Oklahoma caught cheating
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:43 am
buwahahaha
idiots laughed when MU got caught for illegal phone calls to recruits(all clemons crap was proven to be false) Now they get busted for same shit, and even worse than the mighty quin did!
http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasket ... ry/9153113
The NCAA's look into the Oklahoma basketball program has every element of the modern-day NCAA investigation, including the 21st century smoking gun: a phone bill.
The NCAA alleges the OU coaching staff made more than 550 impermissible calls to recruits from April 2000 to September 2004. Oklahoma issued self-imposed sanctions, including two years of probation and a three-scholarship reduction.
The Sooners have to answer to the Infractions Committee in April. (Getty Images)
The Sooners have to answer to the Infractions Committee in April. (Getty Images)
With the NCAA chillingly not accepting those sanctions as being firm enough, Oklahoma faces the Infractions Committee in April.
Meanwhile, CBS SportsLine.com's investigation shows this case looks like so many others. The usual cast of characters:
The youth program: CBS SportsLine.com has learned that the NCAA's look into Oklahoma didn't begin in May 2004, as has been widely reported, but actually much earlier. As early as 2002, the NCAA was investigating the link between the Sooners and the region's most prominent club program, Athletes First, whose alumni include Duke's Shelden Williams, New Mexico's J.R. Giddens and OU recruits Kevin Bookout, De'Angelo Alexander, David Godbold, Taylor Griffin and Keith Clark. The NCAA questioned Athletes First players (and parents) in 2002, according to one person who was questioned, asking specifically about their relationship with then-OU assistant Ray Lopes. Athletes First coach Gary Vick told CBS SportsLine.com: "They talked to every single player on that team. They were asking in regards to myself, whether I was doing anything irregular. But I don't do that."
The exhibition team: Athletes First was founded in 1998 in conjunction with a traveling exhibition team that played Division I programs -- the very conflict of interest the NCAA legislated out of college basketball two years ago. The exhibition team in question was created in the late 1970s under the name Marathon Oil, then became known as Conoco Oil, then changed its name to Athletes First. Vick had been the exhibition coach since its Marathon Oil days, but in the late 1990s he began looking for elite high school players to create a club program. While Vick says the creation of the Athletes First club program had nothing to do with his exhibition team, CBS SportsLine.com spoke with the area talent scout who steered Vick toward Bookout, Alexander and Williams. "He told me he needed players," the scout said of Vick. "Coaches were telling him they couldn't play his (exhibition) team if he didn't have players they could recruit." Vick's exhibition team played Oklahoma annually from 2001-03 -- when the Sooners were getting commitments from Bookout, Alexander, Godbold and Griffin of Athletes First.
The booster: Athletes First was founded by J. Calvin Johnson of Oklahoma City, a 1984 graduate of the OU College of Medicine. Sources describe Johnson -- who was unavailable for comment despite multiple attempts by CBS SportsLine.com -- as an OU basketball booster. Vick says Johnson started Athletes First to prepare in-state players for elite competition, but says Johnson doesn't run the club's day-to-day operations. "I do," Vick said. "And we don't steer players to Oklahoma. If a kid wants to go to Oklahoma State -- like (OSU recruit) Obi Muonelo -- that's great."
The misdirection: The spin out of OU is that the Sooners were ensnared in the NCAA web that cost Lopes his job at Fresno State. Lopes resigned from Fresno State in March 2005 after it was discovered that he and his staff had made more than 400 impermissible phone calls to recruits from April 2002 to November 2004. Several sources, however, say the opposite is true: Lopes was dragged down by the NCAA's look into Oklahoma -- not vice versa. The NCAA's recent looks into Oklahoma -- first the Athletes First connection, then in 2004 with the phone calls -- were triggered by several rivals in the Big 12 who reported the Sooners to the NCAA.
The smoking gun: Lopes' attorney, Toby Baldwin, says the NCAA's notice of allegations makes no reference to Athletes First. In other words, if there was any wrongdoing between Oklahoma and Athletes First, the NCAA hasn't found it. However, the phone calls are another matter -- as usual. Phone bills have become the NCAA's easiest way to nail a program. In recent years, massive NCAA investigations into Auburn and Missouri turned up little in the way of hard evidence beyond impermissible phone calls. The same appears to be true at Oklahoma.
