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We don't get mad we get even
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:05 am
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:05 am
The old SWC met it's demise years ago when perennial cellar-dweller TCU hired Jim Wacker as head football coach. At Wacker's first news conference he said that he was going to win in SWC by not cheating, insinuating that almost everyone else dishonest.
You guessed it. The first team caught by the NCAA was TCU and apparently they were turned in by another school in the SWC.
Eventually, every school, with the exception of Rice was caught by the NCAA. SMU was eventually given the Death Penalty.
Soon, the whole conference collapsed.
Today reporter Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News (neither is a friend of Texas A&M) wrote this article. I cut and pasted because I would not give either extra clicks.
Sherrington is sounding the alarm. Does the SEC want to go there? I think not.
Here is the article:
On one hand, it would appear Jimbo Fisher hit the ground running at Texas A&M, getting slapped with NCAA sanctions not even a third of the way into that 10-year, $75 million gig. Could have been worse. Only two relatively minor violations and nothing about an assistant giving a player hundreds of dollars to entertain recruits, as said player alleged.
The gist of it is the Aggies are out $5,000 and the football staff loses a few days on the road recruiting this fall while Jimbo is restricted to quarters. Back in the good ol’ days, it wouldn’t have wrinkled Jackie Sherrill’s grin.
On the other hand, this development bears a whiff of the good ol’ days, doesn’t it?
And not because, as one FBS coach put it recently, “Jimbo is trying to bring back the old SWC.”
Before going there, let’s first consider how we got here. The NCAA showed up at A&M’s front door in 2018 after Santino Marchiol, in the midst of attempting to wrest a waiver from A&M so he could transfer to Arizona, complained that Jimbo’s spring practices exceeded NCAA-mandated time limits. He also alleged that his position coach, Bradley Dale Peveto, had given him cash to party with recruits.
Probably worth noting here that, since ratting out the Aggies, Marchiol has led a fairly peripatetic life. First, Kevin Sumlin kicked him off the team at Arizona after Marchiol made racist comments about former A&M teammates. He then lost a shot at walking on at Colorado after an arrest last summer on domestic violence charges.
Thursday’s release made no mention of any cash transactions between Marchiol and Peveto, no longer a member of Jimbo’s staff. But it did say that, as the NCAA wrapped up the initial inquiry brought by the excessive practice charges, “the enforcement staff learned that the head coach and assistant coach made an impermissible recruiting contact with a 2020 football prospective student-athlete at his high school.”
Turns out that Jimbo and one of his assistants, Jay Graham, were recruiting a kid at an unnamed high school when they encountered a teammate who was an underclassman, and, thus, off-limits.
In recruiting parlance, this unintentional meeting is called a “bump.” A big bump, at that. Lasted 15 or 20 minutes, according to the negotiated resolution between A&M and the infractions committee. The chain of events was supported by the kid, two of his high school coaches and “video evidence.”
Dang cellphones.
Anyway, all things considered, the two-year investigation didn’t amount to much. Not compared with the FBI-sponsored cases looming over a half-dozen prominent basketball programs, Kansas included. That A&M’s case was resolved first provoked some of the program’s defenders to grumble about priorities and biases.
In reality, the swiftness of the decision, if you can call it that, can be attributed to the fact that the allegations were relatively simple, and Jimbo fessed up. Took responsibility in a statement Thursday, as the sanctions required. Kansas and Bill Self, on the other hand, have practically promised a bare-knuckles fight. Before marshaling its forces to meet that challenge, the NCAA took care of the small stuff.
Even so, it didn’t stop A&M supporters from insinuating a conspiracy. On several social media streams, it was noted that the NCAA’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs, the guy who provides “strategic direction to enforcement,” is Stan Wilcox. The same Stan Wilcox who was Jimbo’s boss when the latter bolted Florida State for College Station.
Now, I don’t have the slightest idea if Wilcox goosed investigators to go after Jimbo. I don’t even know if he has an ax to grind. Wilcox said a lot of nice things about Jimbo when the coach left Tallahassee. Didn’t blame him at all. In fact, he must have agreed, because a year and a half later, Wilcox quit Florida State for the NCAA.
If you ask me — and why else come here — the question isn’t why the NCAA investigated the Aggies, it’s who turned them in?
Could have been just about anyone. Even the high school coaches, though that seems unlikely, given that they’d probably like A&M to come back. Could have been an assistant from another school who happened to be there at the same time and witnessed the “bump.” Could have been someone who simply heard about it.
