Danny Sheridan off the record

Whatever you think of USA Today sports analyst Danny Sheridan, he has never shied away from offering his opinion and typically, his opinion is based on knowledge he gains from a variety of sources. No one succeeds in the business that Sheridan works in without having contacts in key organizations. If you don’t have inside information, you have no edge.

Last night at the Tuscaloosa Quarterback Club dinner, Sheridan spoke at length about a number of topics regarding the state of college football today. One of those topics was the seemingly endless entanglement between the NCAA and Auburn University.

I spoke with someone who attended that meeting and who spent some time with Sheridan during and after the event. Here are some of the things Sheridan didn’t tell reporters who also attended. I am paraphrasing here so please don’t quote this verbatim. While not an exact transcript, the paragraphs below capture the gist of what Sheridan said and believes, based on his contacts.

Sheridan's NCAA contacts tell him that a Letter of Inquiry and formal investigation are imminent. The preliminary phase has ended and recruiting irregularities may have occurred that warrant a full Enforcement investigation.

Both Sheridan and the NCAA understand that two unnamed assistants have been removed from off-campus recruiting activities, but they are still allowed to contact recruits via telephone and electronically.

Sheridan would not say which specific recruits, coaches or parts of the country were at the heart of the matters in question.

He said there is a high likelihood that Auburn University “cleans house,” meaning that everyone associated with Auburn football—from the athletic director all the way to “special advisers” to the program—will be dismissed.

Sheridan also said that NCAA President Mark Emmert has been on a warpath against what he believes are programs that calculate risk-reward ratios in deciding how closely to follow NCAA rules, and that Auburn University (among others) should be fearful of the new attitude in Indianapolis.

He believes that Bobby Petrino is the heavy favorite to replace Gene Chizik should the program go through with dismissing Gene Chizik and his staff. Petrino has made his “mea culpa” tour and expects to be coaching again in 2013. Petrino likes the Auburn opportunity because he believes, should he be hired there and the NCAA launches an investigation, he will have a 2-3 year period at a minimum as a “grace period.” This will allow the program to work through any investigation and address any sanctions that may result.

FWIW, this blog does not deal in rumors (other than what you see in the SEC Rumor Central page in the top level menu). The main blog deals only in information that can be verified by trusted sources. When I say I know someone who was there and spoke with Sheridan, please rest assured that I do, and he did.

That said, a lot of what appears above has been speculated on talk radio and internet message boards for much of the last few weeks. I don’t know and won’t judge the veracity of Sheridan’s sources, but I would hope he’s more resourceful than scouring message boards and dropping in on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network.

Extra Point:  This is not the first time Auburn assistants have been pulled off of the recruiting trail in an effort to placate the NCAA. In 2010, numerous secondary violations occurred in connection with the Tiger Prowl and Big Cat Weekend affairs. As a result of those violations, Auburn agreed to restrict its staff from having any off-campus contact with at least one of the recruits in question from November 2011 through January 2012.

Auburn promptly broke that agreement when one of the recruits in question told reporters that he had an in-home visit from Auburn coaches during the so-called “restricted period.” To my knowledge, that matter was never resolved and could be part of the current probe.

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This is what passes for “professional journalism” at the Birmingham News

This is laughable. 

One expects blatant homerism from columnists writing for Rivals, Scout and 247 sites. One also expects those writers to rely on questionable, unnamed sources to drive the narrative in a light most favorable to the program they’re covering. It’s what they do.

But if you expect a major daily newspaper in the state of Alabama to be an objective observer and provide an unbiased look at a news story affecting one of the two SEC programs in the state, you will be sorely disappointed—maybe even embarrassed—by Kevin Scarbinsky’s column in the Wednesday editions of the Birmingham News. If there is a bigger Auburn crybaby anywhere in the state, you’ll need to look up Phillip Marshall or Jeffery Lee.

Scarbinsky is whining about ESPN’s decision to send Urban Meyer to cover Saturday’s Auburn vs. Clemson matchup in Death Valley. Meyer, former Florida Head Coach and two-time National Championship Winner, knows a little about football and is expected to provide insightful color and technical commentary as the game unfolds.

But the Auburn fambly isn’t happy about the decision, as Meyer has been pointed and specific in his criticism of major college athletics recruiting practices and includes Auburn among the programs he thinks stretch the rules too far.  Auburn fans also deeply believe that Meyer was one of the “wizards behind the curtain” who orchestrated a media conspiracy to wreck their 2010 championship run by exposing the Cam Newton pay for play scheme, a scheme that Cecil Newton admitted to participating in. Newton was briefly declared ineligible as a result of the scheme, only to have his eligibility reinstated by the NCAA, which then took the unusual step of explaining the loophole Auburn used to spring the one-and-done wonder from the NCAA doghouse.

Scarbinsky writes:

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In the spring of 2009, after Auburn hit the road in its Tiger Prowl recruiting limos, Meyer told the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun that the NCAA should investigate. He also took a few shots at Auburn's tires.

