Update on the TMZ crap

[badger]

Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100519_92_0_NORMAN422961)

On the upside, the basketball/football probation period ends Sunday... just in time for us to start more probation after all of this :(

[Monster Zero]

Sounds like maybe someone in the compliance department needs their walking papers too.

[Collier11]

We just restructured our compliance department, thats what is retarded about this.

The good thing out of that article is that OU football comes off of probation on Sunday!!!

[Leroy Lizard]

Sounds like maybe someone in the compliance department needs their walking papers too.

How could that person ever control something like this?

[caesarscott]

OU has a compliance department?

[oumartin]

I just don't see this ending well for the bball program.

[Breadburner]

What a mess.....!

[Boomer.....]

Again phones are getting us in trouble. We actually get off of probation this weekend from the Sampson phone mess.

[StoopTroup]

The biggest problem IMO is that the NCAA continues to hit the Universities for this BS. When the Sports Community quits rewarding guys like this who make contact with these kids...then we will see some of this go away. The guys putting the dough in the account are the ones they should incarcerate IMO.

If your a busy kid who is playing a sport, going to class and making good grades...it's enough that you have to manage your life and make sure you follow all the rules....then you have to manage your way through a field of sharks who are all illegally posturing to position themselves for the future should your future look promising enough to be drafted into the Pro Level?

The folks who do this are scum and should be prosecuted by the NCAA and run out of the Pro-Sport level too IMO.

[OUMallen]

The biggest problem IMO is that the NCAA continues to hit the Universities for this BS.

Whoa...we have a coach implicated in a payoff. I don't know that the biggest problem is the NCAA being overzealous. I'd say the biggest problem is that we have a COACH who seems to be involved in a PAYOFF.

[NormanPride]

I bet Taliaferro's been doing this crap for years. He's always been a "great recruiter" and it just figures that he gets nailed in the few years he spends here. ****.

[Leroy Lizard]

The biggest problem IMO is that the NCAA continues to hit the Universities for this BS. When the Sports Community quits rewarding guys like this who make contact with these kids...then we will see some of this go away. The guys putting the dough in the account are the ones they should incarcerate IMO.

If your a busy kid who is playing a sport, going to class and making good grades...it's enough that you have to manage your life and make sure you follow all the rules....then you have to manage your way through a field of sharks who are all illegally posturing to position themselves for the future should your future look promising enough to be drafted into the Pro Level?

The folks who do this are scum and should be prosecuted by the NCAA and run out of the Pro-Sport level too IMO.

Well, the NCAA can't prosecute. About all it can do is ban the coach involved from ever coaching for an NCAA team. It can't do squat to Joe Booster.

This problem appears when you bring in players of questionable character. Maneuvering through the sharks is really quite easy: Just say no to the money. I said in here about six months ago that I would rather have ten reasonably talented, but high integrity, players than superstars, even if it meant not winning national titles. (How many national titles have the superstars brought us anyway?) At least they would likely hang around for four years and would probably help in the area of teamwork.

Coaches should be hired on the same principle.

And at what point does the university start suing these coaches, boosters, and players?

About the only good thing I see coming out of this is OU finally getting rid of Capel, who is a disaster in my opinion.

[OU_Sooners75]

The biggest problem IMO is that the NCAA continues to hit the Universities for this BS. When the Sports Community quits rewarding guys like this who make contact with these kids...then we will see some of this go away. The guys putting the dough in the account are the ones they should incarcerate IMO.

If your a busy kid who is playing a sport, going to class and making good grades...it's enough that you have to manage your life and make sure you follow all the rules....then you have to manage your way through a field of sharks who are all illegally posturing to position themselves for the future should your future look promising enough to be drafted into the Pro Level?

The folks who do this are scum and should be prosecuted by the NCAA and run out of the Pro-Sport level too IMO.

Well, this will never happen because the NCAA has no prosecuting powers.

[Mjcpr]

Well, this will never happen because the NCAA has no prosecuting powers.

Maybe he meant persecuted? They have those.

:D

[StoopTroup]

Well, this will never happen because the NCAA has no prosecuting powers.

I understand that...

What they do currently is go where the money is...the Universities. Then they make a mockery of the Student Athlete and the Coaching Staffs and hold them all accountable as to figure out a way to fix this problem is probably to hard.

Again...I just don't like the way things are. Outsiders who are the real problem aren't held accountable.

OU is going to get screwed. SUC gets by without a whisper. It's not an equal playing field and they are well on their way to ruining College Sports. It's been on the edge since the 1970's.

You can post whatever you want...but everyone of you knows it's a longtime problem that will continue no matter what happens from this situation and it will continue to happen Nation wide until some sort of Leadership decides to actually find a way to deal with it correctly and fairly no matter whether it's a small private school or a huge school with lots of money boosters and tradition.

[StoopTroup]

Well, the NCAA can't prosecute. About all it can do is ban the coach involved from ever coaching for an NCAA team. It can't do squat to Joe Booster.

This problem appears when you bring in players of questionable character. Maneuvering through the sharks is really quite easy: Just say no to the money. I said in here about six months ago that I would rather have ten reasonably talented, but high integrity, players than superstars, even if it meant not winning national titles. (How many national titles have the superstars brought us anyway?) At least they would likely hang around for four years and would probably help in the area of teamwork.

Coaches should be hired on the same principle.

And at what point does the university start suing these coaches, boosters, and players?

About the only good thing I see coming out of this is OU finally getting rid of Capel, who is a disaster in my opinion.

If you think the current way the NCAA handles these situations is the best way and that more involvement lawsuits and rules will fix this....then you would also be a part of the problem as Human Nature is involved and unless you get to the source of everyone who stands to benefit from these situations...you'll still always have a problem. There is no perfect solution as people will always try to find a loophole. I just try to keep the Student Athlete out of it altogether by releasing them from any and all responsibility regarding kickbacks or graft. If someone is stupid enough to buy a Benz or a house for someone because they play football really well....let them pay them.

Again...the NCAA is trying to make a fair playing field for every School out there whether they are a small Private School or a huge State/ huge fan-based / Traditional School. They fail miserably and have for a very long time. What you propose only continues to be "Pie in the Sky" as it will never be fair...it will always continue to be a problem and thinking someone isn't going to fall for temptation no matter whether they have had a "Questionable Character" as you say....well....you are delusional.

[yankee]

i don't like the whole "poor little ole OU argument" and how we always get screwed by the NCAA and USC gets off easy blah blah blah blah cry some more. ya know what, if our coach didn't ****ing cheat, we wouldn't get ****ing screwed. the moral of the story? DON'T. ****ING. CHEAT. seems pretty simple to me. :rolleyes:

[StoopTroup]

i don't like the whole "poor little ole OU argument" and how we always get screwed by the NCAA and USC gets off easy blah blah blah blah cry some more. ya know what, if our coach didn't ****ing cheat, we wouldn't get ****ing screwed. the moral of the story? DON'T. ****ING. CHEAT. seems pretty simple to me. :rolleyes:

The SUC example is only used most times because it's a very good parallel argument to use. This carp we are talking about goes much deeper than just little ole OU vs SUC. Quit rolling your eyes and use your eyes correctly by doing a little research. You'll quickly realize this is more than just about OU getting hammered.:rolleyes:

[yankee]

right, it's about OU cheating.
we've done it very well, as our past indicates.
no wonder the NCAA comes down hard on us, seemingly all the time.
you'd think our athletic administration/coaches would ****ing learn. i'm tired of being so closely affiliated with cheating. it makes me sick to my stomach.

[Leroy Lizard]

If you think the current way the NCAA handles these situations is the best way and that more involvement lawsuits and rules will fix this....then you would also be a part of the problem as Human Nature is involved and unless you get to the source of everyone who stands to benefit from these situations...you'll still always have a problem. There is no perfect solution as people will always try to find a loophole. I just try to keep the Student Athlete out of it altogether by releasing them from any and all responsibility regarding kickbacks or graft. If someone is stupid enough to buy a Benz or a house for someone because they play football really well....let them pay them.

The problem occurs when a certain group of schools win every title because they have laid out a scheme to pay players. All the great recruits want to go to a certain school because they are "taken care of." That isn't a level playing field and it isn't in the spirit of amateur athletics.


Again...the NCAA is trying to make a fair playing field for every School out there whether they are a small Private School or a huge State/ huge fan-based / Traditional School. They fail miserably and have for a very long time. What you propose only continues to be "Pie in the Sky" as it will never be fair...it will always continue to be a problem and thinking someone isn't going to fall for temptation no matter whether they have had a "Questionable Character" as you say....well....you are delusional.

There are people out there that understand the implications of taking money and will refuse to do so. This isn't delusional at all. You just have to attract those types of players and not bring in the others.

It may make us feel better to think that all players are corruptible, but I don't believe it. We simply attracted players that were worse than others in this regard and now we're going to pay for it. And Capel is the man to blame.

Would Sam Bradford accept illegal inducements? I don't think so. I don't think Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow would either. I certainly think they would be less inclined to do so. So athletes of outstanding character exist.

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Well, the NCAA can't prosecute. About all it can do is ban the coach involved from ever coaching for an NCAA team. It can't do squat to Joe Booster.

This problem appears when you bring in players of questionable character. Maneuvering through the sharks is really quite easy: Just say no to the money. I said in here about six months ago that I would rather have ten reasonably talented, but high integrity, players than superstars, even if it meant not winning national titles. (How many national titles have the superstars brought us anyway?) At least they would likely hang around for four years and would probably help in the area of teamwork.

Coaches should be hired on the same principle.

And at what point does the university start suing these coaches, boosters, and players?

About the only good thing I see coming out of this is OU finally getting rid of Capel, who is a disaster in my opinion.

I love Coach Capel... :(

[Collier11]

Would Sam Bradford accept illegal inducements? I don't think so. I don't think Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow would either. I certainly think they would be less inclined to do so. So athletes of outstanding character exist.

