Our reporting on Manti Te’o and BYU’s efforts to recruit him was based on interviews with Mendenhall, supplemented by published reports. Our reporting on the arrest of Shiloah Te’o was based on interviews with Mendenhall, supplemented by published reports in the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.
11. THE BOOSTER: What $248 million will buy you
The following individuals were interviewed for this chapter: T. Boone Pickens, OSU’s athletic director Mike Holder, Robert “Bobby” Stillwell, Chief Justice Steven W. Taylor and OSU’s associate AD Jesse Martin.
One of the authors also spent time with the Auburn booster Jimmy Rane and attended his annual charity golf tournament and fund-raising dinner for the Jimmy Rane Foundation on May 17–18, 2012, in Georgia. But after numerous e-mail and personal exchanges over many months, Rane ultimately declined a lengthy on-the-record interview.
Published reports, as well as an independent investigation commissioned by the NCAA, were relied on for information on booster Nevin Shapiro at Miami. The SMU scandal material came from published reports.
All quotations and dialogue pertaining to the hiring of Mike Holder and the financial contributions to Oklahoma State by Boone Pickens are based on interviews conducted by the authors. One exception is the statement “I want us to be competitive … I’d bet my ass on it,” attributed to Pickens. That appeared in the New York Times. Background reporting was also obtained from T. Boone Pickens, The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2009).
One of the authors spent a weekend traveling with Pickens, which entailed shadowing him at his office, riding in a car with him, flying on his private plane on two occasions and sleeping at his home on his ranch. The author also attended the Oklahoma State–Texas game in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on September 29, 2012. The material from that weekend—all quotations, dialogues and scenes—is based on firsthand observations by one of the authors.
12. THE TUTOR: Friends with benefits
The following individuals were interviewed for this chapter: Teresa Braeckel, Lauren Gavin, Sarah Washington, Derrick Washington, Donald Washington and prosecutor Andrea Hayes. Interviews were also conducted with tutors at Georgia, South Carolina and Miami. Both Braeckel and Gavin gave permission for their names to be used.
Attorneys Christopher Slusher and Bogdan Susan declined to be interviewed. Missouri’s football coach Gary Pinkel did not respond to an interview request.
Details of the assault and the events leading up to it were taken from interviews with Teresa Braeckel, Derrick Washington and Lauren Gavin, along with hundreds of pages of court records and trial transcripts. Courtroom scenes and statements attributed to Judge Kevin Crane were obtained from trial transcripts. In all, the authors reviewed more than five hundred pages of court records and trial transcripts.
The information about Missouri basketball player Michael Dixon was obtained from court records and interviews. The domestic violence incident involving Derrick Washington was obtained from court records and published reports. The description of Gary Pinkel’s arrest is based on published reports.
13. THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: Part I, “We have no money. Nobody is giving money. We are not on TV”
The following individuals were interviewed for this chapter: Bill Moos, Elson Floyd, Kevin Weiberg, Dave Brown and Tom Holmoe.
Dialogue between Bill Moos and Phil Knight is from interviews with Moos. Dialogue between Moos and Floyd is based on multiple interviews with them. The dialogue from the Pac-12 meetings and the negotiations on conference realignment and the new television contract are based on nearly a hundred pages of minutes and notes from the Pac-12 meetings held in 2010 and 2011, along with interviews with Moos and Weiberg.
14. THE INVESTIGATORS: Big-game hunting
Both authors visited NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis on May 23, 2012, and jointly conducted interviews with Rachel Newman Baker, Chance Miller and Brynna Barnhart. President Mark Emmert’s quotations and thoughts are derived from numerous public sources and NCAA sources. One of the authors attended the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in December 2012 in New York, where Mark Emmert participated in a one-on-one discussion moderated by Abraham Madkour, executive editor at Sports BusinessDaily.com. Emmert’s NCAA convention speeches were available at NCAA.org and highlighted in USA Today.
