B rian Cook is at best lazy and at worst a liar. He either is too lazy to do research, or deliberately ignores data to further his point. The latest case is a polemic against oversigning penned against the University of South Florida.
Cook just invents “facts†in his polemic. In the case of South Florida, when signee Kamran Joyner Joyer has troubles getting his transcript approved, Cook goes on the attack. He insults South Florida’s academic intergrity, “South Florida is an institution ranked ‘tier 3′ by US News and World Report. There they idle amongst such luminary I-A football leaders as Oregon State and Mississippi State, schools that will admit anything mountainous with a pulse as long as it has managed to scrawl an X on a junior college diploma.â€
That is a LIE. The very website Cook cites rates South Florida as “MORE SELECTIVE†with only 49.6% of applicants gaining admission. All Cook needed to do to discover this fact was to click one more link at US News & World Report. Or did he read that and just ignore it? For comparison, Tulane (ranked 51 by US News) accepts 44.4% of applicants and SMU (ranked 66) accepts 50.1% of applicants.
Further comparison for those in Alabama, UAB is a top tier research institution according to Carnegie, but admits 76.7% of students and is ranked a Tier 3 in the US News rankings.
In simple terms, Cook is wrong when he insults South Florida. If he is wrong on this, what else does he get wrong?
He writes, “It’s not because he’s an academic risk in the eyes of the NCAA: he’s been given the go-ahead by the NCAA clearinghouse. He is fully qualified. This is strange and unexplainable.â€
No it isn’t strange or unexplainable.
The NCAA doesn’t determine admission standards for its member institutions. The NCAA legislates minimum standards to compete in intercollegiate athletics that sometimes exceed and sometimes are below the standards of its members. One wouldn’t be shocked if Vanderbilt wouldn’t admit someone cleared by the NCAA. Why should we be shocked when South Florida is reluctant?
Because it furthers Cook’s agenda.
If Cook had bothered to READ the stories on this signee, he would have discovered this: “Coach Leavitt has been great through all of this, and we respect everything that he’s done,†said Joyer, “but with the academic committee, it’s kind of ridiculous. He’s a local kid, and committed because he’s local, and his uncles and five other relatives all graduated from USF. Now he won’t be a Bullâ€
But that isn’t helpful to his tirade. Cook writes without any evidence, “South Florida signed 29 players when they had 23 spots and is in the process of deleting players they find undesirable.â€
There is only one thing to say to this. BS.
The player said this had nothing to do with the coach, but Cook imputes this to the football staff and not to the academic side of the University. He does so without proof and with Joyer’s explicit statement saying the coach supported the player.
The Internet fails as a reliable forum for the exchange of information because it lacks fact checking. There is no greater example than Brian Cook.
The Sporting News should be ashamed to have its name associated with this. Cook owes South Florida, its coach Jim Leavitt, its alums and its students an apology. The Sporting News does too. The Sporting News owes South Florida an apology for the reckless manner in which it published incorrect information.
Are there no standards at the Sporting News? We must hold the Sporting News (and whatever is published on its site) to a higher standard than a typical blog. The organization has put its name on whatever is published, and has an obligation to make sure what it publishes is truthful. Will it correct this? Will it do the right thing?
Nice response
Great description of a sensationalist blog writer.
Open letter to Brian Cook.
Money and notoriety only go so far.
Dont be a shmuck and think that the means justify the end. They dont.
Every ounce of credibility you trade off is a pound of respect you will have to earn back at a later date. To believe otherwise is mere foolishness on your part.
Evidently, you think that if you sling enough mud at others some of it might stick to them.
You cant sling mud with out getting it all over yourself. Sadly, (when it all gets said and done) you end up looking just as unpleasant as the people you are slinging mud at.
And that will be the story of Brian Cook. A promising young man who sold his journalistic integrity for a quick buck.
Thanks for this entry- it’s important for bloggers to police themselves against idiots like Cook. It’s true that USF has the lowest APR in the BCS. Because of that, the administration created a committee that decides on borderline guys like Joyer, who was fully qualified, but under normal circumstances, wouldn’t get into USF. The committee already turned away one good DT prospect- Kyhri Thornton (who went to Southern Miss). The presence of that committee is a preventative step to make sure that there aren’t any academic casualties in the future. Because of the committee, the NCAA didn’t punish USF for the APR score. In the future, when our APR is better, we may let more borderline guys in.