Easy to assume but they also come from families that are fairly well off, sometimes its more of a mistake than a character issue

[Leroy Lizard]

Easy to assume but they also come from families that are fairly well off, sometimes its more of a mistake than a character issue

A mistake would be if they didn't realize they were breaking NCAA rules and so endangering the reputation of the university. That can happen with some rules. But not with illegal inducements. They are counseled constantly on what they can or cannot do. The fact that the payments had to be arranged on the sly tells us that the athlete knew that his action violated NCAA rules.

He didn't care.

If you know that what you are doing is wrong, then doing it is not a mistake.

[Collier11]

A mistake isnt relegated to only when you dont know if it is wrong or not, that is stupid. Im not saying this is the case with Gallon, much of the evidence points to the contrary.

All im saying is that having good character doesnt mean you cant screw up as you attempted to state earlier.

Also, both the agent fella and Gallon both deny anything illegal so lets not crucify him just yet. While it doesnt look good, there is a chance that nothing illegal took place here

[Leroy Lizard]

A mistake isnt relegated to only when you dont know if it is wrong or not, that is stupid.

I run a stop sign because I didn't know the rules of the road. Mistake.
I run a stop sign because I don't care about the rules of the road. Not a mistake.

Somewhere along the line it became popular to excuse people's transgressions by calling them mere mistakes. "Sure he killed that family of 5, but we all make 'mistakes.'" Baloney. If a person knows he's doing wrong and does it anyway, it isn't a mistake.

Let's quit using euphemisms to explain away such bad behavior and call it for what it is: A blatant violation of the rules done for personal gain at the expense of others.

[Collier11]

You are Wrong, you dont know each case individually so you cannot say that. Whether you like it or not and your example is flawed as well.

If I run a stop sign because I dont know the rules of the road, that isnt a mistake by your own rules, that is just being ignorant as hell which in turn proves that a mistake isnt relegated to knowing the difference between right or wrong.

[oumartin]

I hear Capel is getting axed tomorrow

[Leroy Lizard]

You are Wrong, you dont know each case individually so you cannot say that. Whether you like it or not and your example is flawed as well.

If I run a stop sign because I dont know the rules of the road, that isnt a mistake by your own rules, that is just being ignorant as hell which in turn proves that a mistake isnt relegated to knowing the difference between right or wrong.



mistake: a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention;

http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mistake

(my emphasis)

Not knowing the rules of the road may have been exceedingly ignorant, but running the stop sign would still constitute a mistake if such was the case. Regardless of how stupid or ignorant a person is, as long as he didn't realize he was breaking the law it would still be a mistake.

And the law punishes for mistakes. Bad things can happen on account of mistakes. We should avoid them by learning as much as we can about rules and laws and thinking things through more carefully.

As soon as we start calling willful bad behavior "mistakes," we start producing excuses.

[Collier11]

exactly, BAD JUDGMENT! Thanks again for proving my point

[Collier11]

As soon as we start calling willful bad behavior "mistakes," we start producing excuses.

So lets say, hypothetically of course that Gallon did take the money but he only took it because his family if very poor and his mom needed the money to feed his baby brother or to get her car fixed so she can make it to work. And in his mind he doesnt see this as all that bad because he will eventually make enough in the NBA to pay the loan back and he is keeping his family off of the streets.

If that were the actual case (which I doubt it is) then by your definition, Gallon is doing nothing more than using Bad Judgment and being extremely ignorant to the consequences, therefore it is a mistake.

See how this works, you cant pigeon hole something and say it is exact because it isnt always

[Leroy Lizard]

exactly, BAD JUDGMENT! Thanks again for proving my point

It wasn't bad judgment. Bad judgment would indicate that he was faced with a dilemma and made a choice that turned out unfortunate.

Again, it's all about intent. A person who makes a bad judgment tried to do right, but screwed up anyway. You hire someone who has a criminal past but you think will help the company, and he ends up stealing. That's bad judgment. You thought you were making the right choice but it was in fact the wrong choice. Maybe you should have known better, but you didn't.

Again, you keep trying to offer up excuses for bad behavior by resorting to euphemisms.


So lets say, hypothetically of course that Gallon did take the money but he only took it because his family if very poor and his mom needed the money to feed his baby brother or to get her car fixed so she can make it to work. And in his mind he doesnt see this as all that bad because he will eventually make enough in the NBA to pay the loan back and he is keeping his family off of the streets.

Did he try to conceal his behavior? If he did, then he knew what he was doing was wrong.

Sure, his actions would be more understandable and may be even forgivable, but they would not constitute a "mistake."

If you start resorting to such euphemisms, they become excuses. Then pretty soon everyone is providing their own justification for bad behavior. (Which is pretty much what is taking place.)


If that were the actual case (which I doubt it is) then by your definition, Gallon is doing nothing more than using Bad Judgment and being extremely ignorant to the consequences, therefore it is a mistake.

No, he knew the consequences, even in the hypothetical case, which is why he tried to conceal his actions.


See how this works, you cant pigeon hole something and say it is exact because it isnt always

Words mean things. Don't use words like "mistake" to describe situations it wasn't meant to. If you want to call his transgressions something else, fine. But don't call them mistakes.

[Collier11]

sometimes when you post it is a mistake, although you understand that nothing but rubbish will come out of your mouth, I still consider it a mistake

[Leroy Lizard]

sometimes when you post it is a mistake, although you understand that nothing but rubbish will come out of your mouth, I still consider it a mistake

When you resort to this crap, you've lost.

[SoonerShark]

I hope Tiny does well in life. Who knows what each of us would have done at age 18. Taking $3,000.00 is something most of us would have done at that age. He was not selling dope. He was not stealing. He probably needed things most of us take for granted as having. I wish he had played and excelled at OU for four years, but what the heck, good luck, Tiny

[SoonerShark]

Easy to assume but they also come from families that are fairly well off, sometimes its more of a mistake than a character issue

Exactly.

[Leroy Lizard]

Bleeding heart liberals.

[Collier11]

When you resort to this crap, you've lost.

when you resort to claiming victory in a msg board discussion, you can always claim defeat

[Collier11]

Bleeding heart liberals.

Oh really...

[Leroy Lizard]

Yeah, really.

BTW, will the NCAA shut down OU's basketball team over this?

[Collier11]

If it is proven that Talifaero was involved then we are in big trouble, if it was just Gallon we wont be. Hopefully its neither but I doubt it

[Leroy Lizard]

Yeah, it wouldn't be a stretch to see the basketball team dismantled. The OU administration needs to get in hyperdrive immediately and institute some of its own reforms. I have suggestions for averting disaster, but they're not going to listen to me.

[Collier11]

It wouldnt get dismantled but we would def take a big hit on recruiting, tv, postseason, etc...

[Leroy Lizard]

No, I'm thinking death penalty here.

[Eielson]

Big schools don't get the death penalty anymore. It causes too much devastation to the school, which strongly affects the conference, which then affects the entire NCAA. The NCAA won't impose the death penalty if for nothing other than their own selfish reasons.

[Leroy Lizard]

Big schools don't get the death penalty anymore. It causes too much devastation to the school, which strongly affects the conference, which then affects the entire NCAA. The NCAA won't impose the death penalty if for nothing other than their own selfish reasons.

True... in football. Taking down a basketball team is much easier, especially one that hasn't done squat and is situated at a football school. Remember, Kentucky lost its basketball program and won the national title only a few years later. That doesn't happen in football.

[Collier11]

Plus, $3k isnt near enough to get the death penalty, that would have to be something huge

[Leroy Lizard]

It isn't the amount, but the fact that it was (apparently) arranged by a coach. The fact that it was only an assistant coach might help (which is the only reason I can think to keep Capel around, just so that it doesn't look like he was involved).

[Collier11]

Still wouldnt be significant enough, even in the 80's. Remember, SMU had boosters flat out paying the players, a bunch of them.

[Eielson]

True... in football. Taking down a basketball team is much easier, especially one that hasn't done squat and is situated at a football school. Remember, Kentucky lost its basketball program and won the national title only a few years later. That doesn't happen in football.

If Baylor didn't get the death penalty, we won't either. They had a person literally die down there.


Bliss paying for tuition for two players, Dennehy and Corey Herring and attempting to conceal it.
Coaching staff providing meals, transportation, lodging and clothing to athletes.
Coaching staff paying for tuition and fees for a recruit at another school.
Bliss's encouragement of school boosters to donate to a foundation tied to a basketball team that included prospective Baylor recruits.
Failure to report positive drug test results by athletes.
Failure by the entire coaching staff to "exercise institutional control over the basketball program.

[Eielson]

I don't think we get rid of Capel unless he gets tied into this. It's quite plausible that the unibrow coach acted alone (as far as the coaching staff goes). He got quite a pay raise for his recruiting, so that's plenty of incentive to cheat.

Note: it's a character issue.

[Leroy Lizard]

If Baylor didn't get the death penalty, we won't either. They had a person literally die down there.

Was Baylor eligible for the death penalty?

[Leroy Lizard]

I don't think we get rid of Capel unless he gets tied into this. It's quite plausible that the unibrow coach acted alone (as far as the coaching staff goes). He got quite a pay raise for his recruiting, so that's plenty of incentive to cheat.

Note: it's a character issue.

I don't see Capel surviving this. He has pretty much run this team into the ground and now the team is facing NCAA sanctions. After all, it was Capel who hired the bad apple for a coach and signed the bad apple for a player. The only way you keep him is to make it look like the transgressions were limited to the assistant coach.

[TexasLidig8r]

After attempting first to shield Taliaferro’s phone records, OU complied with the records requests this week...


Why would the university do this? To protect his privacy?

This casts a much deeper shadow on the situation and whatever knucklehead in the Compliance Department attempted to first "shield" potentially incriminating evidence ought to have his head served up on a platter.

This time there was no "transitioning of the compliance department." Coaches should have been hyper vigilant about phone calls and texts in light of the Sampson mess.

I understand that students will do greedy stupid things. I also understand that boosters will do greedy, stupid things.

For coaches, administrators and university employees to do stupid things... is a different matter.

[Leroy Lizard]

After attempting first to shield Taliaferro’s phone records, OU complied with the records requests this week...

Why would the university do this? To protect his privacy?

That could mean anything when you're dealing with the media. Most likely, the first person they talked to didn't have the authority and had to take it up with someone else.

