Will Lyles Opens Up, Implicating Oregon Scandal
by Peter Bean on Jul 1, 2011 2:11 PM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Football
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PrintJust nine days ago I wrote a post entitled, "Will Lyles, Oregon, and the Slow Unfolding of a Scandal." I was right about the scandal, but wrong that things were unfolding slowly.
In a comprehensive article at Yahoo! Sports, Will Lyles tells his side of the story about his relationship with Chip Kelly and Oregon football. While some aspects of his story are his-word-against-theirs, Lyles provided Yahoo! Sports with a mountain of damning documentation that includes handwritten notes, emails, and phone records, all of which make difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Oregon's relationship with the Texas recruiting businessman was compliant with NCAA bylaws.
As I wrote last week, the useless information in the scouting report that Oregon provided as documentation of a legitimate purchase from Lyles strongly suggested that the football program had paid Lyles for something else, and how hot the water they would be in depended on what, exactly, they really did buy with that $25,000 payment.
If Lyles' story is accurate, the water is boiling:
“I look back at it now and they paid for what they saw as my access and influence with recruits,” Lyles said. “The service I provided went beyond what a scouting service should … I made a mistake and I’m big enough of a man to admit I was wrong.”
[As for the recruiting package he sent Oregon,] Lyles said he took old profiles off a computer, copied some information from elsewhere and tried to accumulate a last-minute recruiting package. He said he never bothered to consider the quality because he felt Oregon didn't care, they just needed to show something, he assumed, to some bean counter in Eugene... Lyles believes Oregon was trying to retroactively comply with the rules. He says in mid-February the football staff became aware of a pending Yahoo! Sports investigation into its payment to Lyles and the Dallas-based scouting service New Level Athletics.
"They were covering their tracks," Lyles said. "They were covering their asses. They were scrambling."
That Oregon and Will Lyles were in a payola bed together was first reported long ago by the FanTake crew. Six months later, Yahoo! Sports started in on the trail. Four months later, the story of Oregon's phony documentation broke. And just nine days later, we have what may be our first smoking gun. The slow part is over.
Oregon, good night and good luck.
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In the words of Clay Davis
SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
So over O/U for both Auburn and the other OU
will vacate both sides of the 2010 MNC? I say a year.
I've been saying basically that for close to six months
Oregon is a goner. Auburn, tougher case.
Forth Worth might want to put aside a few nickels for a belated victory parade for the unbeaten and unindicted 2010-11 Horned Frogs.
Hey, hey, hey, HEY. That will NEVER happen.
We’re “UO”, not “OU”.
/walksawayproudly
/hunchesoveraftertenpaces
/projectilevomitsallovereverything
"[Autzen Stadium's] steep concrete banks and closed ends turn a small but rabid crowd from WAC-sized cheering section into a horde of bees with megaphones capable of reaching 127 decibels of hatenoise." -Spencer Hall
by ProbablyMonty on Jul 1, 2011 3:12 PM CDT up reply actions 4 recs
So...
Tressel lasted how long after the allegations of him lying?
O/U on Kelly?
JD’s like, "you want some f*&#ing pitching? Here’s all the pitching you can stand. Now choke on it, b*#&hes!"- RCCook
LSB: "Oh s#*t, JD. You crazy!"
On the other side of the coin I have to wonder . . .
Leaving aside Chip Kelly’s new Rolaids addiction, how much pressure does this put on Mark Emmert and the gang in Indy to actually do something? Hell, anything?
When Will Lyles, the guy taking the payments, says in essence “they were paying me for my influence which led two players, including a Heisman finalist, to go to their school” that’s the smokingest of smoking guns. There’s not a lot of wiggle room there. This looks like an open and shut case. The question is whether the NCAA is going to sack up and drop the hammer on one of the big boys or ultimately knuckle under and quietly mumble something to the effect of “6 lost scholarships over 3 years . . .garble, garble, garble . . no you guys keep that TV money” before nuking Western Michigan back to the Stone Age for not filing a timely form NCAA TR-563.
Your move, Mr. Emmert.
Oregon = New money
I don’t think the NCAA will have any problem hammering Oregon. They are new players in the big leagues. The proper question is what will Mr. Phil Knight do to keep this from happening.
