NCAA - Myles Brand - Adds Race to Mayo Mix
May 13, 2008
Reactions of this sort are rarely for the best. In an unprecedented action the NCAA today announced that is taking three of its staff devoted to investigations and using them to solely oversee and report on problems they perceive in the recruiting of basketball players in an environment that association President Myles Brand contends is, “more difficult than some of the others, certainly on the recruiting side.”
“We have to have enough knowledge and sufficient networks … to successfully investigate these cases. “That’s why we think it’s better to have a few people, some of our leading investigators, who are focused in their efforts.”
To translate, Brand is saying that the behind-the-scenes machinations in recruiting athletes in college basketball are more problematic than in its primary cash cow, football.
Because there are, by percentage, more black athletes per team in big-time college basketball than in football, Brand’s statement borders on racist. The massive revenues generated by the big conferences in football and the fact that these football schools’ identities are directly tied to the successes of their football programs ensure that there is a ratio of graft related to the recruiting of blue-chip athletes to that sport that is commensurate to the disparity in generated revenues.
It’s like this: boosters love football.
Historically, the most irrational acts and the biggest recruiting scandals have been tied to football. Notre Dame’s and other programs’ recruiting of professional athletes in the 1930s after the NCAA outlawed the practice was the first huge scandal to hit college campuses and test the then newly-formed NCAA. Recently there was a huge - but nationally underreported - recruiting flap in the SEC where Philip Fulmer, in direct violation with NCAA rules took it upon himself to record over eight hours of conversations with a “recruiting expert” and then directly report alleged violations to the NCAA’s investigative arm. The Tennessee head football coach’s responsibility was to take his allegations and any evidence he may have had concerning those allegations to his athletic director, who then contacts the NCAA.
Fulmer’s indiscretions revolved around a simple perceived “turf war.” Behind the veil was an investigation by the NCAA that revealed recruiting violations by Fulmer and his staff that resulted in lost scholarships and the whisper of greater misdeeds that the NCAA was quietly pursuing.
The perception was that the coach was losing his grip on keeping Tennessee high school athletes in state and was losing them to other SEC universities, especially Alabama. The investigation resulted in the disgracing of an Alabama booster along with two black Crimson Tide assistants to then head coach Mike Shula. Ironically, the assistants sued the NCAA and won a large monetary award over the association’s findings of gross wrong-doing by the two men.
So, the entire investigation that was the subject of an ESPN television investigation, an intense NCAA investigation and involved potentially millions of dollars in money and gifts passed from boosters to middlemen to athletes and from boosters to athletes resulted in ——– one booster being outed and the NCAA paying $2.8 million dollars to two Alabama assistants who were wrongly accused in the investigation.
Despite the fact that there are approximately 300 Division I basketball programs, there a re fewer than half the number of athletes playing basketball than there are in the 120 or so big-time college football programs. More athletes equal more money dedicated to that sport. More money dedicated to that sport equals more pressure to win. More pressure to win equals more graft.
So for Myles Brand to say that the problems related to recruiting in basketball are more difficult to deal with than they are in other sports (i.e. football) is disingenuous. At best, the money passed in basketball flows through more black hands than it does in football. The chances that faces on both ends of basketball recruiting violations are greater than those of a football scandal.
Blacker? Yes. More difficult? Not on your life.
Related articles:
OJ Mayo Report 2: Investigation the ESPN Way
OJ Mayo: A First Report on the Money Trailing Behind the Collegiate Star
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12 Responses to “NCAA - Myles Brand - Adds Race to Mayo Mix”
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on point d-Wil… By any measure as you point out basketball does not compare to football… chalk up another victory for ESPN and their “investigative arm”…
race clearly plays a major role… because it is often black players that get investigated to begin with. ESPN is completing a 4 month investigation. FOUR MONTHS. You know what, investigations cost money. They are BUSINESS decisions, and ESPN needs a return on their investment. Investigating black athletes are simply more profitable in this regard. It is what biased white viewers like to read about whether admitted or not. The misbehaving black athlete has been market tested over and over and keeps getting high nielson ratings and web clicks, . That is why Pacman is in the news every day, but Tim Donaghy and Chris benoit disappear. Investigating Kevin Love — even if accurate — will not get you the same response, period. The narrative was already their for OJ Mayo — one supplied by the media.
