2017 College Football Offseason...Stoops Retires

[tarcone]

Iowa is going to have a nasty duo at RB this season.

James Butler joins Akrum Wadley in the backfield. Butler is a graduate transfer from Nevada, where he had 2 seasons of over 1000 yards rushing.

And Im getting a feeling that Iowa will run a wildcat package with both of them.
I see that and you guys are going to see me missing. I will have a heart attack that Iowa's offense made it into the 21st century.

[bbgunn]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Then you don't understand college football fans.

Nothing would change for college football fans. They can still drive to campus in their expensive RVs the Wednesday before a game, enjoy the college town half a week, and cheer for the team with their beloved university written across the uniform. The only difference is that the players wouldn't be student-athletes but just athletes. I have a hard time thinking that having the players be actual students matters THAT much to the average college football fan. It wouldn't to me.

[digamma]

Yeah, gonna echo what Jon said.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

For Power 5 Teams the athletic department budget is totally separate from public funds.

I cant speak 100% to all smaller schools, but Im not aware of any that public funds subsidize athletic departments.

According to the USA Today database, the bulk of D1 schools subsidize the athletic department with funding from the general fund or specific student fees.

You're right that a number of schools are free from subsidies, thirteen according to the latest USA Today numbers. Another five schools get less than one million. 129 D1 schools get more than ten million in subsidies, with twelve getting more than twenty-five million.

[bbgunn]

Originally Posted by digamma

Yeah, gonna echo what Jon said.

OK, well, clearly my opinion is in the minority.

As a University of Alabama graduate, I've had conversations with people that literally pray that the university do whatever it takes to bend the rules to get that 5-star recruit eligible to play for the Crimson Tide. "Put them in classes that will make it easier for them to get a high enough GPA," they say. I thought fans like that would love it if they got rid of the student part of the equation, but I guess I thought wrong.

[CU Tiger]

I dont know where I fall in that conversation.

I mean on one hand its cool to think "The star QB sat in the same classroom as I did." I get that. Its an emotional connection.

I could never be a "fan" of any high school except the one I went to or my kids did. That would be weird to me. In the same way I dont understand fans of school that went to other schools. I dont disparage those folks in those positions I just dont understand it.

But I also don't pretend they are just like student non-athletes. And I internally cringe every time I hear someone, even an alum, say "we" that didn't play there.

If there was a Clemson minor league team filled by some draft process that didnt result from athlete selection....I'm not sure Id be interested.

[CU Tiger]

Dola
Just a thought I wanted to share regarding pay for players.

This is similar to a discussion on XM college sports yesterday AM.

Their argument was to allow players to make money off their own likeness and that there is no way to abuse this. Stating that private business owners would only pay "so much" and the system wouldn't be abused. But harshly penalize any institution giving impermissible benefits.

Here is the problem with that thinking.
(I'm going to use Clemson as an example because I know their numbers)
Clemson's private booster fund raising organization (IPTAY) currently has cash reserves of somewhere between $35-50 MM depending on which calculation you use.

If players are allowed to be paid by, for example, the local car dealership for TV ads then the conversation goes like this:
'Hey I want to buy 4 New Tahoes. Will $1.5MM cover those 4 Tahoes? BTW How about Paying that star QB a cool $1MM for a few TV ads.'

[tarcone]

There is no easy answer to this.

Here is my thought process. Let the athletes who think they are going to play at the next level major in that sport. So stud QB gets to go to football class. You know, like he already does. All day. Prepare these kids for the NFL or NBA or whatever.
Let them sit in football meetings. But have basic financial classes so there are less bankruptcies after they retire.
And life skills classes.

Stuff they can use.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Dola
Just a thought I wanted to share regarding pay for players.

This is similar to a discussion on XM college sports yesterday AM.

Their argument was to allow players to make money off their own likeness and that there is no way to abuse this. Stating that private business owners would only pay "so much" and the system wouldn't be abused. But harshly penalize any institution giving impermissible benefits.

Here is the problem with that thinking.
(I'm going to use Clemson as an example because I know their numbers)
Clemson's private booster fund raising organization (IPTAY) currently has cash reserves of somewhere between $35-50 MM depending on which calculation you use.

If players are allowed to be paid by, for example, the local car dealership for TV ads then the conversation goes like this:
'Hey I want to buy 4 New Tahoes. Will $1.5MM cover those 4 Tahoes? BTW How about Paying that star QB a cool $1MM for a few TV ads.'