Reporting on the world of 7-on-7 was centered on one of the authors’ three-day visit to the IMG National Championships in the summer of 2012 and a subsequent visit in 2013. Interviews there were conducted with former IMG vice president Odis Lloyd; Chris Ciaccio, then vice president of marketing and outreach for IMG; Chris Weinke, director of football at IMG Academy; performance coach Trevor Moawad; and Josh Clark and Johnny Esfeller of IMG.
A lengthy interview with Coach Dave Schuman, founder of the New Jersey–based National Underclassmen, the largest and most comprehensive touring combine system in high school football, proved invaluable in understanding the growth of scouting combines, camps and the culture of 7-on-7. NUC had grown from just five events in 2007 to more than a hundred events and twenty thousand kids by 2012.
Brett Goetz, founder of South Florida Express, was interviewed multiple times on a variety of 7-on-7 subjects.
The Jimmy D. Smith/James Smith reporting included two interviews with Smith, an NCAA investigator and Charles Fishbein of Elite Scouting Services. It was supplemented with a deep dig into various high school recruiting Web sites. Smith’s employment at NOLA.com was confirmed in a September 25, 2012, background interview with James O’Byrne, the Times-Picayune editor in charge of high school sports.
From the beginning the Will Lyles story belonged to Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports. We just followed in their footsteps.
Descriptions of Baron Flenory’s power and the rise of New Level Athletics could be found online at “7-on-7: Recruiting’s New Battleground,” Foxsports.com, March 13, 2011; “Is 7-on-7 King Baron Flenory the Next Sonny Vaccaro?,” LostLettermen.com, June 28, 2011; “Flenory on Recruiting Controversy: I Feel Targeted,” March 14, 2011, CBSSports.com; and other Web sites, such as oregonlive.com.
The description of the NCAA’s investigation into booster Nevin Shapiro and the University of Miami was based largely on the independent report issued by Kenneth L. Wainstein of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP on February 17, 2013: “Report on the NCAA’s Engagement of a Source’s Counsel and Use of the Bankruptcy Process in Its University of Miami Investigation.”
Media criticism of Mark Emmert based upon the NCAA’s investigation of Miami was best summarized in two articles on SI.com posted on January 24, 2013. One column, written by Andy Staples, was headlined “It’s Time for the NCAA to Make Sweeping Changes.” The other, by Stewart Mandel, was headlined “Emmert’s NCAA Loses More Credibility After Miami Misstep.”
The description of certain feelings of frustration and tension inside the NCAA enforcement staff was derived from conversations with members of that staff.
15. THE SYSTEM AT WORK: Ohio State and the consequences of $3.07
Attorney Larry H. James was interviewed at his Columbus law office on May 24, 2012, and several times by telephone. The Cleveland attorney James P. Conroy, a former Buckeye lineman, was also interviewed about Bobby DiGeronimo.
The memorandums cited in the chapter in defense of DeVier Posey and Daniel Herron, and containing things such as the “family tree,” a spreadsheet of deposits, time cards and cellular records, were written by Larry James and provided to the authors. They were sent to Doug Archie and either Chance Miller or Tim Nevius. They are dated July 8, 2011, September 26, 27, 30, 2011. The “$3.07” memo was dated October 11, 2011, and sent to Doug Archie at Ohio State.
The recorded Gene Smith interview with investigators took place on October 14, 2011, on the Ohio State campus. A request to interview Smith about his decision to dissociate Bobby DiGeronimo and discrepancies between Smith’s account of their conversations
and that of DiGeronimo was made to the Ohio State athletic department via e-mail on April 1, 2013. On April 4, 2013, senior associate athletic director Diane Sabau e-mailed the authors that Smith had respectfully declined the request.
The e-mail from Heather Lyke to Gene Smith was sent on April 20, 2006, at 4:46 p.m.
The 2012 Cornerstone of Hope event, in which some $350,000 was raised, was attended by one of the authors of this book as the guest of DiGeronimo.
The charges against DiGeronimo were outlined in the NCAA’s Supplemental Case Summary dated November 21, 2011.
