What do you think about this?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/magazine/10/12/agent/index.html?eref=sihp

there ya go

[tator]

STEP, I have some links I'd like you to post. I can create threads, I just want you to do it for me.

PM me, srsly

[stoops the eternal pimp]

you have to send me the kind of pics he did...

[tator]

send them to me first, so i have a reference point

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Sorry to hijack this thread but... uh nevermind. :D

[stoops the eternal pimp]

that little bastard better post in here

[stoops the eternal pimp]

send them to me first, so i have a reference point

I've seen what you can do...just move that right foot a little over and you'll have it

[Mississippi Sooner]

This thread is better than crab salad.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

CRAB SALAD!

[lmg0088]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/magazine/10/12/agent/index.html?eref=sihp

There ya go

Thanks


you have to send me the kind of pics he did...

You weren't suppose to tell.


that little bastard better post in here

You happy now.

Really, Thanks Again

[soonerboy_odanorth]

I think agents are the modern version of the golden handshake. Every player and program can deny that it goes on with them. But it does. Everywhere.

I'm talking to you Notre Dame, and you Boise State. And especially you, Texas.

We're all chewin' the same dirt.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Whenever some college kid asks me how he can become an agent, I tell him, "Go get tight with a player and serve him up as leverage to get a job [with an agenting firm]." The bottom line is that no agent is going to work with you unless you bring something to the table that he doesn't have.

I had a skill -- I could recruit all the big schools on the West Coast -- and I needed to find an agent who valued that. Gary Wichard was one of the biggest around, the guy who represented Brian Bosworth, Keith Brooking, Jason Taylor and others. But even though Gary's company, Pro Tect Management, was in Pacific Palisades, Calif., overlooking the ocean, he had almost no West Coast clients.

I reached out to him at the 2000 Senior Bowl. Eventually, Gary recognized what I could bring to the table, and we agreed to a contract that paid me 25% of the commission on any player we signed from any school in the Pacific or Mountain time zones except Utah, because Gary had an in at that program. The deal was less than the 50-50 split I had with Doc, but I had gotten married and was looking to provide for my family, and I thought Gary could help me become the agent I wanted to be.

Immediately, Gary told me that he recruited differently and that the Wild West way I learned under Doc wasn't going to fly. He said I needed to be "reprogrammed." There would be no more partying with players, no more paying players. That was music to my ears.

Much of how I recruited with Gary was similar to before: cold calls, going to schools, introducing myself to players and getting close to them and their families. The difference now was that I had something special to sell: Gary and his client list.

Gary was a master in front of kids. If I got him in a room with a prospect and he made his presentation, we had a great shot at signing the player. Gary put together what he called a Game Plan for each prospect he recruited. Each Game Plan came in a large bound book that contained, among other things, information on how Gary had improved his clients' draft stock over the years. Of course, he left out his clients who fell in the draft, but the college players bought it. At one point in our presentation, Gary would hold up the Game Plans for two players from the previous year's draft, one in each hand. One was for a player who signed with him, and one was for a kid who didn't and was drafted lower. "Next year, what hand do you want your Game Plan to be in?" he would say. It was brilliant.

Gary also used his contacts in the media to help him recruit. In 2000, before a meeting with Stanford defensive lineman Willie Howard, Gary arranged for ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper to call. Gary and I were talking to Willie in Gary's office when Gary's phone rang, and he put it on speakerphone.

"Viper, how are you?" Gary said. That's what he called Mel, Viper or Vipe. "Viper, I'm sitting here with the best defensive lineman in college football. Do you know who that is?"

"You must be with Willie Howard," Mel said.

Gary used Mel like that all the time. In the agent business, people know Gary and Mel are close, and some people suspect that Mel ranks players more favorably if they are Gary's clients.In my first year with Gary, I successfully recruited Willie and also Adam Archuleta and Todd Heap, both from Arizona State. In the 2001 draft Adam and Todd were picked in the first round and Willie in the second. I'd never had a haul like that when I was with Doc, so even though I was getting a smaller percentage, I was making more money. My wife and I had our first daughter the month after the draft, and I remember that Gary told my wife what a gifted recruiter I was and that we had a bright future.

Gary used his contacts in the coaching community to help him get players. This has recently come into public view, as the NCAA and the state of North Carolina are investigating the Tar Heels football program and whether John Blake, a Carolina assistant coach since 2007, steered players to Gary and received money from him. It's no secret in the agent business that some college coaches steer players to certain agents. I laughed when I heard Gary deny in the media that John ever worked with Pro Tect.

When I was with Gary, John worked hand in hand with us, and Gary called him his "partner." John was the defensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys when they won Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX, and the head coach at Oklahoma from '96 through '98. He was one of the best recruiters I'd ever seen. He was just electric, and I leveraged him to get clients whenever I could. In '02 two of the biggest clients we got were due, in large part, to John. He went with Gary and me to meet with Fresno State defensive lineman Alan Harper, and Gary and I had John work out defensive end Kenyon Coleman from UCLA before his senior year. That was an NCAA violation, but it wasn't like paying a kid. It was helping Kenyon become a better player.