You can clear that up by having a requirement that if you want to qualify for playoff/bowl revenue distributions, you submit to an audit that requires your business activities to be arms-length transactions. Happens all the time outside of football.

But still, you don't even need to go that far. Instead of the private boosters making donations to IPTAY, they'll just pay kids directly (yeah they'll only pay "so much" but 10 guys willing to pay "so much" adds up). Then they need to make the decision if they are willing to move from indirectly funding the Clemson program to now directly funding the it without getting the tax break anymore. Which is preposterous anyway (for all schools) but it is what it is. So maybe the amount available to kids is now 30% less, of the boosters step up to the plate a little more.

And if the star QB can get that million, more power to him. What will end up happening is that after a few years of what would most likely become a complete free for all among the programs who can afford it (the "backup safety gets $50K" type of hysteria), we'll see some leveling out as programs realize what is worth spending money on and what isn't after they don't get a good enough ROI.

[Logan]

CU what is your best guess on the total dollar amount (cash, cars, etc) that gets passed to football recruits and players under the table among P5 schools? Just ballpark it for me based on what you know and/or have heard.

Let's take the "dad who previously made $50K when the kid was in HS, but gets a $100K job from a friend of the program" type stuff out of the equation for right now?

[Young Drachma]

There's far too much money in this system with too many people profiting for it to change dramatically (a la minor league football)

But obviously the whole profiting off their likeness thing is the least they could do. I've said it a million times, that it's b.s. that some schools pay band members, cheerleaders (the ones not on full ride), and other randoms associated with the everyday of the game.

You're really good at journalism or science and you can profit all you want, but for some reason when it comes to sports, everybody gets all high and mighty because they think a scholarship and 40-hrs a week on the practice field is somehow a fair trade, especially in revenue sports.

And no different than sports where there are have and have nots, the whole "most programs aren't profitable" bit doesn't wash, because frankly, who cares if they are or not.

It'll have to change kicking and screaming, but it'll be interesting to see the model ends up being.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Logan

CU what is your best guess on the total dollar amount (cash, cars, etc) that gets passed to football recruits and players under the table among P5 schools? Just ballpark it for me based on what you know and/or have heard.

Let's take the "dad who previously made $50K when the kid was in HS, but gets a $100K job from a friend of the program" type stuff out of the equation for right now?

I wanna make sure I am responding to the right question here.

Are you chasing the total value argument of clothes, shoes, free tutors, weight room, personal trainer, personal nutritionist, etc etc etc....fringe benefit of being a college athlete.

Or are you asking how much old school cheating, boosters buying cars and $100 handshakes goes on?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I wanna make sure I am responding to the right question here.

Are you chasing the total value argument of clothes, shoes, free tutors, weight room, personal trainer, personal nutritionist, etc etc etc....fringe benefit of being a college athlete.

Or are you asking how much old school cheating, boosters buying cars and $100 handshakes goes on?

Old school cheating. As in, if they changed the rules to allow "anything goes", how much dirty money would they potentially be replacing with clean money?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I could never be a "fan" of any high school except the one I went to or my kids did. That would be weird to me.

There's a subject I can comment on simply enough I think.

I've become "a fan" of a number of programs over time, but it's admittedly not the same level of fandom as my alma mater or my kid's would be.

A couple of obvious points that lead to connections come to mind: a school where you know a member of the staff, a school that's around the corner from your house when you move & you come to know the kids involved, or in my case particularly, a school that you do p-b-p for over a number of years.

I've have some degree of rooting interest in any number of teams over the decades, but there's generally some reason that the connectivity exists. The notion of "hey, I'll just pick team x and fervently back them for no real reason", yeah, that's pretty odd to me.

[mauchow]

Fuuuck. Badgers lose their stud linebacker for the season.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

You're really good at journalism or science and you can profit all you want, but for some reason when it comes to sports, everybody gets all high and mighty because they think a scholarship and 40-hrs a week on the practice field is somehow a fair trade, especially in revenue sports.

I know we've talked about this before, but this doesn't completely hold. A lot of research grants or academic scholarships tied to research tie the recipients hands to the school in terms of capitalizing off of their work. Obviously if they are just a paying student, the example may be fine (again possibly subject to not using university resources or property).

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Logan

Old school cheating. As in, if they changed the rules to allow "anything goes", how much dirty money would they potentially be replacing with clean money?

Ok that's what I thought you were asking but wanted to be sure.

At the risk of being wishy-washy it really depends.

