Started By
Message
***Interview With a Bag Man***
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:16 pm
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:16 pm
quote:
Spencer Hall ?@edsbs And now, @38Godfrey talks to that most elusive of creatures: the bag man of the SEC. LINK …
There's a weird code of personal conduct for a bag man. It's okay to be flashy, but within the limits. Set up your lavish tailgate, put a deposit down on a luxury box, or name your child after a famous player or coach. After all, you're passionate enough to be paying, so you might as well enjoy yourself.
But while drawing attention to yourself is fine, drawing importance to yourself is forbidden. You are now somebody in one very small social circle but forever destined to be nobody in the public eye.
"Coach has met me a few times. I've talked to Coach. But Coach doesn't really know me from Adam. How many other folks do you think he meets a week? After he got hired, I walked up and shook his hand, and the guy introducing us says, "Hey Coach, this here's [first name], he takes care of stuff for us.' Now, what does that really mean? Do I charter planes for the university? Do I run a company that sells concessions to the stadium? Or do I make sure kids get taken care of? Coach doesn't know what I 'take care of.' He knows someone out there is doing this, and that's all."
"There's some guy I know. He's in the [official booster club for the university]. I've known him almost all my life; he's a friend of my family. Guy gives about $50,000 a year to the program. And so he gets to wear a jacket and have his name in the [annual alumni magazine] and gets to shake hands with the coaches and feel really goddamn important. I see this guy all the time, and we talk about the team, and he's always trying to big dick about how important he is to the program. Now let me ask you, who do you think is more important to this team winning next season? Him with his $50,000 getting bathrooms painted in the basketball arena, or what I do with not even a quarter of that much money?"
For those that don't venture on tRant I wanted to post this here since it's a very enlightening read. It's a composite of bag men from across the SEC
6
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:23 pm to undecided
I call bullshite on this article. There is no mention of atm cards, "loose" slot machines at Greyhound tracks, FBI wiretaps, sex used for recruiting or unsolved murders in South Carolina. ATPB is still my guide to all things bagman.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:25 pm to AUCatfish
quote:
You've probably read a detailed breakdown on some message board about how your rival school managed to land that prized wide receiver, and it probably involves something to do with a bank account.
The player might have been bought, but he didn't pop into the local savings and loan to pick up his check. Bank accounts carry more potentially traceable information than any other facet of an illegal payments system, even more than phone records. Yet in almost every popular Internet rumor about a recruit's family being paid off, there's some mention of a bank account or a slush fund that boosters pay into and athletes take out of.
"If you hear stories about bank accounts, they're fake. Why would there be a bank account? Yeah, I'm gonna open a checking account with statements someone could subpoena. Oh and hey, in this small town of however-many-thousands of people I'm gonna go in and open some account and then ask for a bunch of black teenagers to be put on there and ask for a bunch of debit cards they could get caught with. Why don't I just take out a fricking ad?"
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:28 pm to undecided
I didn't realize you weren't around then, it was a joking reference to the As the Plains Burns thread.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:29 pm to AUCatfish
Great article. CFB is shady business but it is what it is.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:32 pm to AUCatfish
I was a lurker during ATPB so when I read that passage I thought of Lowder, Colonial Bank, and Victory Land slot machines and realized we were looking in the wrong place the whole time 
This post was edited on 4/10/14 at 2:33 pm
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:39 pm to undecided
Didn't read the article and don't know if it's supposed to be serious but I really doubt they actually talked to any schools bagman.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:43 pm to undecided
I did this interview over two years ago and it is just now being printed. 
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:43 pm to undecided
Pretty cool, make a good point about performance based pay.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:45 pm to Weagle25
quote:
Didn't read the article and don't know if it's supposed to be serious but I really doubt they actually talked to any schools bagman.
Read the article it's damed detail
Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:47 pm to AUCatfish
quote:
ATPB
I forgot all about that place. Just googled and it appears that place has burnt to the ground. good times.Posted on 4/10/14 at 2:52 pm to undecided
quote:
Read the article it's damed detail
Why would any bagman talk to a reporter? Kinda the complete opposite of their job description. How did they find out who the bagman was?
Posted on 4/10/14 at 3:05 pm to AUCatfish
quote:
I call bull shite on this article. There is no mention of atm cards, "loose" slot machines at Greyhound tracks, FBI wiretaps, sex used for recruiting or unsolved murders in South Carolina. ATPB is still my guide to all things bagman.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 3:06 pm to Weagle25
quote:
Why would any bagman talk to a reporter?
There's always going to be that one guy. Or in this case a few, according to the author.
It makes for compelling reading because even if he's making the whole thing up you can see in your mind's eye how every word of it could be true, especially with some of the things we've observed in the past 10 years of SEC recruiting.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 3:14 pm to undecided
It could be true. It's definitely a good story.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 5:21 pm to TheJones
Love the part about paying a recruit $2,500 NOT to visit a school.
Posted on 4/10/14 at 7:38 pm to undecided
Posted on 4/11/14 at 8:21 am to undecided
Being a bag man is hazardous... Logan Young fell up some stairs to his death.
Posted on 4/11/14 at 8:22 am to Weagle25
quote:
Why would any bagman talk to a reporter? Kinda the complete opposite of their job description. How did they find out who the bagman was?
You are basically talking about guys slightly smarter and a lot richer than harvey updyke.
Page 1 of 1
Latest Auburn News
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News