re: Alabama Basketball Recruiting and Offseason Talk

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I think it's really an issue of plausible deniability. Was Michael Porter Sr. hired to secure the signatures of his sons? Absolutely. Would he have been hired if his kids were a couple of mid-major caliber 3*s? Hell no. He did have coaching experience though. He wasn't the most qualified man for the job, but he did meet the minimum qualifications, and it was a legitimate position

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So if a recruit's dad worked as a manager of a local gas station, can we hire him for a position of management and pay him a ridiculous amount of money to do it? I may own a fireworks shop, but if I'm suddenly hired to be a leader at NASA, something's off

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To me that's a very different situation than giving a family member a no-show job or hiring a high school dropout to be an "athletic trainer" or "consultant" or some nonsense like that.

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I mean if it's a no-show job that's one thing, but if it's a job where he has to show up and work that's another. Geico offers high-school dropouts that kind of money starting out.

I'm not saying either is right, but neither people are qualified (Jordan's we don't know, but can assume) and one of the family member's is being paid 300k and one 35k. Which benefit seems more impermissible?

So the real key thing with the Porters is that Porter SR was hired to a staff coaching job. For football for example, you can hire someone associated with a recruit to staff but you cannot hire them to other positions.


My guess is that the NCAA views staff coaching positions more valuable than any specific recruit.


Also

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He coached at Washington for one year in order for them to secure MPJ,

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Lorenzo Romar is also MPJ's godfather and long time connection of Porter Sr. It wouldn't be absurd to argue Romar would have hired him to give him a shot even if his sons weren't recruits

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then by Mizzou

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He also has extensive history and connections at Mizzou.











Clearly it is shady AF and Cuonzo buying recruits, but staff coaching hires are harder to judge than "Agent giving recruit brother a guaranteed 4 year job + raises"

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Lorenzo Romar is also MPJ's godfather and long time connection of Porter Sr. It wouldn't be absurd to argue Romar would have hired him to give him a shot even if his sons weren't recruits

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To me that makes it even more shady. He could have hired Porter at any point, but they chose to do so at a point where his son was at the very least a lock for top 3 prospect in the class. Sure Romar possibly wanted to hire his friend for the longest time (a lot of coaches probably do), but it was only an acceptable hire because of his son's status and what that meant Washington would be getting in a year's time. That is the only reason it happened. No MPJ, no MPS hire.

I disagree. Lebron was far more advanced than any of those guys were. By the end of his freshman year he wouldve dominated everyone on a college court.

Travis Reier post on BOL:

“Timme next weekend. Can’t say they don’t roll out the red carpet either.”

Link to Bowen Srs testimony in court. This stuff is hard to believe. Hope football is not like this.
LINK

Fair point about Durant, but Simmons doesn't count. Jonny Jones would have found a way to miss the playoffs with the 96 Bulls. There are few coaches who are that incompetent. I'm just saying, a talent like LeBron who has a grown man body at 18 only comes around every so often, and had the one and done been in place when he was a high school senior I have zero doubt there are dozens of programs who'd have hired his high school or AAU coach for 3 years just to get him for 1.

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This stuff is hard to believe.

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Literally nothing about this is hard to believe imo.

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What the NCAA has done in the past does nothing to curb it if you see this as a problem. Maybe if agents got blackballed by the NBA

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NCAA has no control over what the NBA does, their hands are tied. If the NBA got rid of the 1&Done rule, the problem wouldn't be as bad. The people worth the big $ wouldn't be available to buy


The NCAA though hasn't fixed this problem because they aren't trying to protect amateurism integrity, just the classification of players as not being employees.

Trendon Watford officially visiting Alabama for the January 5th SEC opener vs Kentucky LINK