It doesn't matter as long as they answer the NCAA's phone call. Take note:


After attempting first to shield Taliaferro’s phone records, OU complied with the records requests this week, then issued a statement Wednesday confirming calls were made from Taliaferro to a Merrill Lynch represeitative and that the exchanges are part of an ongoing, joint investigation by OU and the NCAA.

They probably refused the Open Records request until they could talk to the NCAA or the university lawyers. That's reasonable.

C'mon Lid, you're a lawyer. You always talk to counsel first.


This casts a much deeper shadow on the situation and whatever knucklehead in the Compliance Department attempted to first "shield" potentially incriminating eidence ought to have his head served up on a platter.

If they released the records, they released the records. Who cares if it took more than one phone call to get them released? They're already talking to the NCAA about the matter, so how could they be hiding information?


This time there was no "transitioning of the compliance department." Coaches should have been hyper vigilant about phone calls and texts in light of the Sampson mess.

I understand that students will do greedy stupid things. I also understand that boosters will do greedy, stupid things.

For coaches, administrators and university employees to do stupid things... is a different matter.

I'm not certain a compliance department could monitor all that traffic. TMZ doesn't have to because they offer cash rewards for juicy news items, so the tips and scoops come to them. The compliance department has to hunt them down, and no one outside the university is going to talk to them.

If a coach is underhanded enough to arrange a secret deal to pay a player, I'm not sure if any compliance department can stop it.

[NormanPride]

Man, and I was just looking forward to a rebuilding season in BBall. Now the ****'s hit the fan. Joe C needs to step the **** in on this program and take control.

[Leroy Lizard]

http://pasco.ifas.ufl.edu/fcs/images/broom.jpg

[fwsooner22]

If this runs through the compliance department......Joe C. has to pay with his job......I am sick of this BS.....We haven't been good enough to deal with any of this.

[Crimsontothecore]

I don't see Capel surviving this. He has pretty much run this team into the ground and now the team is facing NCAA sanctions. After all, it was Capel who hired the bad apple for a coach and signed the bad apple for a player. The only way you keep him is to make it look like the transgressions were limited to the assistant coach.

This is how I feel too. I get tired of people trying to separate Capel from every negative situation this program has found itself in during the last 6 months.
He's the HEAD COACH for gods sake! If he recruits players (more than one) that are bad seeds, It is the head coach who must take ultimate responsibility. If he has assistant coaches who are breaking the rules, It is the HEAD COACH who hired the individual that must take responsibility.

One final thought: If Capel isn't responsible for poorly prepared players, bad attitudes, and cheating coaches...then what exactly is he responsible for and why is he here?

[NormanPride]

If this runs through the compliance department......Joe C. has to pay with his job......I am sick of this BS.....We haven't been good enough to deal with any of this.

Even if we'd won it all a couple years back it wouldn't have been worth this. Terrible. If this is indeed linked to the coaches, Capel needs to go. As has been stated before, if you're not responsible for bad attitudes, poor play, and cheating, then what are your responsibilities?

What we need now is for Taliaferro to come out and spill the beans. We don't want to hide anything or it will just get worse.

[OU_Sooners75]

I understand that...

What they do currently is go where the money is...the Universities. Then they make a mockery of the Student Athlete and the Coaching Staffs and hold them all accountable as to figure out a way to fix this problem is probably to hard.

Again...I just don't like the way things are. Outsiders who are the real problem aren't held accountable.

OU is going to get screwed. SUC gets by without a whisper. It's not an equal playing field and they are well on their way to ruining College Sports. It's been on the edge since the 1970's.

You can post whatever you want...but everyone of you knows it's a longtime problem that will continue no matter what happens from this situation and it will continue to happen Nation wide until some sort of Leadership decides to actually find a way to deal with it correctly and fairly no matter whether it's a small private school or a huge school with lots of money boosters and tradition.

I agree.

However, the only thing that will make it illegal for the outsiders is if the federal government gets involved by making it illegal to pay athletes or to represent athletes that are not eligible for the professional ranks.

The NCAA is already ruining college sports like you said.

The showing they are going through with USC only solidifies that thought!

[OU_Sooners75]

I run a stop sign because I didn't know the rules of the road. Mistake.
I run a stop sign because I don't care about the rules of the road. Not a mistake.

Somewhere along the line it became popular to excuse people's transgressions by calling them mere mistakes. "Sure he killed that family of 5, but we all make 'mistakes.'" Baloney. If a person knows he's doing wrong and does it anyway, it isn't a mistake.

Let's quit using euphemisms to explain away such bad behavior and call it for what it is: A blatant violation of the rules done for personal gain at the expense of others.


Let me guess, you have never made one mistake in your life, right?

If not, then you sir are a ****ing saint!

Making a mistake does not mean you are a bad character. It means you made a misjudgment.

How do you know that they have even broken any rules yet? There is that possibility that no rules were broken...

Let me guess, you are a person that will judge first before finding the facts of the case, right?

[Collier11]

75, dont waste your time. Leroy already proved his own self to be wrong and then still denied that you can knowingly make a mistake

[OU_Sooners75]

75, dont waste your time. Leroy already proved his own self to be wrong and then still denied that you can knowingly make a mistake


****, I have made more than one mistake in my life...and I knew I was.

Doesnt mean I am Hilter or Charles Manson!

[Collier11]

Yep, as Leroy proved yeserday, a mistake is nothing more than using bad judgment. Bad judgment can be by anyone

[OU_Sooners75]

Yep, as Leroy proved yeserday, a mistake is nothing more than using bad judgment. Bad judgment can be by anyone


Not liztard though...he is a saint! :pop:

[Collier11]

we all love liz, blaht :D

[Monster Zero]

Yeah, really.

BTW, will the NCAA shut down OU's basketball team over this?

No. We'll still have a basketball team. They might even go to the final 4 again next year.

[Leroy Lizard]

Let me guess, you have never made one mistake in your life, right?

If not, then you sir are a ****ing saint!

Making a mistake does not mean you are a bad character. It means you made a misjudgment.

How do you know that they have even broken any rules yet? There is that possibility that no rules were broken...

Let me guess, you are a person that will judge first before finding the facts of the case, right?

Did you read anything I wrote?

My definition of mistake perfectly allows for one to make mistakes and be of good character. Here is the definition, which I posted but you apparently didn't read:


a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention

Who hasn't made such mistakes? In the examples I offered, I even showed how mistakes can happen to ordinary people doing their best to do the right thing. Obviously, you cant' read.

I am sure I have made U-turns in states that didn't allow them because I didn't know better. That's a mistake. I am sure I have said things to people that unintentionally hurt their feelings (probably a lot). Those are mistakes. We all make them.

Since you apparently did not comprehend any part of this argument, let me summarize it for you:

Doing bad things on purpose is not a mistake. We all do bad things on purpose once in awhile, but we cannot write them off as mere mistakes. Stealing is not a mistake. Doing illegal drugs is not a mistake.

Doing bad things not on purpose is a mistake. We all make mistakes.

How could all this get by you?

[Leroy Lizard]

Yep, as Leroy proved yeserday, a mistake is nothing more than using bad judgment. Bad judgment can be by anyone

True, we can all perform bad judgment.

Taking money when you know the rules clearly forbid it cannot be categorized as simply bad judgment. That is a willful decision to break the rules for personal gain, with complete disregard for the harm it may cause others.

Liberals constantly try to employ watered-down euphemisms to excuse bad behavior, especially when the transgressor reflects a subgroup of the population they favor. We may all do bad things from time to time, but call them for what they really are and don't excuse them, because excusing them is exactly what you are doing.

[Leroy Lizard]

This is how I feel too. I get tired of people trying to separate Capel from every negative situation this program has found itself in during the last 6 months.
He's the HEAD COACH for gods sake! If he recruits players (more than one) that are bad seeds, It is the head coach who must take ultimate responsibility. If he has assistant coaches who are breaking the rules, It is the HEAD COACH who hired the individual that must take responsibility.

One final thought: If Capel isn't responsible for poorly prepared players, bad attitudes, and cheating coaches...then what exactly is he responsible for and why is he here?

I think we all know why people defend him so much. It has little to do with his coaching.

[Collier11]

Funny thing is, you keep saying that but trust me buddy, a Liberal I am not and never will be.

[Pricetag]

Go ahead and say it, Leroy.

[SoonerShark]

Bleeding heart liberals.

Instead of of the term "liberals" please replace with "those with Christian principles."
______________
A soft answer turneth away wrath. Lay this not to their charge. Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do.
______________
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink."

Book or Romans, Chapter 12 excerpts

[Leroy Lizard]

Instead of of the term "liberals" please replace with "those with Christian principles."

No, I think I had it right the first time.

[Collier11]

Leroy, if you only knew how wrong you often are :D

[Leroy Lizard]

Go ahead and say it, Leroy.

Well, I could... but it's much more fun this way.

[soonerboy_odanorth]

Death Penalty!

Fire Capel!

:D

[Leroy Lizard]

Leroy, if you only knew how wrong you often are :D

If you only knew how rarely you are right. We can play these games all day.

[Collier11]

Ive got a slow day, nothin holdin me back ;)

[NormanPride]

I just wish I could somehow put quotes on ignore as well.

[Leroy Lizard]

Ive got a slow day, nothin holdin me back ;)

Welfare agency hasn't called you back?

(This is getting real silly.)

[Collier11]

Oh Leroy, welfare and McDs jokes dont work on someone that has a College Degree and is self employed, youll have to try harder...or was that just a mistake on your part???

[yankee]

i'll chalk it up to bad judgement.

[Collier11]

Thats 3 for C11, zero for Leroy

[oumartin]

Capel will coach next year but mark my words it will be his last

[Leroy Lizard]

Thats 3 for C11, zero for Leroy

???

[Collier11]

typical

[Leroy Lizard]

Go ahead and say it, Leroy.

I'll throw in a hint: It's the same reason we castigate Rhett Bomar as a vile player who embarrassed the university but defend Gallon. WMG.