The other big impact of this situation is that Joyer’s little brother is the best fullback in the nation, as a junior. He was really hot for USF, but now he might be turned away by the treatment of his brother.
Thanks again for this post. It’s kind of funny that an Alabama blog would be the defender of USF after what Nick Saban said two years ago (that we take non-quals, which wasn’t true because no Big East school can take them). And the low APR was from guys transferring away when we jumped from CUSA to the Big East- they’ll be off the books next year.
Great response to a terrible blog by Brian Cook. Thanks for showing the truth.
Thanks for exposing this guy for what he is. Shocked that the Sporting News will put their name and reputation behind Cook. Guess he figured he could accuse South Florida of this and no one would call him out. Wrong again Mr. Cook. At least he’s consistent.
Thanks for the feedback. Cook’s bluster and consistent failure to provide any evidence (empirical data, not wild conjecture) renders everything he writes on oversigning as nothing more than a joke.
The largest problem here is that the Sporting News has allowed the smear against South Florida to stand. After 24 hours, the publisher has not corrected or otherwise repaired the reckless inaccuracies written by Cook.
One additional note, Cook’s school is Michigan, and the university admits 50.3% of applicants, according to US News & World Report. Notice the comedy in that? Michigan is less selective on admission than the school he attacked. Should we just assume Michigan sucks? Of course not. I know two of the doctors my family uses were Michigan grads (later professors at UAB) and are NOTHING like the rude and childish Mr. Cook.
“Michigan is less selective on admission than the school he attacked.”
But US News has Michigan as “Most Selective” and USF as “More Selective”.
Well, those statements can’t BOTH be right. And since you’re basing your argument strictly on acceptance percentages and not the quality of the accepted students, I’m gonna have to side with Brian Cook.
If the dean of Tulane bans something it stays banned!
Actually Chester, we are both right in this case.
The % of accepted applicants is higher at Michigan than USF according to US News & World Report, but US News & World Report did include the U of M as most selective.
I think the point is that Cook distorted or deliberately ignored what US News & World Report said in an attempt to smear USF as an institution that had no academic standards.
See the problem?
You have no idea what you’re talking about.
“UAB is a *top tier* research institution according to Carnegie…”
uuhhhh, UAB is NOT a top tier institution. as you quoted, it is a 3rd rate school in the US News rankings whose peer institutions are UAlbany, UMontana, UtahSt, Bowling Green, Balls St and Western Mich U.
USF is not a highly selective school. If you are basing your judgment on acceptance rates, than you are a bit off base. There are over a dozen factors that go into the USNews rankings that make them a bit more robust than simply going by acceptance rates.
The fact that you compare Vanderbilt to USF is laughable. Why not just compare Stanford to Chico St? Dartmouth to UNH or Harvard to Alabama?
And what is Cook’s agenda? It’s simply to illuminate the oversigning phenomenon that allows kids like this to be booted from campus 6-7 weeks before Fall classes start even though they have done nothing to deserve it.
Dude… Seriously… You are obsessed and kind of embarrassing yourself.
If you had EVER read anything Brian Cook wrote OTHER than the 3 items based on Alabama’s over signing fiasco, you might see that he is 10x the writer and researcher you could ever hope to be. Thus, he gets asked to write for established publications and you… well you write things like this.
Uhh Michigan Arrogance, UAB is rated in the top tier of research institutions by the Carnegie Foundation. (in fact, Carnegie ratings are highly important in academic circles–holding a professorship at a top research school is an accomplishment.)
US News & World Report isn’t the only agency that rates colleges and universities.
My point on UAB was to give further clarity to the issue–UAB is far more likely to accept anyone off the street than USF. In fact, USF accepts a lower percentage of applicants than schools like West Virginia or even the University of Alabama, according to the US News & World Report data.
