby Lowder do when the heat was on and he needed someone to take over his bank in 2009, prior to it going bust? He chose Lewis Beville as President and CEO. And at what fine institution did Mr. Beville matriculate? Not Auburn….try rival University of Alabama. And you thought these rivalries only played themselves out on the football field.
Alabama is not banking territory, it’s football territory. So the big story there is not the Farkas trial or the banking scandal unfolding, but the FBI and NCAA continued investigation of the Auburn football program related to payments possibly made to Auburn Tiger quarterback Cam Newton (Heisman Trophy winner). However, it probably doesn’t look good when your top player is suspected of taking payments when so many alums are affiliated with a now defunct bank.
http://blogs.forbes.com/walterpavlo/2011/04/04/taylor-bean-chairman-on-trial-along-with-colonial-bank-and-auburn-university/
7:02 pm on April 5th, 2011
“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;”
So you’re telling me that every high school coach who knows a college coach that wants to recruit one of his players is a booster?
12:30 pm on April 6th, 2011
I was told Mr. Lyles, or maybe it was another street agent, helped ole’ Trent Richardson. Anything odd about his recruitment? Did his mom move? Did she get a new/different job? Is Trent driving a newer car today than he was this time last year?
You Updyke idiots………….Trovon Reed and Seastrunk are relatives. They talked on the phone, texted each other regularly (as was reported WHILE THEY WERE BEING RECRUITED!), and visited schools together. It would have been very odd if they didn’t visit schools at the same time….or if their “street agents” (in some cases legal guardians) weren’t seen together at the same school.
Now……..getting back to Mr. Calloway, was he ever “found” after being hidden out and having to miss his high school basketball game. Maybe his so-called “guardian/street agent” can tell us now.
Any word on Kwanjo………..contributions to his school, after announcing to Auburn and going into great detail why he chose Auburn (recruits he liked, who he wanted to room with, etc.)?
We’ll still spot you 24…………on your (really OUR home field) home field (that AU pays property tax on, because we own it!).
12:06 am on April 13th, 2011
Looks like you bought into Laches spin. Check the record, and his own words spoken before Lyles was exposed.
He previously claimed to have chosen Oregon right after the All-Star game from that year. The date of that game was January 4. The announcement that Pete was leaving for Seattle wasn’t made until January 11.
USC fans and players weren’t even aware that he was in negotiations with Seattle, so it’s highly unlikely Seastrunk was given information about Pete’s future before his own players were told.
Besides, the deal was done in three days, meaning Pete wasn’t even contacted about the job until AFTER Seastrunk chose Oregon.
So he was spinning this last year not too long after he signed with Oregon? He was a USC commit in Jan. Do a search on google or on Oregon live there is an article on Feb 4th that states this. I think your timeline isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If you could show me the interview where he claimed to have made the switch before Petes decision to leave it might help.