Whoever did it, though, it sure seemed like a shot over Jimbo’s bow.
Look, coaches see all kinds of infractions when they’re on the road. Doesn’t mean they tell on anyone, because if they do, it opens them up to the same scrutiny. Ever wonder how the SEC essentially cornered the market on the nation’s best talent, yet it almost never sets off any alarms at the NCAA?
Do you really believe it’s because they’re such sticklers for the rules down South?
The SEC has long had a “live-and-let-live” policy when it comes to recruiting. Not like the old SWC, where everybody turned in everybody until the league cannibalized itself. The SWC’s demise began in full when SMU ended up with the likes of Eric Dickerson.
One SWC coach told me it was one thing for Texas or A&M to corral such a talent, leaving the rest of the league to deal with the consequences, but it was another thing entirely to have to reckon with SMU, too. As a result, other SWC schools turned SMU in. Once the Mustangs went down, all bets were off. As Bum Bright told me, citing a conversation with his old pal, Bill Clements, SMU officials provided the NCAA a “hit list” on the rest of the SWC.
Now, I’m not saying that’s what’s happening now. No telling where that tip came from. But it sure looked like a statement to me, and a bigger one than the NCAA made Thursday.
You guessed it. The first team caught by the NCAA was TCU and apparently they were turned in by another school in the SWC.
Eventually, every school, with the exception of Rice was caught by the NCAA. SMU was eventually given the Death Penalty.
Soon, the whole conference collapsed.
Today reporter Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News (neither is a friend of Texas A&M) wrote this article. I cut and pasted because I would not give either extra clicks.
Sherrington is sounding the alarm. Does the SEC want to go there? I think not.
Here is the article:
On one hand, it would appear Jimbo Fisher hit the ground running at Texas A&M, getting slapped with NCAA sanctions not even a third of the way into that 10-year, $75 million gig. Could have been worse. Only two relatively minor violations and nothing about an assistant giving a player hundreds of dollars to entertain recruits, as said player alleged.
The gist of it is the Aggies are out $5,000 and the football staff loses a few days on the road recruiting this fall while Jimbo is restricted to quarters. Back in the good ol’ days, it wouldn’t have wrinkled Jackie Sherrill’s grin.
On the other hand, this development bears a whiff of the good ol’ days, doesn’t it?
And not because, as one FBS coach put it recently, “Jimbo is trying to bring back the old SWC.”
Before going there, let’s first consider how we got here. The NCAA showed up at A&M’s front door in 2018 after Santino Marchiol, in the midst of attempting to wrest a waiver from A&M so he could transfer to Arizona, complained that Jimbo’s spring practices exceeded NCAA-mandated time limits. He also alleged that his position coach, Bradley Dale Peveto, had given him cash to party with recruits.
Probably worth noting here that, since ratting out the Aggies, Marchiol has led a fairly peripatetic life. First, Kevin Sumlin kicked him off the team at Arizona after Marchiol made racist comments about former A&M teammates. He then lost a shot at walking on at Colorado after an arrest last summer on domestic violence charges.
Thursday’s release made no mention of any cash transactions between Marchiol and Peveto, no longer a member of Jimbo’s staff. But it did say that, as the NCAA wrapped up the initial inquiry brought by the excessive practice charges, “the enforcement staff learned that the head coach and assistant coach made an impermissible recruiting contact with a 2020 football prospective student-athlete at his high school.”
Turns out that Jimbo and one of his assistants, Jay Graham, were recruiting a kid at an unnamed high school when they encountered a teammate who was an underclassman, and, thus, off-limits.
In recruiting parlance, this unintentional meeting is called a “bump.” A big bump, at that. Lasted 15 or 20 minutes, according to the negotiated resolution between A&M and the infractions committee. The chain of events was supported by the kid, two of his high school coaches and “video evidence.”
Dang cellphones.
Anyway, all things considered, the two-year investigation didn’t amount to much. Not compared with the FBI-sponsored cases looming over a half-dozen prominent basketball programs, Kansas included. That A&M’s case was resolved first provoked some of the program’s defenders to grumble about priorities and biases.
In reality, the swiftness of the decision, if you can call it that, can be attributed to the fact that the allegations were relatively simple, and Jimbo fessed up. Took responsibility in a statement Thursday, as the sanctions required. Kansas and Bill Self, on the other hand, have practically promised a bare-knuckles fight. Before marshaling its forces to meet that challenge, the NCAA took care of the small stuff.