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
by TexasGarcia37 on Jul 1, 2011 4:12 PM CDT up reply actions
Auburn and Oregon
Both were rewarded for cheating by playing in the MNC, and tOSU got a further reward for their efforts with playing with their cheats in the Fiesta Bowl. The whole thing stinks. The NCAA could stop this stuff (I don’t buy any of the excuses). But, they don’t. Therefore, what are we to do?
Don't be such a baby.
Lyles is PISSED at Texas
Cuz we had the money but wouldn’t pay. Folks like OU shoudl be thanking us. The recruits that they had a chance at were being sold off to outer schools. Texas did not willingly blow this whistle, and we certainly didn’t do it without knowing we were clean on a kid like the skunk.
Don't be such a baby.
He is mad at Texas
Because Texas said get lost sucker. We dont need your help in recruiting. We do a DAMN fine job ourselves.
by RQ on Jul 2, 2011 9:53 AM CDT up reply actions
Interesting take
Recruitocosm is asking if Lyles admitted to a felony. Lawyers please?
"A lot of people look for the easy way to do anything, in swimming there is no easy way." - Eddie Reese
I think Lyles' conduct was prior to the passage of that law
If he were to do it again, yes, it’d probably qualify.
How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese? --Charles De Gaulle
by burntorangehorn on Jul 1, 2011 6:10 PM CDT up reply actions
anyone else concerned in the slightest that the article mentions Connor Wood's dad giving someone 4,000 bucks?
cause that disturbs me
formerly "Horns102591"
No.
For the following reasons:
a) It didn’t steer him toward Texas (i.e. he didn’t commit to Texas)
b) Mr. Wood also a son who currently plays at A&M and they’d never be able to prove which school the money was meant to steer Lache toward, anyway, if they could even establish an intent.
c) Mr. Wood isn’t a Texas booster. He’s just a dad with money of kid who played on the same 7 on 7 team as Lache and saw an underpriveleged kid who needed help with tutoring.
d) Lyles himself said Mr. Wood didn’t pay for the tutoring to steer Lache to any particular school.
"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.
b) Mr. Wood also *has* a son...
"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.
*Had
Connor’s older brother is a GA at A&M now.
Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation
by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Jul 1, 2011 10:20 PM CDT up reply actions
C Wood was also a top OU target
Plus. The skunk always alleged in interviews that he had good grades and wanted to major in engineering. If the Woods gave him money for tutors they were ripped off by a con kid/man. No more, no less. We stopped recruiting him very early when he linked himself to Lyles. No worries for me. Sad when u try to help somone like that. Very sad. They must be nice people.
Don't be such a baby.
by Wrangler86 on Jul 2, 2011 1:41 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Thanks for the clarification, GOBR. nt
"The only sport that should be cried over is tee ball."
- don't remember who said it, but I like it.
by HookTech on Jul 5, 2011 8:42 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
It looks bad on Oregon
that the school didn’t ask for anything material from Lyles until the story started to break more than a year after Seastrunk signed. That smacks of either a cover up, or something closely approximating it, which is what the NCAA won’t like. If Oregon had thought that what Lyles had provided them was legitimate — i.e. his “access” and verbal scouting reports — the school wouldn’t have asked for the profiles after the fact to try to cover their ass. That seems awful close to an admission of guilt to me.
As for Lyles, the fact he is trying to paint himself as a naive victim in all this is laughable. The cowboy attitude of Chip Kelly throwing money at the guy and not asking for anything tangible in return is as well.
Follow me on Twitter: @GhostofBigRoy
Burnt Orange Nation
by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Jul 1, 2011 6:24 PM CDT reply actions
The ridiculous "scouting reports" were the stinkiest part of the whole story
And as with Ohio State, it was the coverup, which seemed to assume that we were all fools, that only served to fan the flames of scandal.
I’m filled with questions: Who did Seastrunk’s mother want him to sign with? Is there any truth to Lyles’ theory that the all-powerful UT media machine pushed this story to prominence? And what happens to a national championship game if neither team is found eligible to have been there? Did it ever happen at all? And if that’s the case, who got all the Doritos?
