This Article will fully explain why FBI is all over this
- Thread starter Topgundawg
- Start date
Not surprisingly given that it's Alabama -- where, as they say,
"college football isn't life or death; it's more important than that" --
Lowder's most high-profile clashes have involved the football program.
(It might be a good juncture for the writer to offer, as full
disclosure, that I am a graduate of the University of Alabama. On
learning that, certain Auburn readers will give this story no
credibility.) </p>
From the time he joined the board of trustees,
Lowder has shown a special interest in day-to-day operations, chairing
an athletics committee of the board that met in private and, insiders
say, calling coaches directly to mandate changes. And he has shown that
he runs out of patience with football coaches just as he does with bank
executives. </p>
In 1998 Terry Bowden resigned as football coach with
five games remaining in the season, despite a 47-17-1 overall record,
after he was given the message that Lowder wanted him gone. Lowder
denied any involvement. There was an outcry among alumni and students,
but soon Bowden's replacement, Tommy Tuberville, was winning and the
controversy subsided. </p>
A few years after his resignation, however,
Bowden gave an interview to local reporter Davis alleging that Lowder
had organized a program in which wealthy alumni contributed cash to a
slush fund to pay players to sign with Auburn. </p>
Several people
with knowledge of the system and Lowder's role in it told Fortune that
Bowden was telling the truth and that they had seen a book with a list
of the slush-fund donors. Again, Lowder would not comment for this
story, and we could find no record that he had addressed this question
in the past. </p>
Lowder's next showdown over football -- what became
known as Jetgate -- attracted even more national attention. When Auburn
failed to live up to expectations in 2003, Lowder apparently got fed up
with Tuberville. That November he dispatched the university's interim
president, its athletic director, and two fellow trustees to Louisville
to try to hire away its coach, Bobby Petrino, a former Auburn assistant.
</p>
The news leaked, and the groundswell of support for Tuberville
forced Auburn to not only keep him but also extend his contract. The
president and the athletic director left their jobs in the aftermath of
the incident. Lowder denied any involvement, despite the fact that the
contingent had traveled on his private jet. </p>
Last year, after a
losing season, Tuberville was forced out. "It was only a matter of
time," says one former athletics department insider. "Lowder was going
to get him eventually." </p>
Lowder's high-profile role in athletics
and his clashes with faculty eventually attracted attention from the
school's accrediting organization. In December 2003, shortly after
Jetgate, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put the
university on probation and specifically named Lowder in a report citing
micromanaging by trustees. </p>
"college football isn't life or death; it's more important than that" --
Lowder's most high-profile clashes have involved the football program.
(It might be a good juncture for the writer to offer, as full
disclosure, that I am a graduate of the University of Alabama. On
learning that, certain Auburn readers will give this story no
credibility.) </p>
From the time he joined the board of trustees,
Lowder has shown a special interest in day-to-day operations, chairing
an athletics committee of the board that met in private and, insiders
say, calling coaches directly to mandate changes. And he has shown that
he runs out of patience with football coaches just as he does with bank
executives. </p>
In 1998 Terry Bowden resigned as football coach with
five games remaining in the season, despite a 47-17-1 overall record,
after he was given the message that Lowder wanted him gone. Lowder
denied any involvement. There was an outcry among alumni and students,
but soon Bowden's replacement, Tommy Tuberville, was winning and the
controversy subsided. </p>
A few years after his resignation, however,
Bowden gave an interview to local reporter Davis alleging that Lowder
had organized a program in which wealthy alumni contributed cash to a
slush fund to pay players to sign with Auburn. </p>
Several people
with knowledge of the system and Lowder's role in it told Fortune that
Bowden was telling the truth and that they had seen a book with a list
of the slush-fund donors. Again, Lowder would not comment for this
story, and we could find no record that he had addressed this question
in the past. </p>
Lowder's next showdown over football -- what became
known as Jetgate -- attracted even more national attention. When Auburn
failed to live up to expectations in 2003, Lowder apparently got fed up
with Tuberville. That November he dispatched the university's interim
president, its athletic director, and two fellow trustees to Louisville
to try to hire away its coach, Bobby Petrino, a former Auburn assistant.
</p>
The news leaked, and the groundswell of support for Tuberville
forced Auburn to not only keep him but also extend his contract. The
president and the athletic director left their jobs in the aftermath of
the incident. Lowder denied any involvement, despite the fact that the
contingent had traveled on his private jet. </p>
Last year, after a
losing season, Tuberville was forced out. "It was only a matter of
time," says one former athletics department insider. "Lowder was going
to get him eventually." </p>
Lowder's high-profile role in athletics
and his clashes with faculty eventually attracted attention from the
school's accrediting organization. In December 2003, shortly after
Jetgate, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put the
university on probation and specifically named Lowder in a report citing
micromanaging by trustees. </p>