First. Every. Single. School. Cheats.
Yes. Yours does. Now to what level and for what reason, that varies wildly.

However blatant school sponsored or engaged cheating is actually much less common than many suggest. When it does happen (Ole Miss) thats when you hear people crying from every mountaintop. And Ole Miss and Chizik era Auburn were as dirty as any school since SMU. Louisville is the next one lurking. But Jackson is squeaky clean. Well at least is recruitment was. No clue after he arrived.

Beyond that. Kids are getting benefits that aren't allowed. But very, very few are getting cars and cash. Lots of really really bad decisions are being made. I know of a particular kid who 2 years ago got a credit card, and was co-signed by a just graduated team mate to get it, with a 15,000 credit limit. This kid then proceeded to drive around campus in an Escalade for 3 months. Rumors flew that someone had bought him a car. Nope. It an Enterprise rent a car. At something like $1k/week. Kid then went and charged rims and a system on another credit card. Just process that. Rims on a rental car. Remember these are kids. Often not the brightest of kids. So that kind of stuff happens and rumors fly, btw said kid is a SC kid who was then enrolled at a GA university.

But boosters giving kids cars? Not really.

More common is the kids taking advantage of stuff and a booster not saying something because he doesnt want the kid to get in trouble. Staying with the car theme. A Clemson player a few years ago went to a local car dealership and test drove a truck. He kept it like a week. The car salesmen thought it was a wink,wink nod,nod agreement and didnt really freak out. The dealership owner found out 3 days later and flipped his lid. But he didnt call the police because hurt the team, hurt the kid, hurt his business relationship with the school. Instead he got the message to the coach. The truck was returned and the coach paid restitution. The kid was kicked off the team. The media story was the kid had decided to leave school for undisclosed reasons. The violation was self reported. The point of the story, that was a kid doing that on his own. If he wasnt kicked off the team, and in many places he would never have been, and in Clemson if he wasnt a repeat offender for BS he probably wouldnt have been....then rumors swirl about rogue boosters.

I cant put a dollar on how many meal tabs are picked up for a local celebrity. But it happens. Everywhere.

Then there are the weirder celebrity cult benefits. The local Budweiser distributor is a huge SC alum and donor. JaDaveon Clowney's mom has worked for them in a few roles for 15+ years. Long before her son was a football star. Somewhere along the way she moved into the promotion and marketing group....well when his star blew up she was a local celebrity and lots of people wanted to talk to "Clown Mom" as her car tag read. She milked it for all it was worth. Giving autographed stuff away and calling her son for customers to talk to. Her results soared. Her salary followed it. Soon she had gone from making $35k/yr to making $125k/yr. Rival fans screamed foul. Maybe. But it wasnt as nefarious as people were led to believe. It wasnt like mom got $100k/yr to get son there. Well not directly.

My son is good friends with 2 of Clemson's starters. We park and tailgate pretty close to the stadium. One of the parents hangs out with us when they can make a game. Their kid comes to our tailgate after every day game and hangs out. He always grabs some food, we always have a good spread, that is an NCAA violation. That is an impermissible benefit. That's cheating. That happens everywhere.

But do I believe there are kids "walking through tailgates picking up $500+ after every game"? Nope. Not anywhere I've ever been.

Besides all the smart benefits are done by pre paid visa these days. Bought in cash and impossible to track.

I think the entire institution of college sports as we know it potentially hangs in the balance of the UNC penalties. UNC has drawn a hard line in the sand that they intend to fight any penalties and there are lawyers around the area openly talking about this one landing ultimately on the desk of the SCOTUS. A ruling there could have profound impact on the entire institution of the NCAA

[Atocep]

Cheating in basketball is far more widespread and where you see very large amounts of money funneled to families.

The majority of D1 guys are legitimately there to get an education and have no hope of playing at the next level. Why some think the entire system needs blown up to cater to the 1-2% that break it makes zero sense to me.

[tarcone]

Iowa gets another graduate transfer. This one has 2 years of eligibility left.

Matt Quarrels from New Mexico. He was a 3 star coming out of HS.

He doesnt have a lot of catches because New Mexico runs an option. Which is good. Means he can block.

The big thing here is Iowa only has one WR with a D1 reception on its roster.

Big pick up.

[CrescentMoonie]

The Florida Gators have suspended seven players for its September 2 opener vs the Michigan Wolverines

Kudos to McElwain for suspending them against Michigan.