I was all for the Pac 10 merger back when it was being bandied about. Now their pre-eminent programs are currently barred from post-season play (USC), facing the very real threat of serious NCAA punishment (Oregon), and currently without the coach that revitalized the program (Stanford). Oh and one of the new programs they’re adding — Colorado — is in pretty poor shape.
That grass ain’t so green any more.
Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity. - Charles Bukowski
by windycityhorn on Jul 1, 2011 8:57 PM CDT up reply actions
From the Yahoo article
Lyles said the issue became problematic when Seastrunk’s mother said she wanted him to attend LSU.
It is really worth reading. The Yahoo guys do a great job of telling the story.
Thanks
Yahoo Sports is apparently the NCAA’s investigative arm now.
Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity. - Charles Bukowski
by windycityhorn on Jul 1, 2011 9:22 PM CDT up reply actions
I personally believe some of this is Lyles trying to deflect blame. I don’t understand how he could not send Oregon any physical documents for a year, yet still believe he was being paid for actual scouting work.
Anyways, I’m glad he didn’t just try to shit on Texas or anything like that.
agree
Lyles is only telling half the story, making himself look like a guy who was just looking out for the of the athletes. But it doesn’t add up. Read the article and the one thing that suprised me about Lyles is that he seemed to be good with paperwork and digging up information- he found out loopholes to allow Lamichael james to avoid the Texas TAKS test, he found out how to get Seastrunk’s grandmother to sign his letter of intent instead of his mother- he has some skills. But then he claims that he didn’t know he was breaking NCAA rules – “Lyles said his chief regret is not studying the NCAA bylaws to avoid mistakes that created this scandal.”
BS. Lyles admits that his business and reputation have been destroyed- even if he did provide honest scouting services, no schools would use him. And he didn’t get that extra $25K he expected to get from Oregon. so he’s burning all bridges and hoping that he’ll repair his reputation by being the whistleblower.
My big question is, do LSU and Cal (the other two schools who paid lyles) get drug under as well. I have a feeling some booster working for LSU was paying Seastrunk’s mother to get Lache to their campus.
Circumstantial Case
The first thing that sticks with me is the fact that the most damning aspects of this interview are allegations that Lyles makes without any evidence. He demonstrated that there is a relationship between him and some of the Oregon football staff. The actual physical evidence he provides creates a circumstantial case against Oregon. Yet he has not provided evidence that Chip Kelly actually authorized the payment to him. He says he did, that’s it. There is the letter that has Kelly thanking him for bringing recruits to a game. That’s not a violation of the rules. Additionally Lyles himself states he never steered any individual to a particular school, and though he did some inappropriate things to insure that these students could sign with Oregon but there is only indication that a single Oregon staffer approved of it.
What is clear is that there was a relationship between Oregon and Lyles but there is no solid evidence against Oregon or Chip Kelly for the most egregious violations except for the word of a man who is clearly disgruntled about the effect that this controversy has had on his business.
It is hard to trust Lyles
Given his role in all of this, and the way things have gone down, it is pretty reasonable to not take his word as truth. So I think your skepticism is warranted.
But there is a lot of circumstantial evidence. While it may not directly link the payment and Kelly’s approval of it, Lyles did get paid, and was having lots of contact with the coaches. Does it even matter if Kelly actually approved the payment? Someone in the athletic department of some significance did; I don’t think they let just anyone cut a check for 25 grand. It doesn’t get the program off the hook.
Well, there is that...
…and then there are about 7000 text messages and, of course, a 25k check for recruiting services which, as you know would be the domain of the head football coach. But, hey, I’m sure that this is just some big scheme to burn Chip. He’s been such a stellar controller of operations so far. What with the the DUIs, the theiving QBs, the pot heads, the girlfriend beaters,the permanently-suspended-oh-just-kidding running back, the car donations from known gang members, the busting down of doors to unknown women’s homes, the kicker incidents (plural), the rental car loans, the repeated instances of driving on suspended licenses, and the Tweeter. Sounds exactly like a program in total control.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
The NCAA...
…doesn’t give a damn if evidence is circumstantial or not. If they believe a violation has occurred and care about doing anything about it, they will.
I think this goes here...
" Answers --Become Resources."