And now Myles Brand has restructured his institution because of it, while just about every blue-chip athlete of every sport is in OJ Mayo’s boat. This is ridiculous… When white and black athletes are INVESTIGATED by media with equal fervor, then race will cease to play a role.
Absolutely. Brand is doing this because it is probably easier for him to police college basketball and whatever happens there. Note that whenever there is any particular controversy over NCAA violations or most important issues to college football, the questions more often than not seem to go to the conference commissioner or BCS head. Compared to college football, the world of college basketball and the recruiting surrounding it is a seminary.
Please note Rhett Bomar at Oklahoma a couple seasons ago, and how quickly we forget the influence of boosters. Bob Stoops couldn’t have been that stupid as to know that his QB in waiting at the time (and another player) was getting extra cash doing no work at a car dealership.
Not only are there more black athletes proportionally in college ball, it also has much to do with the sheer numbers — with 12 players or so on a college hoops team, each player is much more visible than the numerous athletes on scholly in football (85 limit, right?); the lower rungs on a 3-deep roster on any given Saturday aren’t given a second look.
D-Wil, don’t forget the other hypocritical part of this. Talented, poor athletes spend only one year in school for college basketball…but THREE for college football. So the potential for scandal and the desperation of poor or greedy athletes is much worse for football.
Also, I was touched by a recent article in SLAM about Larry Bird, where he admitted he dropped out of Indiana because his parents didn’t have enough money to keep him there, even though he was on scholarship. He took that year off to work and then went to ISU. It’s shocking to realize the world was almost robbed of viewing the talents of a star like Bird just because of a few dollars. I was not on the side of paying athletes before, but that article went a long way to push me in that direction.
Dwil - Brand is full of shit. There is simply no way he could not know what is going on in college basketball. This whole “investigation” is a farce. There is pretty much no chance USC will be punished for this from the jump, so this whole investigation is just to appease the media.
But beyond that, I go back to what I said in the other post. There’s no way OJ or Guillory could have known the NCAA rules would change. When they first hooked up there is little doubt the Guillory and everyone else involved was molding the kid to go straight to the pros. When the rule change hit, the plan was altered.
Yet, it’s very hard to believe that the NCAA knew nothing of relationships players had with these runners. They had to have known that pretty much every talented kid has been in contact with these guys and countless other people for years. They signed off on OJ knowing about Guillory. Even with the gifts Guillory gave OJ it would still be hard to prove the Guillory bought those things for OJ using money he got from BDA. The most damning thing I have seen so far is a possible connection between a cell phone OJ uses being charged to a charitable organization. This could be bad for Guillory, but I can honestly believe OJ didn’t know where the money for the phone came from. Even if he did, I wouldn’t expect a 17/18 year old to understand the ramifications of that.
Bottom line, this is bullshit and I smell a witch hunt coming.
Honestly, it appears a bit Bonds-like to me (and that’s pretty big coming given that I’m not a fan of Bonds at all). But the the situations are eerily similar to me:
Known “problem” that is rampant throughout a sport.
Powers that be bury their heads.
Black athlete comes along that’s way smarter than he looks or what the media will give him credit for.
Black athlete uses the rules of the system to his advantage.
Media realizes the black athlete just beat the system.
Media dedicates countless time and resources to “expose” the black athlete.
Black athlete is sacrificial lamb for the corrupt system.
Luckily OJ will be a top 10 to top five pick and will have the opportunity to distance himself from this on the court, but the whole thing just stinks.
Shon
OJ will do his thing and to hell with those pimps. It’s all about who controls the ho’s, the NCAA and agents like Falk or small timers like Guillory or the character who tried to mess with Reggie Bush.
At the end of the day these young cats better beleive seriously in the capitalistic way to the nth degree, when dealing with the NCAA and pro sports vultures, cause they’re gonna oppressed these young cats anyways.