The friendly media: Only one newspaper in the state, the Oklahoman, has the manpower to cover this NCAA investigation. The Oklahoman is owned by the Gaylord family. The Sooners play football at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Same Gaylords. The NCAA's allegations against Oklahoma are similar to the ones uncovered last year at Missouri. The media grilled Missouri. Oklahoma? Barely a peep.
The unimpeachable coach: Like Ohio State's Jim O'Brien before he was fired last summer, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson has been untouchable. He is a former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. In his tenure as president, with his profession reeling from the misdeeds at Baylor, Georgia and St. Bonaventure, the NABC created the Ethics Committee. According to the NCAA's investigation, Sampson made more than 200 of the impermissible calls.
The gray rulebook: In fairness to the OU coaching staff, the NCAA rule on phone calls -- "one per week" -- isn't exactly clear. For example, suppose Sampson calls Bookout and gets the mother instead. They speak for 45 seconds, and the mother asks Sampson to call back later. Sampson calls back and Bookout's dad answers. Again, no Bookout. Call back, Coach. Finally, Sampson finds Bookout. According to NCAA rules, that's three phone calls. Technically, though, Sampson and Kevin Bookout have spoken just once. Only the NCAA rulebook could be so thick, yet so incomplete.
The scapegoat: Like Missouri did with assistants Lane Odom and Tony Harvey, and like Ohio State has tried to do with Paul Biancardi, the best way for Oklahoma and Sampson to protect themselves from the NCAA's wrath is to blame Lopes, whose misconduct has been tied to two universities. But there are two problems. One, Sampson and Lopes are close friends. Two, Sampson is alleged to have made more than 200 of those calls himself, and the NCAA has accused him of not adequately monitoring his staff. That's why the Oklahoma violations have been deemed major.
rack the part about the tards at OU paper, grilling Mizzou for their phone call infractions(which were not even in the 500 ballpark) yet a minor peep in their paper! Fucking hipocrite dickbags!
get'em NCAA
What's fair is fair
idiots laughed when MU got caught for illegal phone calls to recruits(all clemons crap was proven to be false) Now they get busted for same shit, and even worse than the mighty quin did!
http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasket ... ry/9153113
The NCAA's look into the Oklahoma basketball program has every element of the modern-day NCAA investigation, including the 21st century smoking gun: a phone bill.
The NCAA alleges the OU coaching staff made more than 550 impermissible calls to recruits from April 2000 to September 2004. Oklahoma issued self-imposed sanctions, including two years of probation and a three-scholarship reduction.
The Sooners have to answer to the Infractions Committee in April. (Getty Images)
The Sooners have to answer to the Infractions Committee in April. (Getty Images)
With the NCAA chillingly not accepting those sanctions as being firm enough, Oklahoma faces the Infractions Committee in April.
Meanwhile, CBS SportsLine.com's investigation shows this case looks like so many others. The usual cast of characters:
The youth program: CBS SportsLine.com has learned that the NCAA's look into Oklahoma didn't begin in May 2004, as has been widely reported, but actually much earlier. As early as 2002, the NCAA was investigating the link between the Sooners and the region's most prominent club program, Athletes First, whose alumni include Duke's Shelden Williams, New Mexico's J.R. Giddens and OU recruits Kevin Bookout, De'Angelo Alexander, David Godbold, Taylor Griffin and Keith Clark. The NCAA questioned Athletes First players (and parents) in 2002, according to one person who was questioned, asking specifically about their relationship with then-OU assistant Ray Lopes. Athletes First coach Gary Vick told CBS SportsLine.com: "They talked to every single player on that team. They were asking in regards to myself, whether I was doing anything irregular. But I don't do that."