[tarcone]

Good for him. I bet these games go to week 2 and everyone plays a powder puff in week one, just in case some players do something stupid in the off season.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

The Florida Gators have suspended seven players for its September 2 opener vs the Michigan Wolverines

Kudos to McElwain for suspending them against Michigan.

Originally Posted by tarcone

Good for him. I bet these games go to week 2 and everyone plays a powder puff in week one, just in case some players do something stupid in the off season.

I actually think Coach Mc is playing chess to your checkers here.
There is a small but growing rumbling in Gainesville. The natives are getting restless already. There was probably a poor chance at Florida winning this game anyway. By suspending these players for this game he:
A) Buys political capital for making men out boys and doing whats right
B) Builds a ready made excuse for an OOC loss, that was likely to happen either way
C) Sets this up for a monumental public opinion winfall should he pull off the upset

[dawgfan]

Frank Broyles has passed. My condolences to Razorback fans.

[JonInMiddleGA]

This ad apparently came out last fall but escaped my notice until today.
This is the best spot I've seen in at least a decade.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ga Tech leading rusher Dedrick Mills kicked off the team, the ever-popular violation of team rules cited.

I'm mostly vaguely amused by the local coverage calling it "stunning news" when I'm hard pressed to be stunned that a player who missed three games last year due to various violations of team rules somehow did it again.

Georgia Tech's Dedrick Mills dismissed from team

[digamma]

It's the same violation for the third time.

[tarcone]

Good points CU.

Great ad Jon.

Sounds like when Iowa puts Butler in the backfield, Wadley may split out as a slot WR. Awesome.

[bronconick]

The St. Petersburg Bowl has been renamed the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by digamma

It's the same violation for the third time.

Color me less than shocked ... and color me somewhat surprised if I couldn't guess what the violation might have involved.

[digamma]

Let's just hope this doesn't cause the season to go 'up in smoke.'

[Kodos]

What a dope.

[Suicane75]

At least they weeded him out of the system.

[tarcone]

Sounds to me like they threw him out into the weeds.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I saw this story hours ago but figured it had to be a hoax.
Silly me.

ESPN removes Robert Lee from calling U-Va. game in Charlottesville because of his name - The Washington Post

[Suicane75]

I am without words.

[bbgunn]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I saw this story hours ago but figured it had to be a hoax.
Silly me.

ESPN removes Robert Lee from calling U-Va. game in Charlottesville because of his name - The Washington Post

I was about to write that this was just plain stupid (and that's the opinion of a person that more often than not leans towards political correctness).

Now I'm writing that the whole thing was just some form of click bait by ESPN to get people talking. I hate the media sometimes, both liberal and conservative. It's just all designed to get people riled up.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by bbgunn

I was about to write that this was just plain stupid (and that's the opinion of a person that more often than not leans towards political correctness).

Now I'm writing that the whole thing was just some form of click bait by ESPN to get people talking. I hate the media sometimes, both liberal and conservative. It's just all designed to get people riled up.

I think if that was the case, they would have just not done anything. The level of fake outrage the Twitter universe would have thrown at them would have been astronomical.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by digamma

Umm, he's using his school issued phone to participate in an illegal activity. Repeatedly. (Allegedly, of course.)

ESPN now reporting more than a dozen phone calls were found to services advertising adult escorts mostly in times and in locations corresponding with Freeze's scheduled recruiting trips.

"Gotta really look at these kids in Tampa one more time!"

[Thomkal]

Not a great move on ESPN's/Disney's part. Was the reporter getting death threats/hate mail over his appearance at the game? Likely nothing would have happened if this wasn't brought up beforehand.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Not a great move on ESPN's/Disney's part. Was the reporter getting death threats/hate mail over his appearance at the game? Likely nothing would have happened if this wasn't brought up beforehand.

Right? Why publicize this move?

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised though if Lee is/has been getting stupid flak on his social media from idiots, especially after Charlottesville.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Right? Why publicize this move?

They didn't. Someone leaked it to Clay Travis because he's the captain of the "ESPN is forcing their liberal views on us!" ship and they had to confirm it.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Logan

I think if that was the case, they would have just not done anything. The level of fake outrage the Twitter universe would have thrown at them would have been astronomical.

This is where people need to start taking some stands.

This guy is pulled from the game, because his name happens to be the same as Robert E Lee (and we don't even know if his middle name is the same).