In higher education, the percentage of applicants accepted is a traditional standard to gauge the exclusivity of a school. There is a reason Harvard’s acceptance rate (or for that matter Oxford or Cambridge) is much lower than public institutions like Michigan or USF or UAB, etc.
Again, the point isn’t if Michigan or Harvard or California is better than USF–the point is that USF rejects over half of all applicants.
That shows Cook was either lazy or a liar when he wrote the Sporting Blog essay. Focus on the core issue. Cook was wrong when he said USF accepts everybody. Clearly, based on his own source, it does not.
Why is that so hard for Cook’s fans to accept?
@lawl
Is Brian Cook a good writer?
Yes. His prose is often elegant. However, almost everything he writes is full of vitriol. That isn’t necessarily bad, but it makes it hard to take anything he writes seriously.
As for me, I ran a newspaper for almost a decade. Then ran a magazine for a couple of years. I’ve had hundreds of thousands of words published. I don’t claim to be a very good writer, but I can honestly say I’ve made a living my entire adult life as a writer.
Thanks for reading.
1) the applicant pool between Michigan and UAB or USF is substantially different. Michigan applicants also apply to NW, stanford and the ivies. looking solely at acceptance rates is stupid.
2) the core issue is not acceptance rates at USF, but rather over signing in college athletics.
3) just b/c they are a ‘top tier’ research institution does not make it a selective university. there are plenty of small schools (the seven sisters as an example) that are 10x as selective but are not classified as ‘research’ colleges b/c they don’t have a lot of expenditures in STEM or any other research fields. UAB is a fine place to go to school, but it’s acceptance criteria is no where near those of Harvard, NW, Michigan or vanderbilt.
4) USF does not accept everybody. since it is not a community or Jr college, that is obvious. its applicant pool, however, is not very good based on, well every objective measure. sure they reject 50% of applicants. that doesn’t mean much when your applicant pool consists of the 35-50th %ile of HS graduates.
5) based on their NCAA-low APR score, it is pretty clear that they have not, in the past, had any reservations about accepting any level of student athletes. now, after signing 85+X students to their football team, they are being uncharacteristically (and unfairly, IMO) selective.
You agree USF doesn’t accept everyone and that clearly refutes Cook’s insult.
My point on UAB was to illustrate it takes lots and lots of people–more than USF. The insult would’ve been better directed at UAB (a school with its own APR problems.) However, UAB is a good school. I’d suggest USF is a good school too–unlike how Cook smeared the institution.
The point is Cook distorted USF’s academic standards in an attempt to make it look bad in regards to oversigning. Unfortunately, someone bothered to actually read the US News & World Report instead of just accepting Cook’s blarney on the matter.
Is oversigning a problem? Not in this case. The beat reporter even said USF is offering WALK ONs scholarships, and that Cook is wrong on this matter.
Cook desperately WANTS to have some evidence of the deleterious impact of oversigning. He overreached on USF. Even the player says this isn’t about football, but about transcript issues.
Facts and Cook don’t seem to go together when it comes to his crusade against oversigning.
If Cook would toss fewer insults, and have actual facts (not conjecture) then it would further his cause. That is really all I’m asking. EVIDENCE. Real evidence. Quotes from a player saying “I got screwed!” Is that too much to ask?
offering WALK ONs scholarships? that is shocking, considering they signed enough FR this year to put them at 90+/85 s’ships.
if you consider USF and UAB to be ‘good schools’ then I don’t know what else to tell besides raise your expectations a little.
USNews puts USF at a 3rd rate school. that’s all there is to say.
and i don’t think proof would consist of unpleasant quotes from a player. the ends don’t justify the means.
You do know there are other rankings besides US News & World Report? Right? Like the Carnegie Foundation, etc.
Are USF and UAB equal to Duke or Vandy?
No. But, it doesn’t mean they aren’t good schools. I didn’t say very good or great. (Again, I pointed to UAB to show a school with APR problems that has a significantly higher acceptance rate. Cook’s insult more likely applied to UAB than USF. Also, I used UAB to illustrate the acceptance rate issue in terms readily understood by a local readership.)