The exhibition team: Athletes First was founded in 1998 in conjunction with a traveling exhibition team that played Division I programs -- the very conflict of interest the NCAA legislated out of college basketball two years ago. The exhibition team in question was created in the late 1970s under the name Marathon Oil, then became known as Conoco Oil, then changed its name to Athletes First. Vick had been the exhibition coach since its Marathon Oil days, but in the late 1990s he began looking for elite high school players to create a club program. While Vick says the creation of the Athletes First club program had nothing to do with his exhibition team, CBS SportsLine.com spoke with the area talent scout who steered Vick toward Bookout, Alexander and Williams. "He told me he needed players," the scout said of Vick. "Coaches were telling him they couldn't play his (exhibition) team if he didn't have players they could recruit." Vick's exhibition team played Oklahoma annually from 2001-03 -- when the Sooners were getting commitments from Bookout, Alexander, Godbold and Griffin of Athletes First.
The booster: Athletes First was founded by J. Calvin Johnson of Oklahoma City, a 1984 graduate of the OU College of Medicine. Sources describe Johnson -- who was unavailable for comment despite multiple attempts by CBS SportsLine.com -- as an OU basketball booster. Vick says Johnson started Athletes First to prepare in-state players for elite competition, but says Johnson doesn't run the club's day-to-day operations. "I do," Vick said. "And we don't steer players to Oklahoma. If a kid wants to go to Oklahoma State -- like (OSU recruit) Obi Muonelo -- that's great."
The misdirection: The spin out of OU is that the Sooners were ensnared in the NCAA web that cost Lopes his job at Fresno State. Lopes resigned from Fresno State in March 2005 after it was discovered that he and his staff had made more than 400 impermissible phone calls to recruits from April 2002 to November 2004. Several sources, however, say the opposite is true: Lopes was dragged down by the NCAA's look into Oklahoma -- not vice versa. The NCAA's recent looks into Oklahoma -- first the Athletes First connection, then in 2004 with the phone calls -- were triggered by several rivals in the Big 12 who reported the Sooners to the NCAA.
The smoking gun: Lopes' attorney, Toby Baldwin, says the NCAA's notice of allegations makes no reference to Athletes First. In other words, if there was any wrongdoing between Oklahoma and Athletes First, the NCAA hasn't found it. However, the phone calls are another matter -- as usual. Phone bills have become the NCAA's easiest way to nail a program. In recent years, massive NCAA investigations into Auburn and Missouri turned up little in the way of hard evidence beyond impermissible phone calls. The same appears to be true at Oklahoma.
The friendly media: Only one newspaper in the state, the Oklahoman, has the manpower to cover this NCAA investigation. The Oklahoman is owned by the Gaylord family. The Sooners play football at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Same Gaylords. The NCAA's allegations against Oklahoma are similar to the ones uncovered last year at Missouri. The media grilled Missouri. Oklahoma? Barely a peep.
The unimpeachable coach: Like Ohio State's Jim O'Brien before he was fired last summer, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson has been untouchable. He is a former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. In his tenure as president, with his profession reeling from the misdeeds at Baylor, Georgia and St. Bonaventure, the NABC created the Ethics Committee. According to the NCAA's investigation, Sampson made more than 200 of the impermissible calls.
The gray rulebook: In fairness to the OU coaching staff, the NCAA rule on phone calls -- "one per week" -- isn't exactly clear. For example, suppose Sampson calls Bookout and gets the mother instead. They speak for 45 seconds, and the mother asks Sampson to call back later. Sampson calls back and Bookout's dad answers. Again, no Bookout. Call back, Coach. Finally, Sampson finds Bookout. According to NCAA rules, that's three phone calls. Technically, though, Sampson and Kevin Bookout have spoken just once. Only the NCAA rulebook could be so thick, yet so incomplete.
The scapegoat: Like Missouri did with assistants Lane Odom and Tony Harvey, and like Ohio State has tried to do with Paul Biancardi, the best way for Oklahoma and Sampson to protect themselves from the NCAA's wrath is to blame Lopes, whose misconduct has been tied to two universities. But there are two problems. One, Sampson and Lopes are close friends. Two, Sampson is alleged to have made more than 200 of those calls himself, and the NCAA has accused him of not adequately monitoring his staff. That's why the Oklahoma violations have been deemed major.
rack the part about the tards at OU paper, grilling Mizzou for their phone call infractions(which were not even in the 500 ballpark) yet a minor peep in their paper! Fucking hipocrite dickbags!
get'em NCAA
What's fair is fair