[Collier11]

I dont castigate Bomar, go look at any post ive ever made about the guy...he has shown remorse and apologized many times so I hold no grudge towards him, in fact I hope he succeeds in the NFL

[badger]

I dont castigate Bomar, go look at any post ive ever made about the guy...he has shown remorse and apologized many times so I hold no grudge towards him, in fact I hope he succeeds in the NFL

I was initially annoyed with him, because of what he had done and knowing how OU would be punished even after he was gone, but yes, he's paid his debt to society, so to speak. He had to pay back what he took to get his eligibility back, he left for mid-mid-mid-major program that was so bad that OSU spanked them, then watched as one of his successors got the Heisman and nearly a national title to go with a Big 12 title, while he was relegated to an NFL practice squad.

He has definitely paid for his NCAA sins. It's about time for some other guilty parties out there from Southern Cal to do the same.

[the_ouskull]

right, it's about OU cheating.
we've done it very well, as our past indicates.
no wonder the NCAA comes down hard on us, seemingly all the time.
you'd think our athletic administration/coaches would ****ing learn. i'm tired of being so closely affiliated with cheating. it makes me sick to my stomach.

I could take issue with enough items in this little ditty to make grown men cry, but I'm going to focus on one item in particular...


it's about OU cheating.
we've done it very well, as our past indicates.

I'm assuming that, by "our past," you mean our past probations, etc...? In other words, "our past with cheating." But, if that's the case, then you can't go on to say that we've done it very well. If we HAD done it well, we either wouldn't have gotten caught (Texas) or we wouldn't have gotten in trouble for it (USC).

That is all.

the_ouskull

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Thats 3 for C11, zero for Leroy

Make that 4! :D

[Collier11]

you'll just confuse him worse

[Leroy Lizard]

deletedhttp://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/50340/bleeding-heart-red-black.gif

[Collier11]

common sense

[Eielson]

Putting a university in a situation like this over $3,000 is beyond a simple mistake. It takes an impressive amount of selfishness, and while I won't say that he's necessarily pure evil, he definitely has character issues.

[Collier11]

Never said he didnt, never said it was a simple mistake. The point being made is that making a mistake isnt simply for those who are ignorant to the laws as Leroy would have you believe

[Eielson]

Never said he didnt, never said it was a simple mistake. The point being made is that making a mistake isnt simply for those who are ignorant to the laws as Leroy would have you believe

You said it could've been. My judgement of Gallon goes for everybody in that situation.


Easy to assume but they also come from families that are fairly well off, sometimes its more of a mistake than a character issue

[Leroy Lizard]

Eielson, we are working under a new paradigm now. It's now just a simple mistake if you judge for yourself that you need the money.

So you cause harm to others? Pfffft! That doesn't matter now. It's all about what you think is best for you.



How many in here would want Collier for a compliance officer?

"Now I'm going to tell you flat-out that you can't take money from boosters. But if you do, well, we understand. We all make mistakes and we just hope that you make the right decision when the situation arises. If you don't, we won't judge you. We realize that some of you come from poor families; taking a booster's money is perfectly understandable in those situations. It will be like, 'Ooops! I made a mistake.'

So don't take the money. Please?"

[Leroy Lizard]

Never said he didnt, never said it was a simple mistake. The point being made is that making a mistake isnt simply for those who are ignorant to the laws as Leroy would have you believe

You're right. Mistakes are also caused by inattention or bad judgment, not intentional selfish misdeeds.

Never intentional selfish misdeeds.

BTW, this entire argument assumes that the facts in the original news story are correct. It sounds pretty bad, but there may be nothing to the allegations.

[Collier11]

Ive said that several times, I hope more than anything that either it isnt true all together or at the least, the coach wasnt involved

[Eielson]

Eielson, we are working under a new paradigm now. It's now just a simple mistake if you judge for yourself that you need the money.

So you cause harm to others? Pfffft! That doesn't matter now. It's all about what you think is best for you.

Honestly, I think if we stripped this down to the basics, and ignored that it was Leroy making the argument, not as many people would side with Collier. If somebody does something like what Gallon did, and puts others at risk like he did, it's extremely selfish. Extreme selfishness is obviously a character flaw.

I think the big issue here is people posing the "what would I do" question, and assuming that they have perfect character. I'll admit that I'm not perfect. However, if somebody were to have the same flaws as me, it doesn't excuse them. They are still flaws.

[Collier11]

Lets be clear, I said that Leroy didnt know the circumstances and because of this he cant simply state that is couldnt have been a mistake.

Let me ask you this Eielson, in the scenario I posed where Gallon was doing this for his family because of a bad situation (completely hypothetical of course) can you not understand where Gallon might see helping his family as more important than the fact that taking $3 grand is wrong.

Doesnt make it any better or less against the rules, it simply means that his view of reality might be skewed.

[Leroy Lizard]

Lets be clear, I said that Leroy didnt know the circumstances and because of this he cant simply state that is couldnt have been a mistake.

The problem is your use of the word "mistake." We both agree that we don't know if the story is true or not or all of the facts. Where we disagree appears if Tiny did in fact take money from a booster while playing for OU. It's mostly a matter of semantics. You use the word mistake where in my opinion the word misdeed is more accurate. Misdeeds can be slight or egregious, but in all cases implies an intent to disregard right/wrong for selfish purposes. Misdeeds are purposeful; mistakes are unintentional.

Tiny was given a full ride at a university where his tuition, food, lodging, and books were paid by others. Few are given such a privilege. If he indeed took booster money, then he has compromised the very same institution who helped earn him an opportunity few can even dream. And he definitely, absolutely, 100% knew the rules.

[Collier11]

Wasnt a booster, if it were a booster that is big trouble for the school. It was a financial adviser type guy not related to the school.

We have wasted 3 days arguing over the definition of mistake, time to put it to rest and just see what happens with this, I think we can agree on that

[Leroy Lizard]

Wasnt a booster, if it were a booster that is big trouble for the school. It was a financial adviser type guy not related to the school.

We have wasted 3 days arguing over the definition of mistake, time to put it to rest and just see what happens with this, I think we can agree on that

So what was his real motivation for giving the player money?

[Collier11]

I havent looked into it that much, he may have been trying to be his agent, maybe he was a runner for an agent, I honestly dont know

[Leroy Lizard]

Wouldn't it be odd for an assistant coach to help an agent give money to an athlete? I would think that retaining talent would be the coach's primary concern.

[Collier11]

thats why the whole story is weird, thats why it is weird that TMZ broke it. I have no idea where this will end up

[Leroy Lizard]

Is the Merrill Lynch dude even an OU fan?

[Collier11]

no idea, apparently became a fan/friend of Warren and Gallon, not sure how. Not sure how Taliaferro got involved, etc...

[Monster Zero]

Wasnt a booster, if it were a booster that is big trouble for the school. It was a financial adviser type guy not related to the school.

We have wasted 3 days arguing over the definition of mistake, time to put it to rest and just see what happens with this, I think we can agree on that

Guys, let me ask a question. Please don't get me wrong, because I'm just asking.

So let me ask... what if the financial advisor was "laundering" money that came from the assistant coach? That is, instead of a coach giving a kid money, he gets the wise idea to send money to a third party who then sends it to the kid. Like no one would ever figure it out. Brilliant, huh?

Again, I'm just asking.

[Eielson]

Lets be clear, I said that Leroy didnt know the circumstances and because of this he cant simply state that is couldnt have been a mistake.

Let me ask you this Eielson, in the scenario I posed where Gallon was doing this for his family because of a bad situation (completely hypothetical of course) can you not understand where Gallon might see helping his family as more important than the fact that taking $3 grand is wrong.

Doesnt make it any better or less against the rules, it simply means that his view of reality might be skewed.

Even if Gallon did it for his family (which I doubt), it was still extremely selfish. Unless of course this was a John Q situation, but to assume that is just nonsense.

[Leroy Lizard]

Guys, let me ask a question. Please don't get me wrong, because I'm just asking.

So let me ask... what if the financial advisor was "laundering" money that came from the assistant coach? That is, instead of a coach giving a kid money, he gets the wise idea to send money to a third party who then sends it to the kid. Like no one would ever figure it out. Brilliant, huh?

Again, I'm just asking.

Come to think of it, obviously. (Should quit posting when tired.)

[Leroy Lizard]

Even if Gallon did it for his family (which I doubt), it was still extremely selfish. Unless of course this was a John Q situation, but to assume that is just nonsense.

John Q?

[Eielson]

John Q?

It's a movie, and I believe based on an actual event. A guy's kid collapses playing baseball. They rushed him to the hospital, and it turns out his heart was too big and he needed a new heart or he would die. John Q's insurance had been changed without him knowing it, and he was poor, so he couldn't afford the surgery. He loves his son, so he ends up bringing a gun to the hospital and holding a doctor and a few other people hostage in order to get the new heart. There is more to it, but I don't want to spoil it for anybody who didn't see it. It was a good movie.

I highly doubt that Gallon was in this situation. However, if he did need that $3,000 to keep a family member from dying, I would forgive him.

[Leroy Lizard]

It's a movie, and I believe based on an actual event. A guy's kid collapses playing baseball. They rushed him to the hospital, and it turns out his heart was too big and he needed a new heart or he would die. John Q's insurance had been changed without him knowing it, and he was poor, so he couldn't afford the surgery. He loves his son, so he ends up bringing a gun to the hospital and holding a doctor and a few other people hostage in order to get the new heart. There is more to it, but I don't want to spoil it for anybody who didn't see it. It was a good movie.

Let me guess: The "evils of the insurance industry" played a role in this?

Edit: I checked out a preview. Total FORMULA.

[OU_Sooners75]

Leroy, would you argue with a wall if it was standing in your way?

[Eielson]

Let me guess: The "evils of the insurance industry" played a role in this?

Edit: I checked out a preview. Total FORMULA.

No. It was based on a true story (haven't checked into how true). They didn't make a big deal about the insurance. It was about a poor guy who loved his son enough to do anything for him. The bigger emphasis was on him being poor, not that he didn't have insurance.

[Soonerfan88]

Tiny was given a full ride at a university where his tuition, food, lodging, and books were paid by others. Few are given such a privilege. If he indeed took booster money, then he has compromised the very same institution who helped earn him an opportunity few can even dream. And he definitely, absolutely, 100% knew the rules.