You criticize ESPN for a four-month, presumably costly investigation. Would you prefer that the network make these allegations after four days or even four weeks of reporting as opposed to four months? This is a well reported story backed by tangible evidence — receipts — rather than simply the word of a convicted drug dealer.
Rob-
There needs to be more evidence than a story and receipts without O. J. Mayo’s name on them……
No on writing an investigative article could ever get away with citing one source and basing guilt or innocence on that one source… You can begin there, but not end there.
Also, what I wrote on that very subject in the article previous to this, is:
Again, Naqi finds herself in the position of betting on one horse of questionable repute to get her to the ticket window. But like the dramatic darkened figure with Vick, Johnson made for good television with Mayo, Guillory, and Duffy. Whether there is more corroborating evidence to substantiate Johnson’s claims remains to be seen….
In reality, it will probably be a wonder if Naqi’s investigation can make a meaningful dent in any of “amateur” basketball’s maleficent behavior. Remember, it took the threat of bringing RICO charges against Michael Vick to make his attorneys think - and then blink in the face of persecutors.
What threat will it take in the case of O. J. Mayo? Let’s reserve judgment until Naqi and ESPN begin to focus their investigation. And let’s hope that, for once in a matter like this, they do the right thing.
[…] Brand is already spewing fire about committing three investigators to college basketball, while spewing bullshit about how college hoops are harder to police than any other sport (try one with an 85 scholly limit, Mr. […]
Dwil: I watched the report again, and I still believe the story was well reported. I believe this because the receipts provide corroboration of Johnson’s comments. The paper trail is a source, and it’s a better source than the word of a half-dozen people.
Two examples:
Johnson’s allegation: That he and Guillory traveled to Huntington, W.Va., for the purpose of being around Mayo.
Paper trail: Receipts in the ESPN story clearly show Johnson’s name on a receipt for a Red Roof Inn in Huntington and Guillory’s on a Courtyard by Marriot receipt. Why would two guys from L.A. stay in Huntington, W.Va., except to hang around with Mayo? I doubt it was because they liked the French cuisine.
Johnson’s allegation: Guillory paid for Mayo’s cell phone bill.
Paper trail: The ESPN story clearly shows a T-Mobile receipt with Guillory’s name on it. The receipt (presumably) includes the number of the phone on the account. As indicated in the espn.com report, Naqi or one of the producers/reporters called that phone number and Mayo answered.
Rob-
It is fact that an investigative writer cannot write this story as Naqi reported it. So, while Johnson can appear as credible as Jesus but there needs to be an apostle or three - at least - to corroborate the story. For investigative reporters it goes beyond simply answering, do I believe this person? There is also where and how and with whom can I substantiate and perhaps add to the info I presently have?
Because those are tenets of the type of report Naqi embarked upon, she - or a producer - fell woefully short of what is needed to truly make a story of this kind….
“You criticize ESPN for a four-month, presumably costly investigation. Would you prefer that the network make these allegations after four days or even four weeks of reporting as opposed to four months? ”
Rob, apart form dwil’s comments, I would prefer that ESPN was not selective in its investigations. This has been a trademark of ESPN. It invests its resources in investigating athletes that it will find profit, advertising, and web clicks in demonizing (read: disproportionately black athletes). Assuming guilt, the plight of Mayo is the rule, not the exception. Very similar to Bonds/steroids. And once ESPN commits a certain amount of resources, it will err on the side of airing the story…
in this particular case, it is important to note that the investigation began PRIOR to Louis Johnson breaking with the Mayo camp. ESPN did not react to Johnson, but more likely the opposite.
shon, you nailed it in that last ost. nailed it.
Myles Brand is missing his carnation that spits grape soda. He’s a total ass clown of Bozo proportions.
I have no problem whatsoever with him going after Mayo, but he REALLY needs to be up USC’s ass with a microscope. This is the second player/coaching regime that’s fooling around with the same street agent.
I think Tim Floyd needs to be fired immediately. He’s no angel in this. And his pretty face and genius rep need to be left out of the equation. What’s good for Clem Haskins is good for Tim Floyd.