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My response to the trashy ESPN article

Posted by Highlander on June 29, 2002

My response to this trash ESPN article

Dear Mr. Wojnarowski,

Regarding your article dated June 28 on Espn.com, your glowing review of Mr. Yeager's behaviour is very misplaced. Not to bore you with details (since that probably won't alter your ongoing negative attitude towards the University of Alabama), there is a serious problem within the NCAA.

Fluff pieces like yours go to show that journalists aren't interested in investigating anymore, when it's so much easier to copy whatever is spoon-fed to you.

The NCAA has established a pattern of being completey arbitrary inits rulings. For example,

1. The University of Alabama was not cited for Lack of Institutional Control (LOIC) or Failure to Monitor (FTM) which have been the traditional findings necessary for bowl sanctions. How can the University be this close to encountering the death penalty, if not one coach or administrator was cited with the above?

2. Furthermore, the only reason Alabama was in the "Repeat Violator" window was the self-reported violation of assistant Basketball coach Beamon. He solicited money from Alumni to help payoff recruits. The Alumni reported this to the Athletic Department which suspended and then fired this coach before any recruit was tainted. Alabama then had it's repeat violator window extended for being pro-active and vigilant in its NCAA compliance. Had this been swept under the rug, Alabama would not have been subject to the repeat violator criteria. Can the NCAA honestly say they encourage self-monitoring when they turn it around to further hammer these instutions?

3. One charge was regarding a rercuit named Kenny Smith from Stevenson, Alabama who actually never enrolled or signed with Alabama. He eventually signed with Tennessee, even though he received $20,000 from a booster (a man who never attended Alabama). First point - his father stated that Alabama was the cleanest program to recruit him, yet he goes to Tennessee. I am sure it was because they liked the color orange. Second point, if this payment in fact happened (the NCAA has only the uncorroborated testimony of the father, with no proof of actual payment - you know bank records and the such) this happened years ago beyond the NCAA mandated statute of limitations. This is being appealed. But if Tom Yeager is such an upstanding man, shouldn't he follow the NCAA rules as well?

3. Finally, 2 bowl games lost and 21 scholarships has NO precedent in the NCAA for institutions who have not been cited for LOIC and FTM.

If the NCAA is so noble, how is it the Notre Dame got a slap on the wrist for a booster paying for player junkets and having sex with the team?

How is it the Tennessee has not been investigated for the Acadamic fraud as reported by ESPN?

Are they going to look into Michigan (Chris Webber)? It should be out of their Statute of Limitations, but that didn't keep them from penalizing Alabama for something that happened a decade ago.

Please maybe before your next article, you'll actually leave your house, do some foot work and try to learn for yourself what the truth is. Is Alabama perfect -certainly not. But, Mr. Yeager is the commissioner of a tiny conference who wanted to feel like a bigshot and stories like yours only feed his ego and feeling of self- importance.

Sincerely yours,