According to an article in the KC Star, Gallon said the $3000 was to pay Oak Hill Academy. If his account wasn't paid, they wouldn't release his transcript. No transcript means not being cleared by NCAA and no scholarship. He also says the money has already been repaid by his mother. IF it's truly that innocent, it was neither a mistake nor a misdeed.

[badger]

According to an article in the KC Star, Gallon said the $3000 was to pay Oak Hill Academy. If his account wasn't paid, they wouldn't release his transcript. No transcript means not being cleared by NCAA and no scholarship. He also says the money has already been repaid by his mother. IF it's truly that innocent, it was neither a mistake nor a misdeed.

That might convince the NCAA, but OP.com will probably cry that it's part of the fairweather fan cheatin' gooner conspiracy. :rolleyes:

[stoopified]

That might convince the NCAA, but OP.com will probably cry that it's part of the fairweather fan cheatin' gooner conspiracy. :rolleyes:The thing that worries me is that even if this loan thing is true ,It could still be a violation.The acid teat issimply is if this benefit (loan) availible to all students and general public or just prospective student-athletes?

[Leroy Lizard]

According to an article in the KC Star, Gallon said the $3000 was to pay Oak Hill Academy. If his account wasn't paid, they wouldn't release his transcript. No transcript means not being cleared by NCAA and no scholarship. He also says the money has already been repaid by his mother. IF it's truly that innocent, it was neither a mistake nor a misdeed.

Deleted, as it mostly repeated what stoopified posted.

I will say though that receiving a loan to pay off a tuition, with the understanding that one's mother will repay the money, could be viewed as a mistake. I think an athlete could reasonably believe that he isn't doing anything wrong by borrowing money he intends to pay back. (The assistant coach would know better, though.)

[Herr Scholz]

Here's one of your own that thinks OU basketball deserves the death penalty.



Death penalty for Oklahoma hoops? That's the hypothesis here

May 25, 2010
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com National Columnist

If this were a hypothetical situation in need of a hypothetical answer, that answer would be obvious. The school would be in big, big trouble.

But this isn't a hypothetical situation. This is Oklahoma.

And so a different kind of answer is obvious: The NCAA doesn't want to put Oklahoma in big, big trouble.

Tiny Gallon and his mother allegedly received $3,000 from a financial adviser connected to an OU assistant. The NCAA's job, near as I can tell, is to hammer the small schools who break the rules while letting the bigger schools, with the powerful lawyers, go on about their business. You'll see it soon enough with Southern California, a school whose football and basketball programs should be zipped into a body bag and not exhumed for a year or two. Instead, USC will get some probation, some more scholarship sanctions, something it can handle -- but not what it deserves.

Soon, we'll say the same thing about Oklahoma: The Sooners will get something -- but not what they deserve.

Again, if this were a hypothetical, it would go like this:

Say there's a school that has been found guilty of recruiting violations. I mean, ridiculous, intentional cheating. The NCAA busts the school, puts it on probation and life goes on. But before the probation ends, that same school -- exact same sport, different coaching staff -- is being investigated again by the NCAA, this time for an even uglier violation.

That's death penalty stuff, right?

That's Oklahoma basketball.

Not sure you're aware of how bad things are at Oklahoma, so allow me to explain. But first, allow me to explain my background. My mom went to Oklahoma. My dad went to Oklahoma -- undergrad and law school. My grandparents went to Oklahoma. I grew up in Norman. One of my most prized pictures is a snapshot from "Meet the Sooners" day in 1977. It's me and Billy Sims. I'm sitting on his lap.

So don't tell me that I'm "out to get" Oklahoma. That's laughable. Oklahoma is still home to me, but what's happening inside that athletic department is frightening. The athletic director there, Joe Castiglione, is one of the most respected college administrators in the country. Which makes it so baffling that the Sooners simply cannot stop cheating.

Right now, the latest incident is merely an allegation. But it's a damned serious allegation. In the wake of the allegation, two people lost their jobs, two other OU athletes sacrificed their college eligibility and the NCAA is poking around Norman. The NCAA is still looking for the actual fire, but for now there's so much smoke that people are stop-drop-and-rolling all over campus at Oklahoma.

The smoke comes from Tiny Gallon and Willie Warren, the Sooners' best two players this past season, who have been linked to a Merrill Lynch financial advisor in Florida. The financial advisor reportedly wired $3,000 into a bank account held by Gallon and his mother. And the smoking gun? Phone records connect a member of the Oklahoma coaching staff, Oronde Taliaferro, to the financial advisor.

That's some serious smoke. It's so thick that Oklahoma pushed Taliaferro out last month. Technically he "resigned," but don't be stupid. He didn't resign on April 8. He was fired. The financial advisor, Jeffrey Hausinger, also is out of a job. He left Merrill Lynch on March 26, shortly after his alleged involvement went public.

As for Gallon and Warren, both entered the 2010 NBA Draft around the same time that Hausinger left his job. Both are thought to be headed to the second round, land of nonguaranteed contracts. Both are awfully young to be leaving for the second round -- Gallon a freshman, Warren a sophomore. But they're gone. They're not coming back. Oklahoma doesn't even want them back. And if you couple their departures with the job losses of Taliaferro and Hausinger -- who exchanged more than 65 calls and text messages in a 10-month period -- well, those are some easily connected dots.

So now we wait. We wait for the NCAA to connect those dots officially and to render a judgment. If it's anything like the investigation into Southern California, this could take a while. In the vacuum of information, though, we can speculate. Which is what I'm going to do right now.

I'm going to speculate that the NCAA finds enough wrong to level Oklahoma with a major violation. Oklahoma has prepared for such a finding by distancing itself from Taliaferro: "Don't blame us," Oklahoma symbolically told the NCAA by pushing Taliaferro out. "Blame him."

But it's not that easy. "Us" and "him" were the same thing when this violation allegedly went down. And if the NCAA connects enough dots to level Oklahoma with a major violation, then all hell should break loose. Look at the background here:

Former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson makes a mockery of NCAA rules by teaming with his coaching staff to make almost 600 illegal recruiting phone calls. The OU compliance department lets it happen. Doesn't have a clue what's going on. And so the NCAA hammers Oklahoma with lost scholarships, lost recruiting services, a finding of monitoring failure and a vicious public censure that accuses the OU staff of "deliberate noncompliance" and "willful violations." The NCAA also puts Oklahoma on probation through 2008, which is toothless assuming the Sooners stay out of trouble.

Which they did not.

The football team is found in 2007 to have two players, most notably quarterback Rhett Bomar, who were paid by an OU booster for work they never performed. That extends the athletic department's probation through May 23, 2010. Which was Sunday. Which means these latest allegations, the ones involving Gallon and Taliaferro and $3,000 from a financial advisor, happened before the probation had expired.

Which means the Oklahoma basketball team has been accused of a major violation while still on probation for "deliberate noncompliance" and "willful violations." The same OU basketball program that cheated horrifically a few years ago under one staff is now being investigated by the NCAA for the most awful of violations: payment of a player, with the direct knowledge of a coach.

That's ugly. So I'll conclude this column by assuming the NCAA will use phone records and other evidence to connect those dots. And based on that assumption, I'll ask a rhetorical question.

If Oklahoma basketball doesn't deserve the NCAA's death penalty, what program ever will?

[Phil]

Yawn. I'm not sure I would care even if that did happen, which it won't.

[Leroy Lizard]

Won't break my heart either.

[Herr Scholz]

So you guys are posting on the OU basketball page but you don't care? I find that unlikely. I doubt you have good memories about the national title game vs. KU in '88 either.

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '94 when you won it all. Now it's a worthless sport since you're not a contender anymore.

[Herr Scholz]

Yawn. I'm not sure I would care even if that did happen, which it won't.

Do you think it should happen?

[Leroy Lizard]

So you guys are posting on the OU basketball page but you don't care? I find that unlikely. I doubt you have good memories about the national title game vs. KU in '88 either.


I emphasize academics over athletics, so getting rid of basketball wouldn't bother me at all. And if you look at my past comments on the 1988 team, you would see that I am not being inconsistent.

Not sure how the others feel.

[pilobolus]

What bothers me more than the Tiny affair is whorns being allowed to stir up s**t on a Sooner board. Herr, your schtick was old ten years ago.

[Herr Scholz]

So, cheating is more palatable to you than discourse? Got it.

[Collier11]

First of all Doyel is a doosher, 2nd of all, NO, we should not get the death penalty. This isnt that bad of a deal compared to other stuff that is going on around the country, Finally, if it is true then we should get in trouble and Capel should be gone but if this isnt true, Doyel needs to be fired for presuming guilt without hardly any facts

[Eielson]

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '94 when you won it all. Now it's a worthless sport since you're not a contender anymore.

Yeah, I'll be a hardcore fan when we have a top 10 baseball team. #12 doesn't cut it.

[stoopified]

So you guys are posting on the OU basketball page but you don't care? I find that unlikely. I doubt you have good memories about the national title game vs. KU in '88 either.

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '94 when you won it all. Now it's a worthless sport since you're not a contender anymore.Kinda reminds you of the Bonghorn attitude sbout basketball prior to Barnes' arrival,huh? Don't even bring up Penders,Orange Cow support was lukewarm at best, and prior to that? Subzero.

[Phil]

Do you think it should happen?

Nope. I don't have all the facts, and neither do you, and neither does the guy who wrote that article. He writes to get attention and generate discussion. It's his job.

In the end, it'll be what it'll be, and we'll all move on.

And if nothing comes off it, I expect you back to discuss that as well.

[Bourbon St Sooner]

He said tiny gallon was one of our two best players last year. That gives that article serious credibility problems.

I'll say we deserve the death penalty when texass gives back its last NC in baseball.

[NormanPride]

I really thought Capel was a character hire. Someone we picked up with a high ceiling who would both refresh the fanbase and provide a clean program. Man, talk about doing the exact opposite.

[OU_Sooners75]

Here's one of your own that thinks OU basketball deserves the death penalty.



