Newton Ineligible, Then Immediately Reinstated

[danwismar]

Presto, Change-o.

The NCAA announced today that Cam Newton had been ruled ineligible by Auburn University, and then immediately reinstated to eligibility by the NCAA.

Pretty slick. Auburn and the NCAA get together and say..."hey, we need to put this issue to bed while we play these football games, and all these eye-witness accounts of Cecil Newton's solicitation of Pay-to-Play money at Mississippi St. is causing us some serious heartburn. We'll cop to the fact that Newton's amateur status is history because he violated NCAA amateurism regulations, and we'll rule him ineligible for ten minutes, and then apply for his immediate reinstatement, which we already have worked out with the NCAA in advance....All the news media needs to report is that Newton is now eligible to play, and we can gloss over the fact that his father has admitted to asking for $180,000 to play at MSU, and that Auburn ruled him ineligible on that basis as a condition of the NCAA clearing him to play for them."

Of course, the investigation continues, and the NCAA will not comment further.

I hope to hell they have not agreed to hold Auburn harmless in the event Newton is eventually found (as every sentient being on the planet assumes to be the case) to have taken money from Auburn after MSU said no. What a travesty that would be if it is the case.

Here's the link to the NCAA statement: http://bit.ly/hs9cuw

The meat of it below:

Auburn University football student-athlete Cam Newton is immediately eligible to compete, according to a decision today by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff. The NCAA concluded on Monday that a violation of amateurism rules occurred, therefore Auburn University declared the student-athlete ineligible yesterday for violations of NCAA amateurism rules.

When a school discovers an NCAA rules violation has occurred, it must declare the student-athlete ineligible and may request the student-athlete’s eligibility be reinstated. Reinstatement decisions are made by the NCAA national office staff and can include conditions such as withholding from competition and repayment of extra benefits. Newton was reinstated without any conditions.

According to facts of the case agreed upon by Auburn University and the NCAA enforcement staff, the student-athlete’s father and an owner of a scouting service worked together to actively market the student-athlete as a part of a pay-for-play scenario in return for Newton’s commitment to attend college and play football. NCAA rules (Bylaw 12.3.3) do not allow individuals or entities to represent a prospective student-athlete for compensation to a school for an athletic scholarship.

In conjunction with the case, Auburn University has limited the access Newton’s father has to the athletics program and Mississippi State has disassociated the involved individual.

“The conduct of Cam Newton’s father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics,” said Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference Commissioner. “The actions taken by Auburn University and Mississippi State University make it clear this behavior will not be tolerated in the SEC.”

It sounds to me like "this behavior" is clearly being tolerated by the SEC.

To make this come even close to passing the laugh test, all parties have to make the dubious claim that neither Cam, his mother, nor Auburn University knew anything about any PTP solicitation to MSU.

Naturally the investigation continues, probably till 2015 or so.

Am I the one who's crazy here? Did they not just stipulate that Cam Newton is in admitted violation of NCAA regs...and that they made him ineligible for the blink of an eye...then reinstated him because Auburn University acknowledged that, yeah, MSU really screwed up here....and said now it's cool for him to keep playing football...

....and then with a straight face, did they then tell us that this proves that the SEC will not tolerate this kind of behavior??

Is that what they said?

[danwismar]

Went looking for ESPN's take after posting the above, and found Gene Woj to be just about as incredulous as I was: http://es.pn/fAyF6a

Huh? Did the NCAA do what I think it did? Did it basically rule that a father and a third party can actively, brazenly and with impunity shop a player around for hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and the worst thing that happens is the father has to lie low and the third party has to disassociate himself from the programs in question?

Did it just get embarrassed by a rules loophole the size of Jordan-Hare Stadium, the gist of it being: Your old man and another guy can put you on the open market, but as long as you don't know about it, you're good to strap it up for the next big game?

The answers: yes and yes.



The NCAA was able to get past the report by ESPN that their "source said an emotional Cam Newton phoned another recruiter to express regret that he wouldn't be going to Mississippi State, stating that his father, Cecil, had chosen Auburn for him because 'the money was too much.'"

They get over by admitting that, yes the evidence does look like Cam's dad did something very wrong...you know...at that other school...not us...not Auburn University, a school that is to paying players what Kleenex is to facial tissue...the name brand, to which all others are compared.

Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle.

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

I think the FARK headline put it best:

NCAA: "Cam Newton broke the rules and cannot play." Auburn: "Uh, do you want the National Championship game to be won by a non-SEC team?" NCAA: "CORRECTION, Cam Newton is still eligible"

[pup]

Looking forward to hopefully in about 18 years shopping my boy out to every school in the country and having no concern of altering his eligibility.

What an absolute joke.

[leadpipe]

Looking forward to hopefully in about 18 years shopping my boy out to every school in the country and having no concern of altering his eligibility.

What an absolute joke.

Don't exaggerate Pup.

You'll have to shop him around WITHOUT your wife and kid knowing it.

Acting like it's so easy puts the NCAA in a bad light.

[bac5665]

Why bother having a Heisman this year, or a NC game? They're just going to be vacated in 3-6 years. Pisses me off that the NCAA would do that; they're going to have to destroy Auburn in the future and look really stupid rather than make Auburn go to the sugar bowl this year and let TCU get killed by Oregon.

Just awful.

And that's not even starting on the horrific precedence this sets. The next few recruiting classes will have every single father making wink-wink phone calls asking for money. Sure, when the NCAA punishes Auburn in 5 years after the fact the loophole will go away, but damn there's a lot of damage that may well be done.