Without Questions, There are limited Resources...
by KWashburn on Jul 1, 2011 8:32 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
This is why the NCAA has a bad wrap.
Lyles said he spoke with NCAA enforcement staffers for six hours in early May as part of their ongoing investigation. He said he didn’t reveal the stories concerning Kelly, James and Seastrunk to investigators because the specific topics never came up in questioning.
Burnt Orange Nation
Follow Along on Twitter @TXStampede
Went to Addicted to Quack
I think it should be renamed “The Super Spin Zone.”
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
Meh
Auburn did a lot worse and has not been punished. The big question to me is why Texas is so concerned with Oregon’s recruiting. Was losing out on Seastrunk that big of a deal? What recruit has Oregon got that drew the attention of the people that matter in Austin?
You answered your own question:
Auburn did a lot worse and has not been punished
This is truly pathetic on the NCAA’s part. It has nothing to do with who we lost. It never has.
The whole conference should be thanking Texas right now
if, as reported, it’s true that UT was instrumental in pushing this story into the spotlight. Seastrunk was probably the most high-profile guy Lyles steered out of state, and many of us thought he’d be great in what’s been an underperforming backfield.
But Lyles is, supposedly, not the only guy who is/was acting as a middleman between potential recruits and deep-pocketed out-of-state schools. You can bet if this practice proliferates in Texas, then all the schools that rely on Lone Star talent — basically the whole conference — will either have to play the street agent game or take themselves out of the running for certain elite national recruits.
Moreover, it’s not just the state of Texas. If it’s okay now to pay a middleman to get a kid on campus and his signature on the line, and you can call it “scouting,” and you can get away with it?… Then Katy bar the door. I don’t care who your team is, that just can’t be a good thing.
Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity. - Charles Bukowski
by windycityhorn on Jul 2, 2011 5:17 PM CDT up reply actions
there are recruits every year who have their hands out
and everyone knows it. most schools steer away from those recruits. not like this is something new. does not matter whether it is the mother asking for money, or a guy like Lyles. course, if you believe this story, Lyles was basically nothing more than a paid chaperone.
This accusation keeps coming up and it's still silly
Even Beergut agrees. http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/6/22/2236358/oregon-will-lyles-and-the-slow-unraveling-of-a-scandal#
This is big college football news. This is a college football blog. We were also naturally discussing Ohio State and Jim Tressel at length.
by TheElusiveShadow on Jul 2, 2011 6:51 PM CDT up reply actions
I think maybe
it has more to do with the recent surge in recruiting accusations and lack of enforcement. We have a vested interest in keeping things clean, as do you.
We have a 12th man and he's Bryan Harsin
by SpiritOfTheFedora on Jul 3, 2011 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions
Code of Ethics With Teeth Please
I really wish the NCAA would stand up and say – as a coach you violated NCAA code of ethics and you Chip and Vest can no longer make money on NCAA sponsored activities. That would make people think twice.
Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen
by realmccoy on Jul 2, 2011 4:14 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I expect an awesome 30 for 30 from ESPN in the near future
It will cover all these scandels and the schools who perpetuated them. Can’t wait!
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
$25,000 to Lyles
How much directly to the Temple RB? I can’t believe Lyles lived in their house and kept all money to himself. There is more money or some of the $25k landed in Lache’s hands IMO. It makes no sense for lLS to let Lyles profit while he banked nada. More to come on this IMO.
Don't be such a baby.
by Wrangler86 on Jul 2, 2011 10:27 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I
It would have been beyond stupid for Seastrunk to take anything given the hoopla surrounding his recruiting. In his defense I don’t think they make people quite that dumb. We all knew he was an NCAA investigation waiting to happen…well…it’s here.
We have a 12th man and he's Bryan Harsin
by SpiritOfTheFedora on Jul 3, 2011 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions
I'll have to see the evidence...nt
We have a 12th man and he's Bryan Harsin
by SpiritOfTheFedora on Jul 3, 2011 12:13 PM CDT up reply actions
Yahoo!Sports is investigating Texas Football Program?
A friend of mine told me that, in August Yahoo!Sports will publish another report on one of the top football programs in the country. He said it’s Texas. Can somebody authenticate this rumor? Yahoo!Sports can dig up lots of information….
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