Death penalty for Oklahoma hoops? That's the hypothesis here

May 25, 2010
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com National Columnist

If this were a hypothetical situation in need of a hypothetical answer, that answer would be obvious. The school would be in big, big trouble.

But this isn't a hypothetical situation. This is Oklahoma.

And so a different kind of answer is obvious: The NCAA doesn't want to put Oklahoma in big, big trouble.

Tiny Gallon and his mother allegedly received $3,000 from a financial adviser connected to an OU assistant. The NCAA's job, near as I can tell, is to hammer the small schools who break the rules while letting the bigger schools, with the powerful lawyers, go on about their business. You'll see it soon enough with Southern California, a school whose football and basketball programs should be zipped into a body bag and not exhumed for a year or two. Instead, USC will get some probation, some more scholarship sanctions, something it can handle -- but not what it deserves.

Soon, we'll say the same thing about Oklahoma: The Sooners will get something -- but not what they deserve.

Again, if this were a hypothetical, it would go like this:

Say there's a school that has been found guilty of recruiting violations. I mean, ridiculous, intentional cheating. The NCAA busts the school, puts it on probation and life goes on. But before the probation ends, that same school -- exact same sport, different coaching staff -- is being investigated again by the NCAA, this time for an even uglier violation.

That's death penalty stuff, right?

That's Oklahoma basketball.

Not sure you're aware of how bad things are at Oklahoma, so allow me to explain. But first, allow me to explain my background. My mom went to Oklahoma. My dad went to Oklahoma -- undergrad and law school. My grandparents went to Oklahoma. I grew up in Norman. One of my most prized pictures is a snapshot from "Meet the Sooners" day in 1977. It's me and Billy Sims. I'm sitting on his lap.

So don't tell me that I'm "out to get" Oklahoma. That's laughable. Oklahoma is still home to me, but what's happening inside that athletic department is frightening. The athletic director there, Joe Castiglione, is one of the most respected college administrators in the country. Which makes it so baffling that the Sooners simply cannot stop cheating.

Right now, the latest incident is merely an allegation. But it's a damned serious allegation. In the wake of the allegation, two people lost their jobs, two other OU athletes sacrificed their college eligibility and the NCAA is poking around Norman. The NCAA is still looking for the actual fire, but for now there's so much smoke that people are stop-drop-and-rolling all over campus at Oklahoma.

The smoke comes from Tiny Gallon and Willie Warren, the Sooners' best two players this past season, who have been linked to a Merrill Lynch financial advisor in Florida. The financial advisor reportedly wired $3,000 into a bank account held by Gallon and his mother. And the smoking gun? Phone records connect a member of the Oklahoma coaching staff, Oronde Taliaferro, to the financial advisor.

That's some serious smoke. It's so thick that Oklahoma pushed Taliaferro out last month. Technically he "resigned," but don't be stupid. He didn't resign on April 8. He was fired. The financial advisor, Jeffrey Hausinger, also is out of a job. He left Merrill Lynch on March 26, shortly after his alleged involvement went public.

As for Gallon and Warren, both entered the 2010 NBA Draft around the same time that Hausinger left his job. Both are thought to be headed to the second round, land of nonguaranteed contracts. Both are awfully young to be leaving for the second round -- Gallon a freshman, Warren a sophomore. But they're gone. They're not coming back. Oklahoma doesn't even want them back. And if you couple their departures with the job losses of Taliaferro and Hausinger -- who exchanged more than 65 calls and text messages in a 10-month period -- well, those are some easily connected dots.

So now we wait. We wait for the NCAA to connect those dots officially and to render a judgment. If it's anything like the investigation into Southern California, this could take a while. In the vacuum of information, though, we can speculate. Which is what I'm going to do right now.

I'm going to speculate that the NCAA finds enough wrong to level Oklahoma with a major violation. Oklahoma has prepared for such a finding by distancing itself from Taliaferro: "Don't blame us," Oklahoma symbolically told the NCAA by pushing Taliaferro out. "Blame him."

But it's not that easy. "Us" and "him" were the same thing when this violation allegedly went down. And if the NCAA connects enough dots to level Oklahoma with a major violation, then all hell should break loose. Look at the background here:

Former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson makes a mockery of NCAA rules by teaming with his coaching staff to make almost 600 illegal recruiting phone calls. The OU compliance department lets it happen. Doesn't have a clue what's going on. And so the NCAA hammers Oklahoma with lost scholarships, lost recruiting services, a finding of monitoring failure and a vicious public censure that accuses the OU staff of "deliberate noncompliance" and "willful violations." The NCAA also puts Oklahoma on probation through 2008, which is toothless assuming the Sooners stay out of trouble.

Which they did not.

The football team is found in 2007 to have two players, most notably quarterback Rhett Bomar, who were paid by an OU booster for work they never performed. That extends the athletic department's probation through May 23, 2010. Which was Sunday. Which means these latest allegations, the ones involving Gallon and Taliaferro and $3,000 from a financial advisor, happened before the probation had expired.

Which means the Oklahoma basketball team has been accused of a major violation while still on probation for "deliberate noncompliance" and "willful violations." The same OU basketball program that cheated horrifically a few years ago under one staff is now being investigated by the NCAA for the most awful of violations: payment of a player, with the direct knowledge of a coach.

That's ugly. So I'll conclude this column by assuming the NCAA will use phone records and other evidence to connect those dots. And based on that assumption, I'll ask a rhetorical question.

If Oklahoma basketball doesn't deserve the NCAA's death penalty, what program ever will?


Actually the NCAA will not give the death penalty. However, I sure hope they ramrod OU.

I mean the player and the coach involved are no longer at OU.

What needs to happen is something like this:

Significant Reduction (3 or 4) in scholarships for 2 years.
No recruiting by phone but by head coach for 2 years.
Reduction of contact for each recruit.
Ban the coach responsible from NCAA basketball for at least 5 years.
No Post Season Play (including Big 12 Tourney) for 2 years.
No Live TV games (only tape delays) for 2 years.

As far as OU goes, OU needs to lay this responsibility on Capel. They need to put him on probation or fire him. He is ultimate responsible for everything that goes on with the Mens basketball team.

The US Congress needs to come up with some law that makes it a HUGE felony for any one to pay players for their athletic abilities when they are in amateur status (not in any professional leagues, Junior High, High School, College, etc). And that goes for anyone that is involved in setting up the payment arrangements or contacts.

I know I am dreaming here. But since the NCAA cannot do anything about outsiders, there should be a law against it.

Anyway....like I said before, the NCAA will never slapt another team, especially a big money team, with the death penalty.

[OU_Sooners75]

So you guys are posting on the OU basketball page but you don't care? I find that unlikely. I doubt you have good memories about the national title game vs. KU in '88 either.

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '94 when you won it all. Now it's a worthless sport since you're not a contender anymore.


No, we just know we cannot out spend the Texas Baseball Program!

[Soonerfan88]

BTW, this is the first time I have ever seen or heard of Doyel being associated with Oklahoma. None of his bios have ever mentioned being raised here. He went to HS in Georgia and college at Florida.

And even if Taliaferro laundered $3000 through an "advisor" to Tiny, that and excessive phone calls is not worth the death penalty. One payment to one player, not uncommon in the AAU era. There has to be prolonged and extensive payouts for that to be on the table, IMO.

[SoonerBBall]

Even though Herr is a ********* and I know I'm just feeding a troll, I'll bite.

As has been mentioned before, even in this very thread, if Baylor didn't get the death penalty a few years ago for the head coach paying players and trying to hinder a murder investigation then OU won't get the death penalty for this infraction.

[Leroy Lizard]

Even though Herr is a ********* and I know I'm just feeding a troll, I'll bite.

As has been mentioned before, even in this very thread, if Baylor didn't get the death penalty a few years ago for the head coach paying players and trying to hinder a murder investigation then OU won't get the death penalty for this infraction.

I'm too lazy to look for a response, but I asked earlier: Was Baylor even eligible for the death penalty?

[Leroy Lizard]

As far as OU goes, OU needs to lay this responsibility on Capel. They need to put him on probation or fire him. He is ultimate responsible for everything that goes on with the Mens basketball team.

If he was successful, probation.

Fire him.

[Leroy Lizard]

BTW, this is the first time I have ever seen or heard of Doyel being associated with Oklahoma. None of his bios have ever mentioned being raised here. He went to HS in Georgia and college at Florida.

And even if Taliaferro laundered $3000 through an "advisor" to Tiny, that and excessive phone calls is not worth the death penalty. One payment to one player, not uncommon in the AAU era. There has to be prolonged and extensive payouts for that to be on the table, IMO.

Not that it really matters:


What I can't live with is the beatification of the man. Not on the field. And not off it. Not anywhere. It's too much, and before I tell you why, let me puncture a few holes in your arguments. I'm not an SEC-hater. As a kid I grew up in these states: Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. Sounds like I might be anti-Gator, huh? Well ... did I mention my alma mater? It's located in Gainesville, Fla. Class of 1992. That's me.

This "I'm actually a fan" is a schtick he has used before. He wrote a rip on Tebow and used the same gimmick.

[StoopTroup]

^Self inflicted menage a trois.....lol

[Collier11]

OU Needs to be proven guilty folks

[the_ouskull]

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '95, after we won it all in 1994.

Fixed that for you, if not for my sad memories of all of the OU baseball sh*t on campus that next fall. One of my fraternity brothers even bought me a nice, nice replica jersey as an "I'm an *sshole" gift.

the_ouskull

[SoonerBBall]

I'm too lazy to look for a response, but I asked earlier: Was Baylor even eligible for the death penalty?

From Wikipedia, emphasis mine.



Baylor basketball (2003)

During the 2003 Baylor University basketball scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylor_University_basketball_scandal), the NCAA infractions committee found that during the reign of Dave Bliss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Bliss), the Bears had engaged in violations as serious as those of SMU two decades earlier. Baylor was eligible for the "death penalty" since their tennis program had been put under probation in 2000. However, the committee decided not to issue the death penalty because Baylor took swift corrective action once the allegations came to light, including forcing Bliss' resignation (in contrast to SMU, whose administrators knew about the wrongdoing and did nothing). Ultimately, the Baylor program only received what amounted to a half-season death penalty for 2005-06. They were barred from playing any non-conference games, although they could still compete against their Big 12 Conference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_12_Conference) opponents, and they did, going 4-12 and losing in the first round of the Big 12 tournament to finish 4-13 for the year. Under new coach Scott Drew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Drew), Baylor has made a resurgence, having earned NCAA Tournament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Championship) berths in 2008 and 2010.