The fact that people rush to judgement over fictitious crap drives me nuts. I had a discussion with someone roughly 10 years ago, and the guy started accusing me of coming from a family of slaveholders (I can't even remember what we were arguing over). I had to inform him that my family wasn't even over here until the 1880s. Even then, that was just one side of the family, 3/4ths of my grandparents were 1st generation or immigrants, all of them were post-1900.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

They didn't. Someone leaked it to Clay Travis because he's the pilot of the "ESPN is forcing their liberal views on us!" ship and they had to confirm it.

From the White House to ESPN, this leaking culture is rampant nowadays.

[Logan]

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...ll-broadcaster

5. Clay Travis has clearly lost his mind. There has long been a school of thought that Clay Travis, who use to write about college football for Fox Sports but now mostly talks about globalist cucks and head lice, is actually a smart person who has decided that the way he can advance his personal brand is to try to become the Sean Hannity of sports and appeal to a select, but stubbornly, resolutely focused, sliver of the sports fan audience. As someone who has worked with Travis in the past, briefly at both Deadspin and Fox Sports 1, and found him mostly affable and effusive in person, let me humbly submit that if Travis' "Sean Hannity of sports" schtick began as an act, the artist and performance have since merged into an unrecognizable singularity. He's more Pepe the Frog than man now.

In a post on Outkick the Coverage that "broke" this "story" -- please do not be distracted by the ads for Outkick the Coverage; there might be some for Infowars-esque Outkick Super Male Vitality Drops by the time this is published -- Travis breathlessly screams about "MSESPN!" and their desire to avoid "offending left wing idiots." This is Travis' game, of course, and he is surely doing a victory lap today, having uncovered the vast, left-wing ESPN agenda he has convinced himself to be real. But let's not forget that he's the one who did the framing on this. What Travis believes to be a liberal conspiracy, a normal person might see as "a big corporation not really understanding social media well and doing something stupid they mistakenly thought would remain privately stupid, as a result." Turning this into a political issue benefits Travis -- it gets him on Breitbart and allows him to beg Skip Bayless to have him on his show -- but is not actually what is so funny and ridiculous about this. Travis has invested so much of his personal and professional capital in "guy who tells the TRUTH about the liberal media AGENDA" that it's all he can see. He's a hammer who thinks the whole world is a nail, the lone truth teller in a world full of cucks. Sign up for VIP Membership. Get a Free T-Shirt!

The point is: This was simply a dumb incident, a massive corporation trying to corral something it does not, still, entirely understand. Beware those trying to spin it as anything more than the silly, doofus thing that it is. They are trying to sell you something. Don't buy it, don't buy any of it. But do buy some of those Outkick Super Male Vitality drops. In this time of uncertainty and strife, one can never be too careful, or too prepared.

[Ksyrup]

This isn't really football-related and is more of an off-season topic that could have implications for Auburn's AD, associate AD, and others in the athletic department, so I figured I would post it here...

Has anyone been following the Auburn softball scandal? It seems as though things that many of us who follow college softball heard about months ago and were wondering why they were being covered up are now coming out, and it's not looking good for the Auburn athletic department.

Not sure there's a brief way to explain it all, but until last week, Clint Myers was the head coach and very successful, having come from Arizona State where he won 2 titles and basically turned Auburn around immediately. He brought 2 sons with him as coaches, Casey and Corey.

There was a rumor last fall that Corey was asked to resign but nothing ever came of it, other than some message board innuendo. Then, during this past season, Auburn had a series of weird things happen - first, one of their players got into a spat with UF's coach after a game (for which she wasn't disciplined); then Corey did resign for the always-cryptic reason to "spend more time with my family"; and then the same player who got into it with UF's coach and a couple of other girls got arrested on April 20th (no joke) for being in possession of marijuana and DUI (suspended 5 games). Meanwhile, the team continued to play well and ended up getting knocked out in super-regionals by eventual champion Oklahoma. Shortly after the season ended, their best returning senior transferred out and there were rumors their best pitcher (also a senior) was also looking to leave.

Immediately after Corey resigned, rumors swirled that there were inappropriate relationships with multiple players on the team, AND that this had also happened at Arizona State. In early August, there were rumors that ESPN was working on an article about the program (unknown at the time what about), and then Myers abruptly retired last week.

ESPN then released a bombshell article on Sunday detailing a Title IX complaint that had been filed, alleging that Myers actively lied to players, turned a blind eye to his son's conduct, and cajoled players into keeping quiet, all with the athletic department's knowledge. Also, allegations of sexual harrassment (slaps on the butt and what-not). Rumor I heard was that the player who got into it with UF's coach wasn't kicked off the team for either incident because she threatened to go public with all of this at the time.