Proof necessarily consists of actual people willing to go ON THE RECORD to say they were mistreated. That is kind of how journalism (and for that matter the legal system and social science research, etc.) works. We need actual testimony of people saying they were mistreated before we can consider something true. (Even with actual testimony to something, the testimony must then be evaluated before we know if a thing is true or not.)
In the case of South Florida, the guy Cook says is getting mistreated isn’t. He praised Coach Jim Leavitt. Hardly the action of someone being screwed in an attempt to balance the scholarship limits. The school awarded a walk on a scholarship. Hardly the action of a school having trouble getting under the limit. The facts of this case tend to refute his point. Right?
Cook has been moaning about oversigning for over a year, but can’t produce one piece of proof that it has injured anyone.
Is that too much to ask? Shouldn’t he have proof before insulting people like USF?
So, it’s OK for you to write a Philippic diatrabe against Cook, but not OK for Cook to criticize USF for oversigning and then pulling a kid’s scholly offer two months before school starts?
You refer to “Cook’s agenda” so often that it sounds like a mantra, but you fail to include your own agenda: “proving” that your beloved Alabama has done nothing wrong by committing one of the grossest oversignings in the history of NCAA football.
Alabama’s gluttony at the expense of students who signed LOI’s in good faith is wrong, and there is nothing you can do to change it. Attacking bloggers with integrity such as Cook only show you to be somewhere on the foodchain between “whiner” and “hypocrite.”
What’s really funny is that Alabama, despite it’s lack of integrity, still can’t get past LSU and Florida in the same year. Until Saban actually accomplishes something at Alabama, your defense of his willingness to sacrifice numerous student-athletes for his agenda will continue to ring hollow.
Tater,
Can you prove those assertions? Has Saban screwed any player?
Because if you can’t produce any player who substantiates what you wrote, then kindly STFU.
As for USF, they didn’t pull his scholarship. READ please. The kid asked out of his LOI since the ACADEMIC committee was having problems with his transcript. The coach wanted the player, but the academic guys were worried he wasn’t going to be a strong enough student based on the transcript problems.
Now, if the player supports the coach and the school isn’t having a scholarship issue (the beat reporter writes it isn’t a problem, and the school offered a walk on a scholarship), can we say the player was mistreated by USF?
One more thing Tater, my agenda was to illustrate Cook doesn’t know what he is talking about.
In the case of USF, he didn’t read the story and then went off on a rant.
Kind of like every oversigning post he has ever made.
Until he produces a few players who could verify they were injured by oversigning, all he is doing is spewing insults on the Internet.
I guess I just find it convenient that USF (a school not well regarded academically and whose APR scores are the NCAAs lowest apparently) let go of an NCAA qualified kid 7 weeks before Fall classes start in a year where they oversigned their incoming FR football class beyond the 85 limit.
Based on their general academic rep (mediocre at best) and their past APR scores (lowest among all NCAA D1-A), USF hasn’t turned down any students who, A) have a HS diploma or equivalent AND B) are qualified thru the NCAA clearinghouse AND C) can play football at the D1-A level.
Michigan Arrogance,
Thanks for the reasonable outline of your feelings. If Cook outlined his thoughts in his posts without the insults, it would be easier to take it seriously.
It does look convenient, but it doesn’t fit the facts (as they now stand.) One reason I fault Cook, he didn’t even read what the kid had to say before attacking USF.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. More of this would create a consensus on oversigning.
So we are expected to believe that everything is so right in Michigan you guys can go around correcting everyone else?
No, I dont think so.
You guys cant even outshine the likes of Mexico to save your Auto industry. If Cook really wanted to make a difference he might put his blog to use to HELP Michigan, (as opposed to pointing out what others are doing wrong in an effort to make himself feel better about the shitty state of affairs in the “Hillbilly State”)
Hang your head in shame you intellectual poser/Sage wannabes.
I’am finished with you now. You can go back to the Blog world’s version of Jerry Springer (COOK) and tell him how brilliant he is for his civic slight-of-hand.
THATS WHY I COME HERE!!!!!
WAR CAP BABY!!!
Can you say obsessed? You guys should just get over the fact that MGoblog criticized your lord and savior Nick Saban. Cook used evidence to back up his arguments, something that writers tend to do.
