Camgate theory - Buy/Sell

blacklistedbully · Feb 25, 2011

In response to a ? asked on Rivals about why Bond does not just go public with all the tapes I posted the following. Buy? Sell?<div>
</div><div>Mike Slive & the SEC office, that's why. If you followed this closely throughout you might recall an exchange between Slive & the MSU AD. Slive slammed us for supposedly not providing enough info soon enough. We shot back (through clenched teeth, no doubt) that we did as was required. It was clear at the time that we were defending ourselves, but had to be careful not to protest too much or risk Slive's wrath.

He's already holding our cowbells hostage and is sitting on what our fines will be for violation of the new cowbell compromise. We are at his whim and could be on the hook for a tidy sum of money.

Also, I am sure there is a concern by some that providing the info will make us a target of Auburn. While I believe Mullen & Stricklin are running a clean program, it's only sane to consider that there could be a rogue booster somewhere doing stuff they don't know about that could hurt us if discovered.

My gut feeling is that MSU wanted to cover our butts, so reported what was minimally required, going out of our way to state we had no knowledge of Auburn offering money, perhaps hoping that Cam would be declared ineligible before the season started. But when Slive & the SEC sat on it, merely requesting "additional info (wink-wink)", the message was clear that we should put a lid on it. It's that or we really were just too tied up with replacing our AD, getting Renardo Sidney & Dee Bost reinstated, working on our facilities upgrades, etc to put a priority on some other school's problem.

Think about it, & put yourself in the MSU Athletic Dept's shoes. You reported to the SEC that Cecil Newton had asked us to pay $180k for Cam. By SEC rules that & that alone should have made Cam ineligible to play in teh SEC, end of story. But all the SEC does is say, "Come back to us with more details", then doesn't say a thing about it until months later when sports reporters get a hold of the info & contact Bond, telling him they will go public anyway, so want to give Bond a chance to set the record straight regarding MSU's role.

It has come out that Urban Meyer was the one who most likely leaked the info to the NYT, no doubt based on info his old friend Dan Mullen shared with him. Keep in mind, this was before Auburn was well on it's way to a magical season, with the intention of denying Auburn the use of Cam Newton, a player they knew to be tainted. This would also explain all the extra stuff that came out about Cam's academic cheating at UF. UF & Urban had all that info.

I suspect MSU was hoping the SEC would immediately investigate enough to declare Cam ineligible before the season started, but once Slive let it slide (and likely advised we keep quiet while he did a little CYA with the "give us more info BS) and AU got rolling with Cam at the helm, the stakes had gotten much higher. I truly believe our Athletic Dept did not want the kind of ****-storm that developed after AU went "All-In". Not good for the SEC. Could have all sorts of ramifications that could affect all teams, including MSU with broadcast contract negotiations, etc. Even though it was galling to see Auburn succeed with an impact player that wanted to come to MSU, it was simply a bitter pill that our AD was willing to swallow, IMO.

But by then, Bond, who is no doubt pissed to see us get shafted by Cecil & Cam, is getting contacted by those sports reporters who had been leaked info by someone else (apparently Meyer). He goes on record with a little info to cover our ***, but gets crucified by Auburn fans who view it as an attack on Auburn, and Ole Miss fans who see it as a way to sling mud on our program. He gets defensive & sits there stewing, knowing he has more info, but is being asked by the MSU athletic dept to stay out of it. the FBI gets involved and interviews Bond & Bell. An agent tells Bond this stuff will come out in the end, but it will be a while.

Meanwhile Ole Miss coaches are reportedly telling recruits that MSU is going to get busted for violations related to this pay-for-play stuff. They point to DC Diaz leaving for Texas as proof he knows the ship is sinking, though the reality is the guy got paid an ENORMOUS amount of money to go to Texas and is now under an old HC with only so many years left, as opposed to one of the youngest HC's in the country. Smart move by Diaz, but some recruits are buying this BS Nutt & company are putting out. They say the same thing about WR Coach Hudspeth leaving, even though the reality is he got a D1 HC coaching opportunity, so jumped on it.

Is it BS? Yes, but some recruits are gullible and are perhaps swayed by other factor$ as well. Bond sees our terrific season, capped with a destruction of Michigan in a New Years Day Bowl then followed by what looks like a promising recruiting year suddenly begin to fall apart as several of our top prospects/commits bail, all around the same time, many of whom go to Ole Miss. So Ole Miss, owners of a 4-8 record, 1-7 SEC, losers at home to Jacksonville State & Vandy (by 2 TD's) suddenly vault into the top 15 of recruiting, much at our expense. I'm guessing Bond is sitting on his evidence saying to himself, "Are you kidding me?!". He tells MSU he's getting calls all the time & has info that could blow this thing up, but MSU continues to ask him to keep a low profile. We don't want to be seen as the ones who got another SEC team nailed, cost the SEC another NC, and give the league a black eye. We are also probably concerned with what Slive will do in retaliation.

So, that's my long version of what MAY be going on. Little proof, admittedly based largely on speculation, so counts only as one man's opinion among many others here. But I think no more far-fetched than most others & a lot less far-fetched than many.
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BigMotherTucker · Feb 25, 2011

blacklistedbully · Feb 25, 2011

Wanted to be somewhat thorough.

tenureplan · Feb 25, 2011

but it's obvious that is was typed with a maroon keyboard.

seshomoru · Feb 25, 2011

no spams

therightway · Feb 25, 2011

It will be interesting to see how much Urban keeps his mouth going. It seems like he will keep talking. Like it or not we are going to viewed at the snitch. What a lot of people do not realize outside of here is Bond and Bell were only contacted because Rogers had no real connections at MSU.