DiGeronimo’s controversial “if there’s no tattoo-gate, this thing doesn’t come out” comments about the case appeared in a story written by Bill Lubinger of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on September 15, 2011.
Multiple interviews were conducted with Bobby DiGeronimo at his home, in his car, at lunch and at the 2012 Cornerstone of Hope gala. Subsequent follow-up and fact-checking interviews were conducted over the phone.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request for Gene Smith’s athletic-department-issued cell phone records between April 1 and May 31, 2005, an Ohio State spokeswoman said those records fell outside the university’s four-year retention policy and had been destroyed. DiGeronimo said his company phone records from that same period could not be located.
16. THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: Part II, “It’s going to be expensive”
For this chapter interviews were conducted with Bill Moos, Mike Marlow, Joe Giansante, Gary O’Hagan, Mike Leach, Sharon Leach, Elson Floyd and Guy Bailey. Paul Wulff declined to be interviewed.
All of the dialogue between individuals in this chapter comes directly from interviews with those who are quoted. Details from the meeting in Florida between Moos and Leach were enhanced by receipts, travel documents and calendars provided by Washington State University’s athletic department. The dialogue from the press conferences held by Bill Moos and Mike Leach comes from tape recordings of the respective events. Washington State’s associate vice president Gil Picciotto and Bill Moos’s secretary Debbie Nankivell also provided critical background detail for this chapter.
Information on head coaching salaries was taken from reports in USA Today and the Chronicle of Higher Education. The authors also had access to the individual employment contracts of many of the head coaches listed in the chapter.
Pricing for premium seating at the upgraded Martin Stadium was taken from “The Cougar Football Project,” published by the Cougar Athletic Fund.
Facts and figures pertaining to state budget cuts to Washington State University and the University of Washington were taken from “Wulff’s Costly Departure Raises Issues of Priorities,” Tri-City Herald, December 4, 2011.
17. THE WALK-ON: “I want to play football”
While writing this book, Jeff Benedict profiled Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah for Sports Illustrated on December 3, 2012. Excerpts from that piece—“The Next Zig Thing”—appear in this chapter.
For this chapter, interviews were conducted with Bronco Mendenhall, Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah, Kyle Van Noy, Ken Frei, Chad Lewis and Jordan Johnson. One of the authors was also given access to Ken Frei’s journal, which detailed his interaction with Ansah in Africa. Brett Pyne, BYU’s sports information director, assisted with our description of Ansah’s first game against Wyoming. The description and play-by-play from the BYU–Ole Miss game came from a televised recording of the game.
18. SABAN’S WAY: The New Testament of college football
The story of Nick Saban’s hiring at Alabama was predominantly Moore’s alone. He told it in his corner office in the athletic department facility in the spring of 2013, just weeks before entering the hospital for a pulmonary condition that took his life. With associate athletics director Jeff Purinton at his side, Moore could not have been more gracious or personable in spinning a tale he obviously wanted to tell.
19. THE WOUNDED: Pain is relative
In this chapter, researchers Timothy Bella and J. J. Feinauer spoke to thirty-four players who responded to a BCS title team survey. The interviews took place between July 2012 and October 2012.
Other interviewees included Marcus Lattimore, the former South Carolina running back; Scott Anderson, president of the College Athletic Trainers’ Society; Jim Thornton, president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association; David Bailiff, head coach for Rice University; and Jarad Moon, a former Florida State player whose life has been altered by injuries sustained while at Florida State. Those interviews took place between June 2012 and March 2013.
Lattimore’s agent, Pat Dye Jr., was also interviewed about his client’s injury, surgery, rehabilitation progress, potential draft status and other subjects.
In terms of the season-ending injuries, we used a number of sources to confirm the injuries, including USA Today’s injury tracker, media reports and team reports. We updated our database twice a week, once usually on the Sunday following the Saturday games and once again before the following week’s games. The injury period ranged from August 2012 right up to the final regular-season and conference championship games in December 2012.
We also used quotations and information from outside sources, such as the New Republic, the Birmingham News, PLOS ONE, NFL Network, ESPN and 2012 press conferences from University of Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian.