Alan and Kenyon were talented, but what I remember most about the 2002 draft were the kids we missed. Before the 2002 Rose Bowl between Miami and Nebraska, I brought Hurricanes tight end Jeremy Shockey to Gary's house in Westlake. Shockey is this kid from Ada, Okla., so who does Gary have waiting for him when he arrives? The Boz, Brian Bosworth. The dinner went great, but then Shockey signed with Drew Rosenhaus.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/magazine/10/12/agent/index.html?eref=sihp#ixzz12BPB2Q9Y.

First part confirms the stuff I've posted here before about Kiper...If you read the end of the article, Kiper denies this but the player involved confirms it...

And the 2nd part about Blake is interesting

[badger]

No wonder Kiper's big boards have sucked so much lately. He can deny it all he wants, but I think we all agree that something has been seriously off on some of his top prospects for the NFL.

This might be what ESPN needs to put Mel on the backburner in favor of rising star Todd McShay, which is what they probably really want to do after Mel's credibility's been called into question for years.

As for the article, I can see why Jeremy Shockey wouldn't be swayed by Boz. Shockey hates OU and the fact that OU didn't recruit him outta high school and he had to go the juco route.

[NormanPride]

I cannot tell you how glad I am not to hear us or our players mentioned. Ugh.

This is... interesting. I hate money.

[badger]

A very timely story on SI's part. I bet they'd sell more of their magazines if they didn't put good articles like this on their site for free.

[Chuck Bao]

Very interesting article and disgusting. I suppose we all knew that stuff was going on almost everywhere, but I am interested to see if anything shakes out from that tell-all article.

I know USC fans are probably still in denial. However, if the reported cases of the coaches allowing sports agents on the sidelines and at practices are true, it should have been a huge red flag.

With our extensive football knowledge, connection to local athletes and numerous lawyers, I think the posters at SF should set up our own sports agency business. We can't offer Hollywood, but we have OVJ. I am joking, of course.

[jumperstop]

A very timely story on SI's part. I bet they'd sell more of their magazines if they didn't put good articles like this on their site for free.

I bet they would sell more articles if the swim suit edition became the SI playboy edition...kinda already is though.

[C&CDean]

Very interesting article and disgusting. I suppose we all knew that stuff was going on almost everywhere, but I am interested to see if anything shakes out from that tell-all article.

I know USC fans are probably still in denial. However, if the reported cases of the coaches allowing sports agents on the sidelines and at practices are true, it should have been a huge red flag.

With our extensive football knowledge, connection to local athletes and numerous lawyers, I think the posters at SF should set up our own sports agency business. We can't offer Hollywood, but we have OVJ. I am joking, of course.

OVJ and eternal glory. You tell me what the agents can offer that beats that ****.

[Collier11]

Kiper rated certain prospects higher that were represented by particular agents, no way!!!! Clausen over Bradford, cough cough

[stoops the eternal pimp]

and also involved with college players getting associated with certain agents...

sometime, i'll pm you some stuff about kiper that goes along with this...he's been doing this for years

[Collier11]

interesting to see if ESPN comments

[NormanPride]

They had Kiper "on the phone" on Mike and Mike. It was just a prepared statement. He was listing player after player that he had lower than their draft place that was represented by Gary.

[yermom]

those are just the ones that he didn't get cash for ;)

[soonercastor]

They had Kiper "on the phone" on Mike and Mike. It was just a prepared statement. He was listing player after player that he had lower than their draft place that was represented by Gary.

lolll that right there makes him guilty.

[badger]

Just for the sake of argument, which of Gary's players had questionably high ratings on Mel's big board?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Jimmy Clausen from last season is one...

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Most repeated thread evar!~

[NormanPride]

Hey did you hear about that agent? He landed on the moon after bombing pearl harbor!

[Scott D]

explains why Mel went a little psycho when Peyton Manning went first and Leaf second.

[Collier11]

explains why Mel went a little psycho when Peyton Manning went first and Leaf second.

Good call, I had forgotten about that

[Lott's Bandana]

OVJ and eternal glory. You tell me what the agents can offer that beats that ****.


You forgot the CRAB SALAD!

[TMcGee86]

Just for the sake of argument, which of Gary's players had questionably high ratings on Mel's big board?

Kiper's ratings of future Wichard clients w/ actual draft spot in parenthesis:

Taylor Mays - 4th (49)
Jimmy Clausen - 12th (48)
Everson Griffen: 11th (100)
Benn: 18th (39)

[Collier11]

Heh, pathetic

[Jacie]

I cannot tell you how glad I am not to hear us or our players mentioned. Ugh.

Well, the agent, Josh Luchs, mainly worked West Coast schools. When I read this it makes me think it is just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, no one who is currently an agent is going to come forward with big reveals like this one.

If agents could be made to cease operations all at once, it makes me wonder if colleges would suddenly find it difficult to keep athletes on scholarship in school more than a year. Denied their sources of spending money, any that could would jump to the pros at the earliest opportunity because they could no longer afford to go to school.

[badger]

If agents could be made to cease operations all at once, it makes me wonder if colleges would suddenly find it difficult to keep athletes on scholarship in school more than a year. Denied their sources of spending money, any that could would jump to the pros at the earliest opportunity because they could no longer afford to go to school.

Earliest opportunity after a year in college?! Maurice Clarrett says 'hi'

[Boomer.....]

OU players: Blake introduced agent (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AneTkYFur4nMWMzduqW8HGscvrYF?slug=cr-blakefolo101910)

[RacerX]

Thanks Switzer.

[TUSooner]

Where are the skimpy swimsuits? That was a very disappointing link.