BigMotherTucker · Feb 25, 2011

therightway said:
It will be interesting to see how much Urban keeps his mouth going. It seems like he will keep talking. Like it or not we are going to viewed at the snitch. What a lot of people do not realize outside of here is Bond and Bell were only contacted because Rogers had no real connections at MSU.

If you talk to anyone in the Auburn camp this contact should result State being put on the death peneltiy. I cant wrap my mind around the idea that "Camp Newton" contacting State guys = us in trouble. I dont get that at all.

MaroonedNdaRock · Feb 25, 2011

I think your theory on Bond coming forward is probably accurate. Hell, I doubt I know a 1/4 of what he knows and it pisses me off to hear dumbasses suggest that State was somehow wrong in all this. I believe Bond wants to set things straight and I imagine he is getting offers to spill the beans. Then when he is ready to give some more info; The University convinces him it would be better for us and the NCAA investigation of Auburn if he did not at this time.

I don't think the University told him to STFU because we are guilty of buying players in this situation or any other situation.

DAWG61 · Feb 25, 2011

I don't know but that was a great read.

blacklistedbully · Feb 25, 2011

Appreciate the kudos from you & therightway.

Topgundawg · Feb 26, 2011

I believe there is a key point that you might want to rethink. If we assume Auburn did pay something (180K) and the FBI / IRS is all over the State of Alabama bankers, mayors, big Auburn boosters, as we know they are. They may be putting the clamp on as much as possible until trials are complete. In any case, really liked the post....

HammerOfTheDogs · Feb 26, 2011

If it wasn't for the corrupt, Machievallian, third-world money men at Auburn paying off players, they'd be a 3rd rate Sun Belt school lucky to beat out Troy and UAB for recruits.

BehrDawg · Feb 26, 2011

blacklistedbully wrote:

Also, I am sure there is a concern by some that providing the info will make us a target of Auburn. While i believedoubt Mullen & Stricklin are running a clean program, it's only sane to consider that there could be a rogue booster somewhere doing stuff they don't know about that could hurt us if discovered.

Come on man...no one runs a clean program.

gravedigger · Feb 26, 2011

1. Bond is not some innocent bystander that was approached. Maybe msu didnt walk up with a suitcase of cash, but my guess is Bond did approach our staff HOPING they would contact some boosters and get the cash up.
2. Bond was simply duped by the reporters into thinking that the story was going to come out. He was the only one that had the first hand info and if he had called their bluff, this would have never come out.
3. Slive is motivated by one thing: He opened his low rent 17ing mouth about everybody being off probation and this would have pretty much killed him had the potential NC been stripped of its chance to win WHEN HIS OFFICE KNEW ENOUGH to prevent it in the first place.
4. We lost recruits because we didnt step up and play the game. And frankly, with all the cam newton talk and focus, we were under a microscope anyway. The notion that kids are believing that we are going to get the hammer because of all this is absurd to me. A letter of investigation surfaces? sure. Just not this early.
5. Meyer's role might have been to contact the NYT initially, but I dont think he really cares now.

blacklistedbully · Feb 26, 2011

1. I'm not prepared to believe JB wanted us to cheat.<div>2. JB wasn't the only person who knew. The very fact that these reporters came to him with the info they already had proved they had another source. No bluff to call.</div><div>3. I agree with your 3rd point about Slive wanting to protect his "legacy", but don't think that was his sole motivation. Money is always a big motivator & the SEC is big-money not wanting neg pub to threaten that.</div><div>4. I agree we could have won recruits with money, but have been told by a number of sources that Nutt & Co were using that BS about us getting burned on Camgate to swing some fence-sitters. Absurd, yes, but there are plenty of recruits dumb enough & gullible enough to believe an Ole Miss coach sharing this "inside info". Hell, just think about how many Ole Miss fans think this is true. Wishful thinking, of course, but it does show you that some people will believe just about anything.</div><div>5. Meyer cares a lot. Since he retired he has made news talking about how bad things have gotten with certain coaches doing whatever it takes to sign a kid. He also talked about how some coaches are still doing it the right way, not taking "short-cuts". Interesting how Dan Mullen has used that word when talking about his approach to recruits and recruiting, "This is the craziest time of the year as a coach,” saidMullen. “I love being around the team and things we control, which is our hard work and our effort, and that’s really important to us.Thereisno shortcut to the top of the mountain and nothing is given to you in this world. And our kids know that and they know nothing is gonna be given to them for them to succeed. “In recruiting right now, you are telling guys that and I think they can see that in the program. But you never know what 17-year-olds are thinking in making decisions.” </div><div>
</div><div>And this when asked about the defections of Johnson, Brassell & Whitehead:</div><div>
</div><div>“You’re always gonna lose a few in recruiting as it goes. Our recruits and guys we have coming in, they know what our program is all about. They know nothing is gonna be given to them and they have to earn everything outthere[/b]on the field. Those are the type of guys that succeed in the world and I think we are getting a class full of those types of players.”</div>
And despite those deflections,Mullen[/b]said the stamp of the program will change, nor the mindset of hard work.“We’re gonna work as hard as we can,” saidMullen[/b]. “You see everything about our program and we’re gonna do things the right way, and win through hard work.

Camgate theory - Buy/Sell

blacklistedbully

Senior

BigMotherTucker

Sophomore

blacklistedbully

Senior

tenureplan

Senior

seshomoru

Junior

therightway

Redshirt

BigMotherTucker

Sophomore

MaroonedNdaRock

Redshirt

DAWG61

Redshirt

blacklistedbully

Senior

Topgundawg

Redshirt

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference

BehrDawg

Redshirt

gravedigger

Redshirt

blacklistedbully

Senior