20. THE BLUE-CHIP RECRUIT: The Ricky Seals-Jones sweepstakes
The overwhelming majority of this chapter was based on interviews with the Jones family and personal observation. Chester Jones was interviewed more than a dozen times on various issues related to his son’s upbringing, recruitment and injuries, including lengthy interviews in September and November 2012. It was Chester Jones who told one of the authors, and later added detail to, the story of the tragic death of Ricky Seals.
One of the authors saw firsthand the dining room table in the Jones home stacked with recruiting letters. One of the authors also attended the Sealy-Bellville game and sat with Jones.
The injury to Seals-Jones’s left knee was witnessed on the ESPNU television broadcast. Subsequent statistics from that game came courtesy of St. Pius X’s head football coach, Blake Ware, who called Jones the most gifted high school athlete he’d ever seen.
The charges related to the recruitment of Cam Newton and the subsequent NCAA investigation was pulled from published reports and NCAA.org.
Reporting on the method of under-the-table payments to college football players was provided on a source basis from conversations with boosters, runners, agents and financial planners.
Dialogue as it relates to Seals-Jones’s recruitment stems from the memory of Chester Jones and Ricky Seals-Jones.
The information on the $300,000 offer to Chester Jones was originally provided by a secondhand source at a 7-on-7 event. The primary source was named at the time and eventually located and interviewed at length regarding the specifics of the offer, which the individual who heard it confirmed. Following Jones’s denial, the source was contacted twice more, the final time during the fact-checking process to triple-check the sourcing and information. The source again confirmed the attribution and the details of the offer.
A request to interview certain members of the University of Texas coaching staff was declined on December 11, 2012, by John Bianco, associate athletic director for media relations. Bianco cited NCAA rules that prohibit comment on prospects or on the recruiting of specific student-athletes.
21. THE COACH: Part III, “The starting lineup is voluntary, too”
One of the authors shadowed Mike Leach during the off-season in 2012. Most of what’s reported in this chapter—the practice sessions, workouts and team meetings—was observed firsthand during visits to Pullman, Washington, in 2012. One of the authors was also present during the phone calls Mike Leach had with high school recruits, as well as the car ride and dinner that are described with Sharon and Mike Leach. Additionally, interviews were conducted with Mike Leach, Sharon Leach, Tyler Bruggman, Dave Emerick, Jim Mas
tro, Nick Galbraith and John Fullington.
22. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: The SEC leads the nation
In 2011, the authors collaborated on two special reports for Sports Illustrated and CBS News. The first—“Criminal Records in College Football”—appeared in the March 7 issue of SI. The second—“Straight Outta Compton”—appeared in the December 5 issue. Reports also appeared on the CBS Evening News and CBS’s Early Show. Some reporting from those stories appears in this chapter.
For this chapter, interviews were conducted with Samuel Jurgens, Nick Saban, Scott Decker, Geoff Alpert, Rob Wilson, Tom Seeberg, Keith Donerson, Danielle Farber, Kenneth McGee, Araceli Nogueda, Sergeant Brandon Dean, Lacy Westbrook, Lavell Sanders, Brandon Beaver, Eugene Beaver, Alphonso Marsh, Curley Rachal, Kyle Whittingham, Mike Leach and Delshawn McClellon.
The authors communicated with Caleb Paul after he was assaulted. But he declined our request for an on-the-record interview.
The arrest and conviction statistics for college football players in 2012 are based on the authors’ original reporting. The 204 player arrests were confirmed by published reports. The information on James Wilder Jr.’s three arrests was taken from published reports.
The information on the criminal problems with the University of Oklahoma’s football program in the 1980s came from “How Barry Switzer’s Sooners Terrorized Their Campus,” Sports Illustrated, February 27, 1989, along with other published reports.
ALABAMA
The primary source for the description of the assault on Samuel Jurgens was our interview with him. We also relied on police records from the case. Our reporting on Nick Saban’s response to the arrests was taken almost entirely from a discussion about the subject with Saban.
The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football Page 51