Oregon Ducks Football Recruiting: Guilty or Innocent? Both Sides of the Coin
For the past few days, the college football world has been given reason to forget about the long offseason and have their attention focused on Oregon. All last year, Oregon captivated the sports world with its high scoring games and fast paced offense. Now they have drawn us in for a different reason.
On Thursday, Yahoo released an article stating there were ties between two people Oregon paid for recruiting services and then recruits that ended up committing to Oregon. Since the release of this information, Oregon has stood up and acknowledged the payment and the compliance they had with NCAA rules.
The last few days have left Ducks fans and college football fans on two sides of the fence. One side states that by strictly dealing in facts, the payments were legal. On the other side, some fans have drawn their own conclusion. It is time to take a closer look at both sides of this argument.
Innocent: Oregon Has Been Upfront
1 of 7
Since the day the Yahoo article came out, Oregon officials from the school and program have been extremely forthcoming. The school has not only admitted to the payments, they have provided the invoice, shown that it went through their compliance office and even went as far as to contact the Pac-12 with all information.
While some may say that this is a ploy that Oregon is trying to use to hopefully sweep this under the rug quickly, I choose to focus more on fact and let the overall investigation play itself out.
Guilty: Where There Is Smoke There Is Fire
2 of 7
Many people subscribe to the theory that where there is smoke there is fire. There are questions swirling around the Oregon program which must mean that their is some sort of violation there.
What works against Oregon in this situation is that the information was so easily found because Oregon's records are available to the public. Many other top programs do not currently have the same issue.
Innocent: Payments Went Through Compliance Department
3 of 7
Lets look logically at this situation. If Oregon was attempting to make illegal payments to two men in an attempt to have recruits delivered to their doorstep, would they have done it all in the open like they did? Probably not.
Regardless of the amount, Oregon purchased recruiting information from these men and passed the payments through their compliance department. The most glaring evidence that Oregon did nothing illegal is the fact that their own compliance department would turn them in well before this has all been brought to light.
People looking to cheat the system do not try to do it in the open. They would have worked these payments through back channels and not had it be part of public record.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Guilty: Will Lyles Is a Shady Character
4 of 7
Owner of Complete Scouting Services, Will Lyles is someone who many consider a shady character. His presence in this story is something that has immediately put a negative light on this situation.
Lyles offers a service that provides coaches with phone numbers, home addresses, e-mail addresses, GPAs and test scores. While the use of these services is not something that is uncommon, the original amount of 25,000 was something that grabbed people's attention.
Since the release of this story, it has been better understood that nation wide packages, like the one Oregon purchased, have been sold for up to 40,000.
Innocent: Just the Facts
5 of 7
The facts alone, as they currently stand, all point to Oregon having done nothing in violation of NCAA regulations. They paid two men for recruiting services, something many other schools have done, and in return they received information on recruits across the nation, saving them thousands of dollars on flight and recruiting trips.
The real story here is about how the NCAA is going to try and regulate these scouting services and insure that their role remains limited. The attempt by the NCAA is to make sure they don't run into the same issue as college hoops has with AAU leagues.
Guilty: Court of Public Opinion
6 of 7
May there be a violation of NCAA rules? Yes. Is there currently a violation that has been found? No. The problem today is media outlets are not paid to tell us black and white stories; they are paid to grab our attention regardless of a little fact bending or attention grabbing headlines.
ESPN continues to quote Lache Seastrunk's mother, whose son is linked to Lyles. Seastrunk's mother has been quoted as being outraged at the idea that her son could have been taken advantage of. They have run these quotes in every story they have released so far.
What they fail to mention is the limited relationship Lache has with his mother and that she was never supportive of his choice to go to Oregon—not to mention the fact that if Lache received any compensation for his choice of school, his family would not be so vocal with their disgust.
Conclusion
7 of 7
The conclusion to this story is yet to be determined, well at least with the NCAA. Regardless of the outcome, these articles and the investigation are a sign of two things. Oregon has arrived on the nation scene and will now deal with what most big programs deal with—constant accusations of violations.
For the time being, Ducks fans will continue to chew their nails and continually refresh websites hoping for a new break in the story.
While many will enjoy the fact that Oregon is under the gun and be happy it is not their school, they need to understand that if Oregon is found to have violated rules by using these recruiting services, many other school will start to panic. This is not a practice that Oregon is alone in. They may currently be the poster child for the current situation, but they are hardly alone.
Only time will tell if Oregon and its practice of being upfront with all information is their way of pushing all their chips to the middle with a bluff or if they know they have their ducks in a row.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