Not to be an ass, but Cook used NO evidence. In this recent attack on USF, he didn’t even READ the stupid article.
1. USF isn’t facing a scholarship problem as the school awarded a walk-on a scholarship. Hardly something a school in a crunch would do.
2. The player asked for the release and NOT the school. Again, Cook distorted what happened by accusing USF of being the party who caused the release from the LOI.
3. The player continues to PRAISE Coach Jim Leavitt and lay the fault not with the football team, but the University’s admissions department.
I’ll say it again, Cook tried to use this to support his hatred of oversigning, but he failed to do anything other than show he is too lazy to read and do research or he is a liar.
Take your pick. I know what I think.
One last thing regarding evidence.
For Cook to be taken seriously on this subject, he needs to produce student-athletes who have actually be harmed. Until he can do this, with the student-athletes speaking out about what happened, there is no proof of the things he alleges.
Once we get to the point where we know people are actually being mistreated, then we can engage in a fuller discourse about the ethics of this type of behavior.
If (asked “What exactly is Cook’s agenda?”) Then
(bash on auto industry)
Else
(carry on about “Cook’s agenda”)
End If
Cook’s agenda is somehow to prove oversigning is bad. However, he is intent on doing this without providing evidence.
I’ll challenge again, once we establish people are actually being hurt (not hurt in Cook’s imagination) then we can debate the benefits and problems of such a system.
From there, I bet most college football fans could reach a consensus on this matter.
My goal in this post (and in most of the others on this issue) has been to point out how Cook proceeded on assumptions instead of facts. Also, Cook’s hateful rhetoric (like the smear on USF’s academic standards) detracts from his point. The Sporting News must be held accountable for the hate spewed on its website.
You say that Cook’s agenda is somehow to prove that oversigning is bad. Misplaced modifiers aside, it’s pretty clear that you mean to say there isn’t an inherent problem with oversigning.
Why is that?
I mean, to me, the problems with oversigning are clear as day, and myriad at that. These are kids who likely will end up not being able to play anywhere else (at least for several years, anyway) due to NCAA transfer rules, and on top of that, they are being left holding the bill for a college education they might not be able to afford without a scholarship. And that’s just to start.
The type of evidence you are searching for is ridiculous, particularly in light of the nature of oversigning. Why should student athletes have to come forward to the press and say “I’VE BEEN HAD!” for this argument to have any merit? In short, bad business is bad business regardless of whether the customer decides to come forward and do something about it. The same thing applies to collegiate athletics.
There is plenty of evidence, but you choose to ignore it and/or change what you feel is “acceptable” evidence for the matter at hand.
Call it a “smear campaign” or call it “investigative journalism.” Either way, I think it’s fairly obvious to everyone that is not an Alabama fan that you and every other Crimson Tide fan are just upset that Cook specifically used Saban’s class from last year was as an example here, and are now grasping at straws to make it look like you’re somehow defending the nation’s “premier academic institutions” (yeah, you know, USF and Harvard are on the same level) against this growing smear campaign. Sure.
Unfortunately, it clearly looks like the SEC administrators agree with Mr. Cook.
I’d also like to challenge you to explain how one provides empirical evidence to show that oversigning is bad.
It’s pretty clear that this is a matter of moral opinion that is not provable with numbers. You know, in the same way that homicide is pretty universally considered “bad.” I’m pretty sure no one ever put together a number-based report on why homicide is “bad” before it was considered a crime.
Wow, actually needing proof that someone gets screwed is ridiculous? I’m glad real journalists require proof before printing stuff.
I’m not sure oversiging is bad, because we have yet to see ONE SINGLE student-athlete say they were screwed by it.
Furthermore, academic scholarships awarded for academic merit require specific progress and continued excellence. Why shouldn’t athletic scholarships be based on similar continued merit?
Before I decide if oversigning is bad, I want to know how many players are actually injured by the process, and then to explore IF oversigning is in the interest of the university. When that is determined, I can judge if it is a good or bad thing. We need to know the impacts (real not what Mr. Cook imagines) before we can analyze this topic. Is that unreasonable?