Even so, it didn’t stop A&M supporters from insinuating a conspiracy. On several social media streams, it was noted that the NCAA’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs, the guy who provides “strategic direction to enforcement,” is Stan Wilcox. The same Stan Wilcox who was Jimbo’s boss when the latter bolted Florida State for College Station.
Now, I don’t have the slightest idea if Wilcox goosed investigators to go after Jimbo. I don’t even know if he has an ax to grind. Wilcox said a lot of nice things about Jimbo when the coach left Tallahassee. Didn’t blame him at all. In fact, he must have agreed, because a year and a half later, Wilcox quit Florida State for the NCAA.
If you ask me — and why else come here — the question isn’t why the NCAA investigated the Aggies, it’s who turned them in?
Could have been just about anyone. Even the high school coaches, though that seems unlikely, given that they’d probably like A&M to come back. Could have been an assistant from another school who happened to be there at the same time and witnessed the “bump.” Could have been someone who simply heard about it.
Whoever did it, though, it sure seemed like a shot over Jimbo’s bow.
Look, coaches see all kinds of infractions when they’re on the road. Doesn’t mean they tell on anyone, because if they do, it opens them up to the same scrutiny. Ever wonder how the SEC essentially cornered the market on the nation’s best talent, yet it almost never sets off any alarms at the NCAA?
Do you really believe it’s because they’re such sticklers for the rules down South?
The SEC has long had a “live-and-let-live” policy when it comes to recruiting. Not like the old SWC, where everybody turned in everybody until the league cannibalized itself. The SWC’s demise began in full when SMU ended up with the likes of Eric Dickerson.
One SWC coach told me it was one thing for Texas or A&M to corral such a talent, leaving the rest of the league to deal with the consequences, but it was another thing entirely to have to reckon with SMU, too. As a result, other SWC schools turned SMU in. Once the Mustangs went down, all bets were off. As Bum Bright told me, citing a conversation with his old pal, Bill Clements, SMU officials provided the NCAA a “hit list” on the rest of the SWC.
Now, I’m not saying that’s what’s happening now. No telling where that tip came from. But it sure looked like a statement to me, and a bigger one than the NCAA made Thursday.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:11 am to agswin
Oh Good grief. No one is reading that wall of text. If you want to know why people make fun of aggy, shite like this a good place to start
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:14 am to agswin
Yea, we've already gone through our "try to destroy eachother with recruiting tattletales" stage. It was a disaster.
Have fun trying to restart that.
Have fun trying to restart that.
This post was edited on 7/4/20 at 8:14 am
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:21 am to Mr Sausage
Somewhere in the SEC, ACC or perhaps the PAC 12, there is a program that should be sweating.
This post was edited on 7/4/20 at 8:23 am
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:27 am to agswin
Blah blah blah
Texas A&M are a bunch of cheating figs.
Texas A&M are a bunch of cheating figs.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:44 am to agswin
Small potatoes next to $aTm$ paying $100K more than Bama for McKinley Jackson — aTm setting up for a big move in Recruiting when you can outbid Bama for a 5-Star in 2020. But with all paid MERCs you get those BIG CANCERS that can ruin a program!
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:47 am to PokeyTiger
It’s kinda like a big glass house.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 8:56 am to agswin
We huh? what did you do personally so special to give A&M problems
lol over here pushing out that chest
Posting a wall of stupid bullshite......congrats
lol over here pushing out that chest
Posting a wall of stupid bullshite......congrats
This post was edited on 7/4/20 at 8:57 am
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:03 am to Dennis4LSU
Wow, you really got him there.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:05 am to agswin
Wtf you want me to read an article that long about a team no one cares about?
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:10 am to agswin
A&M fans always have to play the victim. It’s someone else’s fault their head coach got caught cheating.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:27 am to agswin
You seem extremely bothered. TL,DR.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:33 am to agswin
quote:
The SWC’s demise began in full when SMU ended up with the likes of Eric Dickerson.
bullshite. SMU was indeed a cesspool even in a world of the most common and rampant recruiting practices but it’s more likely that Arkansas’ decision in ‘90 to accept the SEC’s invitation began to shake the SWC’s foundation. That, and limited TV appeal of a conference of only Texas Schools.
Posted on 7/4/20 at 9:48 am to agswin
Meanwhile nearly every team in the SEC is poaching talent from Texas like it was an estate sale.
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