Oregon scrutiny: What did Ducks get for $25,000?
Some links on the matter.
- John Canzano of The Oregonian finds there's a lot to be suspicious about concerning a "street agent" named Willie Lyles and his operation.
- George Schroeder of the Eugene Register-Guard arrived at the same conclusion.
- Not all recruiting services are dubious: They actually provide information and have little contact with athletes.
- More on Oregon's release of documents to the NCAA.
- A view from the state of Washington.
- If you missed Bruce Feldman's insights, you should check them out here.
Here are some notable details.
- Lyles' business, according to Canzano, "is run out of Lyles' two-bedroom condominium with no evidence that it's registered as a business with the state of Texas."
- Also per Canzano, "Lyles has mentor-like connections with a line of Ducks recruits that includes redshirt freshman running back Lache Seastrunk and Heisman finalist LaMichael James. A high-ranking UO athletic department source said Thursday that coach Chip Kelly, and others, became aware as they recruited Seastrunk that Lyles was involved in a personal relationship with the running back's mother."
- Per Schroeder: "The domain name for the new company’s website -- a necessity to comply with NCAA rules for scouting services -- was registered March 16, 2010, three weeks after Lyles’ invoice to Oregon (Feb. 22) and 13 days before Oregon’s payment (March 29)."
- And there is this from Rob Moseley of the Register-Guard: "The website for Complete Scouting Services on Friday evening listed just such a “national package” of high school recruiting information at a price of $25,000. Earlier in the day, however, there was no reference to prices for high school information, only junior colleges, at a cost of $15,000 for a national package."
Fair to say that NCAA will ask a lot of questions.
The key issue is whether investigators find that any third parties -- Lyles -- specifically recruited for Oregon and then got paid for their services. That would violate NCAA rules.
Ted Miller | email
College Football- ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger
- Covered college football since 1997
- Wrote for Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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