As for me, I’ll continue to point out when Cook insults, smears or otherwise lies about this issue. I’ll also call for the Sporting News to apply journalistic standards to its blogs.
As for the SEC, oversigning is still allowed; however, it can’t attain the level of Ole Miss from the most recent class.
Empirical evidence would be several former student-athletes who could say they wanted to continue on scholarship, but were booted to make room for new recruits, OR, new signees who were forced to grayshirt or find a new school because of oversigning.
In the USF case, the player specifically contradicts Cook’s assertion. This is why I want the players at issue to confirm they were screwed. Cook just assumes. I want confirmation.
It isn’t that hard to get. A real journalist would call several of these athletes and probe for information and get quotes from the athletes to buttress the story.
Honestly, is actual testimony from injured parties too much to ask?
Has it seriously never occurred to you that a player who got screwed would avoid bashing his former coach? Perhaps in an attempt to land a scholarship at another school he decided bashing his former coach was a bad idea. The lack of a player quote is hardly damning evidence against the con side.
The fact is USF signed more guys than they had spots for. Alabama did too last year, and I am sure plenty of other schools have done so. Maybe in Alabama’s case and USF’s case the numbers worked out and there was no wrongdoing. But at some point a team signing six guys too many isn’t going to get six legitimate departures and they will cut someone. Even if in your world oversigning has always worked out, someday it will screw a kid.
Someday?!?!?
Someday!?!??!?!
Oh My God!
I guess someday someone will get screwed in Las Vegas!
Quick. Close it down! Because someday!
In theory, oversiging is bad. In theory, communism was good.
Theories are great. Evidence is better.
Why might someone have a “hidden agenda” against oversigning? Oversigning sucks because it screws kids over. Accusing Cook of being disingenuous for secretly planning to overthrow the evil regime of oversigning just sounds ludicrous.
Oversigning is good for a coach and a team as far as the ability to win goes. Not so good for players. JMO.
Oversigning sucks because it screws kids over.
And of course you can provide specific instances where a kid was screwed over?
You can’t?!?!?
See, I want PROOF that it screws kids over, and so far, nobody has offered that.
Cap…… If you honostly think that oversigning on purpose does not negatively affect the recruit who gets his scholarship yanked out from under him because he isnt panning out on the field, then you are in a state of denial. And if I did take the time to research it, I would find soem instances, and you know I would.
Get your head out of your butt.
Oversigning is a Universities insurance policy that they will have a solid class. Nothing more , nothing less.
This Ballplay is the problem. IF players were screwed people like Cook, who has been ranting about this for over a year, would have found evidence of this injuring players.
What makes you think players get their scholarship yanked? I’ve seen players put on medical scholarship (they still get their education despite not being able to play football), transfer to a new school (getting to be on scholarship there), etc.
I’ve yet to see proof that any player has ever been screwed. Now, even if players were screwed, it would then be useful to know how many and how often. Then we could judge the process.
Brian Cook’s vagina is in desperate need of a good shave.
He simply points out the flaws in every other program, simply to cope with the fact that his program is below the ranks of Notre Dame. They’re terrible and the sad truth is, a once proud football powerhouse is now a national punchline.
Richer Rod is not going to save that program from mass destruction, but instead only make it worse. If he’s not fired in three years, he’ll bolt to some D-3 school without saying goodbye, but who can blame him? After all, Michigan is the Mississippi of the North, and why stick with a program that is only going to get worse?
The gap between the Big-10 and Michigan is growing even larger, and they can forget about EVER beating Ohio State for the remainder of this decade and the next.
It sucks to be you guys!
Show some evidence where some released players due to oversigning are happy. I will guaruntee you that you would have a harder time finding a former player with something positive to say than I would have finding one saying something negative..
Richer Rod. If Rod is given a couple more years he will own the pathetic Big Ten.
Oh, and Ohio State is the national punchline. You are 0- what against the SEC ?
Ballplay, I’m not trying to prove oversigning is good. I’m simply saying that if we are going to take some sort of leap and declare it evil (which is what all those Michigan and a few Auburn fans are doing) then we should at least do so based on evidence.
