Auburn Football Illegal Benefits

With my first post I've decided to weigh in on the story of former Auburn football players receiving illegal benefits from numerous different schools. During the recruitment of Stanley McClover, Stanley said he received money handshakes from Michigan State, LSU and Auburn and received sexual favors at Ohio State. Previously committed to Ohio State, McClover was sent a backpack full of money by Auburn University. McClover then committed to Auburn. he said he felt totally obligated to play for the Tigers because of the money. He felt obligated. A coach gives a player money and the player feels he needs to give something back. After playing at Auburn McClover and the other 3 Auburn players who spoke to HBO said they received money after games based on performance.

Now the fact that these players chose now to come out and speak on this matter is rather puzzling. Of course they waited until after they were out of college (cause otherwise they wouldn't have been able to play). But for most of these players they have been out of Auburn University for at least 5 or 6 years. Well, the way I look at it is from a logical deductive point of view, I can't think of any personal reason the players would have to come out and slam the organization. So we assume that there isn't any reason they'd have slam AU. So what are the other two factors involved in this?

• Auburn University


• Every other university

The only other things I could think of to give motive to these players is specifically Auburn University's boosters, administration and sports program. Or every other university who is involved in this pay for play scandal. You have to take a look at this from the players point of view. While in high school these players are recruited by a variety of different schools. They know which schools or boosters are offering money and how much. While from a fan's perspective we see only what comes out in the news or flashes onto ESPN while these players know how deep this really goes. For all we know every school could have one or two players who are receiving extra benefits. I personally think that pay for play goes much deeper than meets the eye, and the NCAA is doing a terrible job handling this. I think there are many teams that are paying players to come to their school. And the NCAA isn't going to stop any of this from happening unless they start laying down reasonable punishments.

Now how does this relate to the Auburn players? Well, from what I can deduct, the Auburn players still have (or had) contact with someone at the organization. An event of some sort then occurred, which rubbed the Auburn players the wrong way. What that event could be? Who knows. Is it just a coincidence that a month or so after the Cam Newton story dies down this story fires up? Either way, it gives these players enough motive to slam AU. The second thing I think could've played a role in this is that these players don't like the path that the NCAA is headed down. However for this to happen they would more than likely have to have had a change of heart and regret taking illegal benefits.

I have complete surety that the NCAA has put itself in a terrible position. We've heard many different stories. Regardless of who they are coming from, not all of them can be true. 4 Auburn players claim they received illegal benefits from AU. Current football coach Gene Chizik called the reports "Pure Garbage." These are the same two words he used to defend Cam Newton during allegations this past November. Players also stated that they received influential benefits from Ohio State, Michigan State, and LSU. Michigan State spokesman John Lewandowski says they were never alerted of the handshake. Ohio State did not comment because the allegations were from such a long time ago and it would have violated their policies in the NCAA. LSU did not directly comment but stated that LSU follows NCAA rules and attempts to educate boosters on the rules as well. After looking at all of this. Someone is lying. And I think a lot of people are lying.

How can the NCAA stop this? I think you need to enforce punishments right away and not for future games. For example, if you have a teenage kid, and he or she does something bad. You are going to punish them. But do you go to your kid and tell them, "Ok, I know that you cheated on your history test last week, but I'm not going to punish you right now. I'm going to wait and punish you in another month or so." that doesn not enforce dicipline. The reason that the NCAA doesn't enforce this right away is because it will cost them money. Unless the NCAA figures out a reasonable punishment for certain violations, and quit worrying about how much money they will make, no NCAA team will develop any sort of discipline.

Questions to ponder: Do the allegations of the 4 Auburn players relate to the Cam Newton allegation somehow? Is the fact that Gene Chizik used the defensive phrase Pure Garbage a coincidence? What can the NCAA do to slow down the pay for play? And lastly, How deep is this scandal? How many teams are involved?

Krehfish