[Leroy Lizard]

That would suck losing your basketball team because the tennis team fouled up earlier.

Why even bother cheating in tennis? Why even bother monitoring it?

[Herr Scholz]

That would suck losing your basketball team because the tennis team fouled up earlier.

Why even bother cheating in tennis? Why even bother monitoring it?

Weren't you guys just on probation for cheating at both men and women's gymnastics?

[fwsooner22]

Weren't you guys just on probation for cheating at both men and women's gymnastics?

and in 1996 a starting safety failed to show for your bowl game because it became known that he was 30 years old. No less than 8 of your present day team has DUI's THIS YEAR. Your baseball coach drove drunk at 2 AM.

Your former star RB is a shining example of what POT.

I can go on and on and on. You are Texas with deep pockets and it all just goes away. SPeaking of which...............

[Herr Scholz]

OK then. Gymnastics is more important than tennis. Got it.

[Collier11]

well, we are winning natl titles in Gymnastics so yes :D

[Herr Scholz]

;)

[Leroy Lizard]

Scholz, you are trying to point out the obvious: Fans care less about teams that don't win.

That's true of every fan base in the country. If OU won the men's basketball championship on a regular basis, we would care more about the team. They don't, so we don't.

[poke4christ]

So I've been racking my brain on all this stuff here with the basketball team wondering what's going to happen (not what I think should happen). At times I don't think it's going to be much. At other times I wouldn't be surprised to see the hammer. Truth is, I have no clue, it's been like 2 years and we still haven't heard jack on the USC stuff. Part of me thinks we're still gonna hear something on that, part of me doesn't. I wouldn't be surprised by anything.

Anyway, what all this rambling is getting at is I want to know the thoughts of the fans here. What do you guys honestly think will happen with all of this if an investigation determines the acusations to be true?

[Leroy Lizard]

I doubt the death penalty. If more than one coach was involved, I could see it. We'll lose a bunch of scholarships and be banned from postseason play.

If I was the AD, I drop basketball in exchange for the NCAA dropping the investigation (if the NCAA would even do such a thing).

[Eielson]

If I was the AD, I drop basketball in exchange for the NCAA dropping the investigation (if the NCAA would even do such a thing).

Good thing you aren't our AD.

[StoopTroup]

Good thing you aren't our AD.

Or really anything for that matter.

[Leroy Lizard]

Good thing you aren't our AD.

Maybe so. But if the basketball team gets nailed with a serious probation, that jeopardizes all other sports for anything taking place afterwards. One RB taking money three years later and the football team is facing massive sanctions.

We just ended our probationary period with the NCAA. Do you want to start it up again? If you have an opportunity to avoid NCAA probation and choose not to do it, you are really rolling the dice. Is the basketball team worth the sacrifice?

I would like to think that the athletic department has what it takes to ensure that no other sports end up in trouble for the next five years. Do you have that confidence in it?

I look at this in the same way that USC did with its football team: Sacrifice the basketball team in hoping that the NCAA goes away. Here, I would cut a deal if possible. (And I'm not sure the NCAA can or will cut such a deal; it's just an idea.)

Another solution would be to axe the basketball team if the NCAA agrees to turn over the investigation to the Big XII, with probation handed down by the conference instead of the NCAA. Again, I'm not sure that can be done.

[cheezyq]

right, it's about OU cheating.
we've done it very well, as our past indicates.
no wonder the NCAA comes down hard on us, seemingly all the time.
you'd think our athletic administration/coaches would ****ing learn. i'm tired of being so closely affiliated with cheating. it makes me sick to my stomach.

You must be either too young to know, or a complete ignoramus. First, this isn't the late 80s OU where drugs were being passed around in the locker room by the QB. OU's athletic department is nearly spotless these days.

But, cheating happens at all schools, particularly through boosters and others trying to take advantage of kids with "pro potential". Players who are less than ethical will be more than happy to accept illegal help from wherever it is available. Where OU runs into problems is that we have a LOT of overactive boosters trying to "help" the various programs in recruiting. When the player gets caught, OU gets run through the ringer. The difference between OU and SUC, however, is that as an organization OU cooperates with the investigations, trying to find out the truth, rather than actively trying to hide evidence.

Take Kelvin Sampson, who for whatever reason felt he didn't have to follow the rules after a fairly successful career. For most of his career at OU, he was a fine, and as far as we know, ethical coach. But HE decided to go against the rules. Then Bomar and Quinn. Yes, OU is responsible for the people it hires, but OU itself is not "cheating". It's unfortunate that OU has to take the lumps for the greed of a few unsavory individuals. But the reality is that OU SELF-REPORTED itself to the NCAA. Those individuals cheated, and OU was the one that paid.

Then idiots like yourself say you're ashamed of OU, when you REALLY should be proud that we follow the investigation guidelines, regardless of how it hurts us in the end.

As for NCAA vs. OU, think of the Mike Balogun case. Here is a guy who swears he was compliant and didn't play semi-pro after a certain age, allowing him to be eligible for another year in 2009. OU even went to the NCAA and got a confirmation that he was eligible. But, some vindictive a-hole at FSU gets the investigation re-opened because of some stupid commentators comment during the MNC game, and the NCAA finds an admittedly inaccurate roster list on the supremely trustworthy internet, and using THAT as their ONLY criteria, voila! Balogun is ruled ineligible.

That's not only unfair to OU, that's unfair to Balogun. I won't say that there is a national conspiracy by the NCAA to get OU where possible, but there is more than enough evidence to prove that given an opportunity to rule in OU's favor, the majority of the time, the NCAA will not. The NCAA is NOT a friend of OU. If you wish to know why, here is a history lesson:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=468&invol=85

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/sugarmans/Sports%20Law%20Anthony%20Lee%20%20Regents-College%20Football-BCS.pdf

OU and Georgia were front-runners in the fight to get the TV contracts wrestled away from the NCAA's control. The NCAA was notoriously restrictive with which games appeared on TV and when. Now, look at the monster TV contracts (the Big 10/11 Network, the ESPN/SEC same sex marriage, etc.) and you'll quickly realize that the NCAA lost out on a LOT of money, all because of OU and its legal team. Now you know why the NCAA is NOT kind to OU, and probably never will be again.

The fact that UT fans have to be thankful to OU so that they can stare at their beloved sh*t-colored orange unis on Saturdays brings a bit of warmth to my heart.

[Leroy Lizard]

What could OU have done to prevent these things from happening?

I'm not sure.

What can OU do to ensure that these things won't happen in the future?

Again, I'm not sure.

If you are the new OU compliance officer, how would you proceed? Anyone?

[Collier11]

If the Ast coach was involved, I dont know what you do to prevent that

[Leroy Lizard]

How do you even stop a head coach from doing it? How do you stop players? How do catch it?

Tough problems.

[Collier11]

Ultimately it will be OU's responsibility but if someone wants to break the rules willingly, what can you do

[Leroy Lizard]

This highlights the difference between responsibility and blame. OU is definitel responsible. Is it to be blamed? Not sure.

BTW, I'm curious about something. You seemed to react pretty negatively to my suggestion of disbanding the basketball team in hopes of warding off the NCAA. Assuming that the allegations are true, why?

Is it that you think basketball is that important to the school?

Or is it that you think the chances of basketball probation causing problems in other sports down the road is a chance worth taking?

I'm not trying to be an *** (although that doesn't seem to stop me from being one), just curious as to your thinking.

[Collier11]

You dont disband the hoops program over $3 grand, it isnt justice

[Leroy Lizard]

Is it just $3000? I'm not sure the monetary amount is the issue here.

[Eielson]

Is it that you think basketball is that important to the school?

Short version: Outside of football, basketball is the biggest thing this school has to offer. It has so much history, and has been around for so long that you just can't get rid of it. It would upset so many people. Also, OU has a ton of bandwagon fans. They only cheer for football, though, so basketball is a clear separator.

Can football even get in trouble without doing anything? I know they can be put on probation, but don't they have to do something of their own to actually be punished?

[Leroy Lizard]

Short version: Outside of football, basketball is the biggest thing this school has to offer. It has so much history, and has been around for so long that you just can't get rid of it. It would upset so many people. Also, OU has a ton of bandwagon fans. They only cheer for football, though, so basketball is a clear separator.

Can football even get in trouble without doing anything? I know they can be put on probation, but don't they have to do something of their own to actually be punished?


All it takes is one booster and one player.

[Eielson]

That wouldn't be basketball's fault.

[Leroy Lizard]

Of course not. But trying to assign blame to any particular sport is pointless. If football screws up, it won't matter whose fault it is.

I'm suppose I'm biased, though. I have never had many fuzzy feelings for the basketball team.

[Collier11]

DRUNK!

[Collier11]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, very interesting...