Please read… and laughably don’t attempt an excuse…
http://www.bamasportsreport.com/2009/07/04/scholarship-numbers-july-4/
Let’s see: misdemeanor = star player caught on campus with crack/weed = disciplinary measures; crime = 2nd/3rd string guy with same offense kicked off team for breaking team rules. Does that equal “being hurt by oversigning”? It happened last year, it’ll happen this year. It’s pathetic. Also pathetic, knowing you’ve signed such quality character guys that you can count on 10 opening a door for you to kick them out each year. Oh, and don’t get a hangnail you might have to redshirt.
Why haven’t disgruntled kids come forward?
A) If you’ve been kicked off for “violation of team rules”, (that likely gets looked the other way on for better players) what are you going to say, “I’ve been screwed!”. Probably not, because the quick homer answer will be, “You did it to yourself.”
B) Saban comes to you and says, “Son, you haven’t progressed like we thought you would, I hate to see you not play, I’ve got friends at some smaller schools…”, and you decide instead to trash your coach and screw yourself out of an easy transfer?
C) Maybe the tutors stop be as helpful to you, and you’re not smart enough to realize it (since you’re getting help in the first place) and blame yourself for your academic letdown.
Do we need to go on? If you think it doesn’t happen, you’re naive. Lack of proof, based on a “complainer” doesn’t mean oversigning is problem-free. The abuse potential is enormous. There have been several kids come out with luke-warm statements, the kind where you know they’re being restrained in their words. Good luck finding someone who likely is only at Alabama, or any other school for that matter, because it was a way out of a shitty life, who is going to complain. They didn’t get the opportunity in the first place by going through life complaining.
This is why the NCAA – whose job it is to worry about the STUDENT-athelete will step in if the conference commish’s don’t. The people responsible KNOW it’s an issue, why can’t U?
Badabing……….You nailed it.
Cap…..What about whats right and wrong ? The Saban is supposed to be the epitome of morality and an exemplary human being isnt he ?
If you think it doesn’t happen, you’re naive. Lack of proof, based on a “complainer†doesn’t mean oversigning is problem-free.
So, lack of proof is proof?
Is that like “proof of Trotsky’s farsightedness is that none of his predictions has yet come true?”
Also pathetic, knowing you’ve signed such quality character guys that you can count on 10 opening a door for you to kick them out each year.
So when people go on medical scholarship that is low character? Please.
The reason this is a non-story is that you can’t provide any evidence this has ever injured anyone.
Until you do, you are just babbling. Proof or STFU.
Scholarships are given to players for 1 year. Each year that scholarship has to be renewed. If a player is concerned that he might not have the ability to maintain that scholarship for the full 4 years at a university such as Alabama he needs to go elsewhere.
We can all sit here and bitch and moan about how unfair it is that players don’t get their scholarships renewed, but they know going into it that it is a year by year thing. Instead of crusading to save all these poor children who lose their scholarships why doesn’t Cook focus on the debacle that is Michigan football right now. OH WAIT!! By pointing out all the faults of others and all of the injustices that are going on at all these other vile institutions that aren’t Michigan, Cook can avoid talking about the worst UM team to ever take the field.
You have no idea what you’re talking about, schollies don’t need renewed yearly. Only 5th year seniors need “extended” an new offer. The “whole point” of this ongoing argument is that some coaches are finding ways to selectively “take away” schollies from sub-par players by using double standards favoring towards saving better players.
BTW I could care less about Cook. The one pointing out a problem isn’t responsible for it, coaches like Saban are.
The FACT (since Cappy likes facts) is that right now Alascama is 10 over. 10 over, knowingly when they recruited and took the LOI’s. Now we will sit and wait to see what 3rd stringers will get kicked off for J-walking, swearing, toenail fungus etc. Bet you it won’t be a top-notch guy who gets the boot.
I’m happy the NCAA can see the “facts” or “proof” without having to sacrifice some complaining kid. Because they’re realists and can infer something bad is happening, they’ll fix it.
It’s OK Cappy, I won’t hold your lack of inference against you; not even all such accomplished “journalists” as yourself have ALL the skills they should.