All to keep TCU, Stanford or Wisky out of the NC.

[motherscratcher]

I'm not sure I understand why some of the comments are alluding to the NCAA being hell bent on making sure the SEC is in the NCG. Why would that be the NCAAs goal?

[bac5665]

Money.

[motherscratcher]

How does the NCAA make more money with Auburn as opposed to, say, Wisconsin?

[bac5665]

I'm not saying they'll actually make more money this way, I'm simply saying that money is their motivation.

That said, given the last four years, it seems plausible to me that an SEC team generates more revenue than Wisky. Auburn and Wisky may have equivalent fan bases, but the SEC is practically a religion in the south as a whole; the NCAA may well think that that insanity is worth more money.

No idea if that is true or not, but it sounds plausible, and I do think that the NCAA thinks it's true.

[Triple-S]

I'm not saying they'll actually make more money this way, I'm simply saying that money is their motivation.

That said, given the last four years, it seems plausible to me that an SEC team generates more revenue than Wisky. Auburn and Wisky may have equivalent fan bases, but the SEC is practically a religion in the south as a whole; the NCAA may well think that that insanity is worth more money.

The funny thing is, that the Big Ten actually generates move revenue than the SEC.

To me, the whole "SEC is the end all, be all" of CFB is a bit of a myth.

The difference is, that unlike the SEC fanbases, we usually don't cheer on a rival team because they happen to be in the Big Ten, where as joe volunteer fan has cheer on the gators and tebow despite them being rivals.

[idoctribefan]

Stanford or Wisconsin will not jump TCU into 3rd in the BCS standings. This decision by the NCAA was made because Auburn will make more money than TCU would for all parties involved. If Texas/Nebraska/Ohio State/(insert other historical powerhouse that travels well and draws ratings here) were undefeated and ranked 3rd in the standings, Cam Newton would have been declared ineligible.

[Ziner]

Is there any absolute proof Reggie Bush knew his parents were getting perks? I don't know and don't feel like researching it. What exactly is the difference here.

The NCAA looks like a horse's ass with this ruling.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is there any absolute proof Reggie Bush knew his parents were getting perks? I don't know and don't feel like researching it. What exactly is the difference here.

The NCAA looks like a horse's ass with this ruling.

Mmmmmmm i'm pretty sure Bush could figure it out when he walked into THE FUCKING HOUSE THEY GOT. Plus that agent dude had audio tapes.

[Ziner]

Is there any absolute proof Reggie Bush knew his parents were getting perks? I don't know and don't feel like researching it. What exactly is the difference here.

The NCAA looks like a horse's ass with this ruling.

Mmmmmmm i'm pretty sure Bush could figure it out when he walked into THE FUCKING HOUSE THEY GOT. Plus that agent dude had audio tapes.

Nice work dickhead.

They got free rent not a new house. How can they PROVE Reggie knew they weren't paying for it on their own? I am just saying the same ignorance could be used, right?

If there are audio tapes then I guess it is all a moot point.

[peeker643]

Is there any absolute proof Reggie Bush knew his parents were getting perks? I don't know and don't feel like researching it. What exactly is the difference here.

The NCAA looks like a horse's ass with this ruling.

Mmmmmmm i'm pretty sure Bush could figure it out when he walked into THE FUCKING HOUSE THEY GOT. Plus that agent dude had audio tapes.

Nice work dickhead.

They got free rent not a new house. How can they PROVE Reggie knew they weren't paying for it on their own? I am just saying the same ignorance could be used, right?

If there are audio tapes then I guess it is all a moot point.

I'm with CDT here.

I'm pretty sure Reggie's radar should have been picking up on the fact that before he went to USC he lived in a house like Navin R Johnson in 'The Jerk'.

When he visited his folks in a house out of '90210' there was probably a pretty good indication that Pops hadn't earned his way into it.

Proof? Maybe not. Reality? Come on now.

[Ziner]

Proof? Maybe not. Reality? Come on now.

And in reality Cam didn't know what was going on when he told a MSU recruiter that he is going to Auburn because the money was too good?

I am not saying Reggie didn't know, I am just saying Cam surely knew. If you don't have 100% proof that Reggie knew where the money was coming from I don't see the difference. It seems like they connected the dots with Reggie, as they should, but are failing to with Cam. Thats my only point.

[peeker643]

Proof? Maybe not. Reality? Come on now.

And in reality Cam didn't know what was going on when he told a MSU recruiter that he is going to Auburn because the money was too good?

I am not saying Reggie didn't know, I am just saying Cam surely knew. If you don't have 100% proof that Reggie knew where the money was coming from I don't see the difference. It seems like they connected the dots with Reggie, as they should, but are failing to with Cam. Thats my only point.

They're both guiltier than OJ.

Auburn's building a defense and maybe someone's looking out for Cam and his 'Plausibe Deniability' regardless of how implausible we may believe it to be. Hammer the school and leave the kid alone at this point. Try and stop it from occurring again.

Whole thing stinks like a septic sucking truck.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is there anyone out there that really believes Auburn didn't back the Brinks truck up to get this kid?

[Ziner]

Is there anyone out there that really believes Auburn didn't back the Brinks truck up to get this kid?

Silly tall guy, you dont need a Brinks truck for 200K. You just need a few dufflebags. Shit those dudes from Oceans Eleven stole 150 million in like 8 dufflebags.

[dmiles]

What was the value of the house in San Diego? If it was 750k, I saw plenty of ordinary houses at that price in around 2005. I am certain my craphole rental in Carlsbad was a 750k house and it was technically a condo (though not attached it was attached driveway area).