Oh, and the 3-year extension that Myers had reportedly agreed to - the main source for this info over the summer was Myers himself... There are also rumors that he asked for Corey to be reinstated last month.

There's a lot of detail in the reporting, both from ESPN and AL.com. Some of it surrounds screenshots of text messages that some of the girls got a hold of that proved there was a relationship going on, at which point the girls were essentially threatened by the associate AD that if they didn't erase the messages they could be criminally liable. It's UGLY. We'll see if it reaches all the way to Jay Jacobs, but several people in the athletic department are surely going to lose their jobs over this.

Who says college softball is boring?

[Thomkal]

wow that's crazy Ksyrup. Did they think because it was a women's sport, they'd get away with it?

[Chief Rum]

Yay, a KSyrup post! I know what you posted about is more important than that, but still, nice to see it, sir.

[Ksyrup]

Eh, it's only been 5 years!

Hard to say what they were thinking, but there are grumblings that his move to Auburn a few years ago for "family reasons" was so that he could start over at a program in a high profile conference and have his sons on staff because similar issues were on the horizon at ASU.

Unfortunately for him, "it just means more" in the SEC - like, more publicity. Not so easy to hide things compared to the Pac-12.

[Ksyrup]

Not to threadjack here, but this is pretty dang interesting/explosive stuff. One of the softball boards I frequent has many people in the know at many schools, so the comments right above the article, coupled with the article itself, definitely spell trouble for the Auburn athletic department. Probably worst-case scenario is that Auburn's president is new, meaning he can lay blame on others with very little fear of getting caught in the crossfire. The funny thing about Arner's comments that I highlighted below is that she's now been told to shut up by Legal.



A comprehensive review of the program is being launched by the new president. Basically this will be an investigation of the fall investigation that ultimately led to Corey's reinstatement. There was a sizable commotion at the athletic department after Malzahn's press conference today, and this is apparently what it was all about. Not looking great for those still in the AD who were part of the original complaint and investigation right now.

Auburn president Steven Leath: Softball program under comprehensive review

Updated on August 29, 2017 at 4:50 PM
Posted on August 29, 2017 at 4:43 PM
[​IMG]
Auburn University President Steven Leath answers questions at a news conference following the announcement of his selection as the next president.

By James Crepea
[email protected]

Auburn University president Steven Leath said the school is performing a comprehensive review of its softball program in the wake of allegations of abuse and sexual harassment under coach Clint Myers and associate head coach Corey Myers, according to a report by ESPN.

Leath, who became Auburn's president in June, told ESPN the university hired Birmingham law firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White to be involved in the review of the softball program.

Calls from AL.com to Leath's office and to numerous Auburn University communications officials were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

The review comes after ESPN's report of a Title IX compliant being filed by former walk-on pitcher Alexa Nemeth on May 31 claiming, "Coach Clint Myers knowingly let his son Corey Myers have relations and pursue relations with multiple members of the team."

Nemeth's attorney, Martin Greenberg, sent a letter to Leath, athletic director Jay Jacobs and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on July 20 further detailing the actions of athletic administrators and members of the coaching staff, including Corey Myers, who resigned on March 30.

Cassie Arner, associate athletic director for strategic communications, claims Auburn's investigation began last September, after players filed anonymous ethics complaints about the alleged behavior of Corey Myers, which led to his two-week leave of absence, and it has "been a continuous process," according to ESPN.


Jacobs told AL.com on April 27 he had no knowledge of any investigation into Corey Myers. Arner told ESPN Jacobs' comments were "unfortunate" and possibly "misleading."

"There's a big fear of admitting investigations because of what that does to the privacy of some of the people involved," Arner told ESPN. "He (Jacobs) should have just said, 'We don't comment on investigations.' Publicly, he was just echoing the statements from when Corey resigned, which does seem misleading."

Auburn issued a release announcing Clint Myers' "retirement" on Wednesday, citing family reasons, though four statements by the athletic department and Auburn University since stated, "there is a reason changes took place with the coaching staff."

Auburn has not responded to any of AL.com'spublic records requests related to Corey Myers and the softball program, which began on March 21.

[dawgfan]

Ed Cunningham, a longtime ESPN CFB color guy (and Washington alum from the '91 National Championship team) has quit, mainly due to his concerns about the safety of the sport:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/s...T.nav=top-news