Reporting or Creating News? Examining LSU Football Behind Recent Headlines

The last seven days has been unquestionably hectic and uncharacteristically stressful for LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva and his staff considering it is mid-July and the dog days of summer.

LSU’s football program, specifically recruiting practices, has come under both formal and informal scrutiny from both the national media and the NCAA.

Here is where the lines blur. LSU has essentially been forced to confront two separate issues that have fused as one to the general sports fan.

One is the formal conclusion to events that occurred 18 month prior, and the other is poorly inferred conclusions of impropriety derived through sensationalist journalism bordering on character assassination.

For LSU, all this is occurring with the backdrop of SEC media days, and for journalists and bloggers, their seeming willingness to capture and run with low-hanging fruit is occurring the same week journalistic practices are being questioned in light of the News Corp. scandal.

LSU’s name was first brought into question with the school’s association Willie Lyles, the Texas-based scout through their purchase of recruiting information. LSU and multitude other schools serve as clients for Lyles.

In particular, the University of Oregon has come under fire for their relationship with Lyles regarding the above-market value purchase of supposed out-dated player info, the timeline of these transactions, as well as the subsequent signings of Texas players Lache Seastrunk and Dontae Williams as well as the previous relationship with 2010 Heisman finalist LaMichael James.

In a seeming attempt to compare Lyles’ relationship with Oregon to that with LSU, many in the national media have seized on the fact the LSU purchased his services, common practice in NCAA recruiting.

Last week LSU made headlines when LSU turned over to the NCAA the material and ESPN’s Outside the Lines obtained this info through a public information request.

Outside the Lines reporter Kelly Naqi, through an article published on ESPN.com on July 20, concluded the material was less than stellar with the headline "Lyles sold video to LSU with no recruiting value,” and it was subsequently changed to “Video bought by LSU is old, low quality.”

Excuse me? No recruiting value? How exactly is that determined? Did Ms. Naqi have a comprehensive appreciation for all of LSU’s needs, plans of succession, player evaluations?

Who exactly is Ms. Naqi or OTL to determine what is of value and what is not? This conclusion is recklessly subjective.

Never mind the fact that packages, 32 DVDs  from the “2010 JUCO per State Package” of California and Kansas, included raw footage of former Georgia and current LSU QB Zach Mettenberger at Butler Community College is Kansas.

Naqi sites five examples of players who had already signed with other schools and four (may or may not overlap) of players whose video was supposedly available on public sites.

If we are into assuming intentions, I will go as far as to assume LSU may have had greater interest in Metterburger’s video, as opposed to the 2-star Kansas State lineman Jordan Allred.

Naqi is essentially criticizing your steak dinner order because your side of peas was overcooked.

Only at one point does Naqi address the quality of the video and states they were "poor-quality, full-game shoots that did not isolate or identify any players at all.”  

With all due respect to Ms. Naqi, this statement raises questions of her expectations and familiarly with recruiting and coaching video. Recruiting and coaching video is commonly “full-game” shots as it provides a comprehensive view of the field of play and allows for a more thorough evaluation of the game circumstances, as opposes to isolated highlights.

Additionally, it may be safe to assume that Butler Community College, or other similar institutions, may not have the quality of equipment and videography staff of a major university or ESPN.

Ms. Naqi’s ESPN bio indicates that, “Her forte has been producing long-format features on social issues as they relate to sports.”  

With no other mention of recruiting, college football analysis or even football specifically, perhaps ESPN could have found a more qualified subject matter expert to judge the value of LSU’s purchase.

Additionally, the conclusion was drawn with out any comment from LSU. On July 22, Coach Les Miles stated to the New Orleans Times-Picayune that, "Because we make all the decisions ourselves on whether the guy's good enough to play, nobody else. As long as they give us the video, that's all we really need.”

Exactly. Just as I am the only person who can value my steak dinner purchase.

Pending any future discovery of evidence linking LSU with impropriety, this event will likely be remembered as an unfortunate and forgettable non-event.

While LSU has received a public black eye, their actions to this point indicate nothing similar to compliance issues facing other big-time programs like Ohio State and Oregon or faced by USC.

In fact, in the week’s real news, LSU was lauded for their transparency and compliance during the investigation into the recruiting of Akiem Hicks by former assistant coach D.J. McCarthy in 2009.

The investigation concluded that McCarthy acted on his own and subsequently resigned in January 2010.  

LSU self-reported the incident when it became aware of what happened but LSU was found guilty by the NCAA Committee on Infractions of a “Major Violation” and the university was placed on a one-year probation and a loss of scholarships already self-imposed by LSU, effectively a slap on the wrist.

This is also the fist incident of LSU being found guilty of a major infraction since 1987, the landmark date of the SMU Death Penalty ruling. LSU, along with Vanderbilt were the only two SEC schools with that distinction.

LSU has certainly remained above the fray, and no evidence points to LSU exhibiting any lack of institutional control.  

Perhaps this was simply a weak cry for attention during the most inactive time in the sports calendar amidst an NFL lockout. Maybe ESPN is just making headlines to garner attention to the ABC Week 1 matchup between LSU and Oregon.

Either way, student athletes and universities should not be unnecessarily tarred by misleading and incomplete tag lines.

The most unfortunate event is that Ms. Naqi’s conclusions have been parroted by others at ESPN (Brad Miller, Pat Forte) and agencies like Scout.com and AOL.SportingNews.com further perpetuating misleading and incomplete accusations.

It’s difficult to argue that college sports, in particular college football is not a business, that’s a whole other conversation, but lines need to be drawn and facts need to be examined.

LSU Associate Vice Chancellor for University Relations/Sr. Associate. Athletics Director Herb Vincent is correct in his tweet, (ESPN and the media) “need to report the news, not make.”

Sites Referenced:

http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2009/11/13/naqi_kelly/

http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/06/willie_lyles_oregon_football_t.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/44065/text-lyles-and-lame-videotape

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/30719680

http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2011/07/miles_disagrees_with_tv_report.html