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Keith “Tiny” Gallon says his mother needed $3,000 from a former Merrill Lynch financial adviser to get his high school transcript released so that he could attend Oklahoma University.
“Oak Hill wouldn’t release my transcript under no circumstances and my mother had to do what she had to do,” Gallon said Thursday following a workout with the Knicks at their training facility.
“It wasn’t an agent, it was a financial adviser. She got the money from him, got my transcript out of Oak Hill Academy. I got a single mother. When she got the money, she paid the financial adviser back through my freshmen year.”
TMZ.com broke the news in March that financial adviser Jeffrey Hausinger last August wired $3,000 into a joint back account owned by Gallon and his mother, Sylvia Wright.
Gallon says Hausinger went to TMZ with the story after he was forced to resign from the Tampa-based Merrill Lynch office March 26.
“The head man in the financial group fired him [Hausinger] so he came came back and told TMZ that I took money,” Gallon said. “TMZ never let me tell my side of the story.”
He added: “It wasn’t how it looked. My mother did what she could do to let me go to school. My mother didn’t have $3,000 to pay to a school [or else] I wouldn’t be able to go to school.”
Sources said Wright put off paying Gallon’s Oak Hill tuition throughout the season and that ultimately her brother paid Gallon’s tuition so that he could attend summer school at Oklahoma.
Oak Hill president Dr. Michael Groves confirmed that the school did receive a payment from the Gallon family about a year ago but that there was “nothing unusual or tawdry” about it.
“We did receive payment from a family member toward his student account,” Groves said. “I wouldn’t have any information about the origin of the funding.”
Groves also said that NCAA officials had been at Oak Hill — a national basketball powerhouses in Mouth of Wilson, Va. — within the last two weeks to look at financial records related to the matter.
“They were on campus a couple weeks ago, I believe,” Groves said. “I have no idea what the NCAA would be looking for.”
Gallon says the money came to his family from Hausinger and that they used it to pay his Oak Hill tuition.
“Oak Hill gave my mother a bill for $3,000,” Gallon said. “Until she paid, I couldn’t go to school. It wasn’t like I was getting the money and paying it to everybody. Three thousand dollars, that’s nothing to get my transcript…She paid the man back over the course of my freshman year.”
Gallon said the story — and subsequent joint investigation by Oklahoma and the NCAA — is the major reason he left school after his freshman season. He is projected as a late-first or early-second round pick in the June 24 NBA Draft.
“Yeah, that was one of the reasons,” Gallon said of why he left school. “Basically, that was the reason. We still haven’t gotten an answer from the NCAA so [Oklahoma coach] Jeff Capel and my mother talked about it. He was like, ‘He might as well come out. They’re going to wait this long’ because they [the NCAA] were supposed to get back to me in a week but it was like two months. So we just came out and that was my decision.”
Oklahoma is implicated in the case because phone records link former assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro to Hausinger. Taliaferro abruptly resigned April 8.
One national columnist has called for Oklahoma to get the “death penalty,” pointing out that the school was already on probation for “deliberate noncompliance” and “willful violations” at the time the Gallon/Taliaferro situation happened.
Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione told TMZ the school is committed to following NCAA rules, and “any activity not in compliance is taken seriously and is acted upon swiftly.”
As for what will happen at Oklahoma, Gallon said, “I’m really not sure but shouldn’t nothing happen. They’re probably going to be a little more strict, but whatever they do it’s on them.”

[Leroy Lizard]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, very interesting...

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Keith “Tiny” Gallon says his mother needed $3,000 from a former Merrill Lynch financial adviser to get his high school transcript released so that he could attend Oklahoma University.
“Oak Hill wouldn’t release my transcript under no circumstances and my mother had to do what she had to do,” Gallon said Thursday following a workout with the Knicks at their training facility.
“It wasn’t an agent, it was a financial adviser. She got the money from him, got my transcript out of Oak Hill Academy. I got a single mother. When she got the money, she paid the financial adviser back through my freshmen year.”
TMZ.com broke the news in March that financial adviser Jeffrey Hausinger last August wired $3,000 into a joint back account owned by Gallon and his mother, Sylvia Wright.
Gallon says Hausinger went to TMZ with the story after he was forced to resign from the Tampa-based Merrill Lynch office March 26.
“The head man in the financial group fired him [Hausinger] so he came came back and told TMZ that I took money,” Gallon said. “TMZ never let me tell my side of the story.”
He added: “It wasn’t how it looked. My mother did what she could do to let me go to school. My mother didn’t have $3,000 to pay to a school [or else] I wouldn’t be able to go to school.”
Sources said Wright put off paying Gallon’s Oak Hill tuition throughout the season and that ultimately her brother paid Gallon’s tuition so that he could attend summer school at Oklahoma.
Oak Hill president Dr. Michael Groves confirmed that the school did receive a payment from the Gallon family about a year ago but that there was “nothing unusual or tawdry” about it.
“We did receive payment from a family member toward his student account,” Groves said. “I wouldn’t have any information about the origin of the funding.”
Groves also said that NCAA officials had been at Oak Hill — a national basketball powerhouses in Mouth of Wilson, Va. — within the last two weeks to look at financial records related to the matter.
“They were on campus a couple weeks ago, I believe,” Groves said. “I have no idea what the NCAA would be looking for.”
Gallon says the money came to his family from Hausinger and that they used it to pay his Oak Hill tuition.
“Oak Hill gave my mother a bill for $3,000,” Gallon said. “Until she paid, I couldn’t go to school. It wasn’t like I was getting the money and paying it to everybody. Three thousand dollars, that’s nothing to get my transcript…She paid the man back over the course of my freshman year.”
Gallon said the story — and subsequent joint investigation by Oklahoma and the NCAA — is the major reason he left school after his freshman season. He is projected as a late-first or early-second round pick in the June 24 NBA Draft.
“Yeah, that was one of the reasons,” Gallon said of why he left school. “Basically, that was the reason. We still haven’t gotten an answer from the NCAA so [Oklahoma coach] Jeff Capel and my mother talked about it. He was like, ‘He might as well come out. They’re going to wait this long’ because they [the NCAA] were supposed to get back to me in a week but it was like two months. So we just came out and that was my decision.”
Oklahoma is implicated in the case because phone records link former assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro to Hausinger. Taliaferro abruptly resigned April 8.
One national columnist has called for Oklahoma to get the “death penalty,” pointing out that the school was already on probation for “deliberate noncompliance” and “willful violations” at the time the Gallon/Taliaferro situation happened.
Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione told TMZ the school is committed to following NCAA rules, and “any activity not in compliance is taken seriously and is acted upon swiftly.”
As for what will happen at Oklahoma, Gallon said, “I’m really not sure but shouldn’t nothing happen. They’re probably going to be a little more strict, but whatever they do it’s on them.”

Is Hausinger talking much? What about Taliaferro?

[StoopTroup]

Who gives a ****. The NCAA is going to be the final word on it all.

Whatever some Lizard thinks doesn't make two ****s either.

[Leroy Lizard]

Sorry for asking.

[goingoneight]

As much as I'm clinging to hope that the NCAA finds nothing more than a woman took out a loan to get her son eligible... it stinks too much with the former assistant resignation and phone records thing.

And when guys like TMG and Gallon say things like "shouldn't nothin happen" in conducted interviews... it clarifies OU was nothing more than a meal ticket to the NBA anyway. Like they were just serving their time here with no interest in the education or learning simple things like how to not look like a fool in front of a microphone.

[Leroy Lizard]

Actually, this statement bothered me more than anything else: "They’re probably going to be a little more strict, but whatever they do it’s on them."

It's on them?

[Eielson]

It's the same with baseball. Your fanbase was all about it in '94 when you won it all. Now it's a worthless sport since you're not a contender anymore.

Really?

[Leroy Lizard]

Really?

Yeah, he's pointing out that fans really like those sports their team is good at.

http://somecallmeduh.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/captainobvious.jpg

[soonerboy_odanorth]

thirty mile zone. Huh. Never knew that.

thought it was Ticks, Maggots, Zeitgeist....

[yankee]

You must be either too young to know, or a complete ignoramus. First, this isn't the late 80s OU where drugs were being passed around in the locker room by the QB. OU's athletic department is nearly spotless these days.

But, cheating happens at all schools, particularly through boosters and others trying to take advantage of kids with "pro potential". Players who are less than ethical will be more than happy to accept illegal help from wherever it is available. Where OU runs into problems is that we have a LOT of overactive boosters trying to "help" the various programs in recruiting. When the player gets caught, OU gets run through the ringer. The difference between OU and SUC, however, is that as an organization OU cooperates with the investigations, trying to find out the truth, rather than actively trying to hide evidence.

Take Kelvin Sampson, who for whatever reason felt he didn't have to follow the rules after a fairly successful career. For most of his career at OU, he was a fine, and as far as we know, ethical coach. But HE decided to go against the rules. Then Bomar and Quinn. Yes, OU is responsible for the people it hires, but OU itself is not "cheating". It's unfortunate that OU has to take the lumps for the greed of a few unsavory individuals. But the reality is that OU SELF-REPORTED itself to the NCAA. Those individuals cheated, and OU was the one that paid.

Then idiots like yourself say you're ashamed of OU, when you REALLY should be proud that we follow the investigation guidelines, regardless of how it hurts us in the end.

As for NCAA vs. OU, think of the Mike Balogun case. Here is a guy who swears he was compliant and didn't play semi-pro after a certain age, allowing him to be eligible for another year in 2009. OU even went to the NCAA and got a confirmation that he was eligible. But, some vindictive a-hole at FSU gets the investigation re-opened because of some stupid commentators comment during the MNC game, and the NCAA finds an admittedly inaccurate roster list on the supremely trustworthy internet, and using THAT as their ONLY criteria, voila! Balogun is ruled ineligible.

That's not only unfair to OU, that's unfair to Balogun. I won't say that there is a national conspiracy by the NCAA to get OU where possible, but there is more than enough evidence to prove that given an opportunity to rule in OU's favor, the majority of the time, the NCAA will not. The NCAA is NOT a friend of OU. If you wish to know why, here is a history lesson:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=468&invol=85

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/sugarmans/Sports%20Law%20Anthony%20Lee%20%20Regents-College%20Football-BCS.pdf

OU and Georgia were front-runners in the fight to get the TV contracts wrestled away from the NCAA's control. The NCAA was notoriously restrictive with which games appeared on TV and when. Now, look at the monster TV contracts (the Big 10/11 Network, the ESPN/SEC same sex marriage, etc.) and you'll quickly realize that the NCAA lost out on a LOT of money, all because of OU and its legal team. Now you know why the NCAA is NOT kind to OU, and probably never will be again.

The fact that UT fans have to be thankful to OU so that they can stare at their beloved sh*t-colored orange unis on Saturdays brings a bit of warmth to my heart.

uh huh.

it's the NCAA that's out to get us, and us only. :rolleyes:

somehow texas, despite all the run-ins with the law that they have, manage to avoid gigantic NCAA investigations. but it must be because the NCAA loves them right?