"We're trying to sell graduation rates and academics and trying the sing and dance routine," he said. "The Florida coaching staff will not be riding around in limos or ripping off our shirts."

That shirt reference was a shot at Lane Kiffin and his Tennessee staff, but still. Even two years later, Meyer trying to drag his program onto the high ground, despite its arrest record, remains a shining example of hypocrisy.

He didn't stop there. In December of 2010, Meyer was the only SEC coach with a vote that didn't put Auburn No. 1 on his final regular-season ballot in the USA Today poll. He put Oregon first and Auburn second.

But those slights pale next to the role Meyer may have played as a wizard behind the curtain of the Cecil Newton-Kenny Rogers story last fall.

According to multiple news reports, before that story broke, Meyer had vowed on a three-way call with his protege, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, and former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond to tell it to The New York Times and ESPN.

Who broke the story of Newton and Rogers asking for money from Mississippi State boosters, Bond included, to send Cam Newton to State? The Times and ESPN.

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For those of you keeping score, the NCAA is still investigating the whole “Prowl” affair, and is investigating it as an institutional affair rather than a series of individual secondary violations. But the real laugher is the reference to “multiple news reports” regarding a three-way conference call between Meyer, Mullen and Bond.

His source: A single blog post by the most obtuse Auburn homer on the planet. The blog post is behind 247Sports.com’s paywall, but trust me—as a news source it’s about as credible as my Aunt Tootsie’s pool boy.

The alleged three-way call—which at least one of the participants said never happened—had Meyer telling the other two that he was going public with the pay-for-play scheme and tipping off the New York Times and ESPN.

This is what passes as a credible source for the Birmingham News? When was the last time this blog ever ran a story citing a single, unnamed source and passing it off as credible journalism? When the credibility standards of a part-time blogger exceed those of Alabama’s largest newspaper, it’s no wonder that the News’ circulation is circling the drain.

The Scarbinsky column also comes in light of the righteous indignation from the Auburn fambly over the appearance of nationally syndicated talk show host Paul Finebaum at last Saturday’s game between Auburn and Mississippi State. Finebaum’s show—the Paul Finebaum Radio Network—has come under intense fambly indignation over the appearances on the show of Danny Sheridan, the USA Today Sports Analyst. Sheridan has said he has knowledge of the identities of key players in the Newton pay for play scheme. The fambly has begun mounting an email, letter and fax campaign insisting that Auburn University revoke Finebaum’s media credentials.

It also comes in light of last Spring’s events when another radio talk show host—Scott Moore—told his listeners that he had heard recordings that implicated both Cecil and Cam Newton in the pay-for-play scheme. When Moore indicated that he was willing to share that evidence on the air, the fambly rose up and hounded the radio station until Moore was forced off the air. Never mind that, regarding the existence of the recordings, Scott Moore was telling the truth.

The implications here are as chilling as they are crystal clear—bother to tell the truth about a football program under intense NCAA scrutiny, and the fambly will do everything in its power to shut you down. There will be no airing of the fambly’s dirty laundry, whether that airing is on a local radio talk show, a nationally syndicated radio talk show, or even ESPN.

Exit question: Mr. Sheridan, could you give me the odds on Auburn issuing me press credentials for the Florida game at Auburn?

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Sports Illustrated to welcome Paul Finebaum (amid controversy)

According to his official Twitter feed, Paul Finebaum, host of the nationally syndicated Paul Finebaum Radio Network, is set to debut his first column for the venerable Sports Illustrated magazine on Thursday.

There’s no questioning Finebaum’s journalism credentials. He joined the Birmingham Post-Herald more than 30 years ago and worked as an investigative reporter and a columnist. He also had a twice weekly (later weekly) column in the Mobile Press-Register for nearly 10 years, discontinuing it in 2010.

It looks like the writing bug has bitten him again.

The move comes at a very interesting time, indeed. Finebaum’s radio show has been a focal point of controversy in recent weeks. USA Today Sports Analyst Danny Sheridan has appeared three times since the kickoff of SEC Media Days last month, claiming to have direct knowledge from a source inside the NCAA that the league’s enforcement staff has identified the financier, “bag man” and a witness in connection with allegations that former Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton’s father received cash in return for his son’s signature. Sheridan has refused to divulge the name(s) of the persons he’s been told were involved.

Sheridan’s comments on Finebaum’s show and a Friday appearance with Danny Sheridan on ESPN’s Outside the Lines has sparked a tit-for-tat public relations battle between Sheridan and the NCAA.

Finebaum is also in the midst of a heated, ugly legal battle with WJOX parent company, Citadel Broadcasting over a contract dispute. And, we also learned this week that Cox Media Group is launching a new 24-hour sports talk radio station in the Birmingham market. The new station, 97.3 The Zone, will feature content from Yahoo! Sports Radio and include the popular Tim Brando Show.

Since Brando’s show will compete with WJOX’s morning lineup, WJOX has forbidden Finebaum from having Brando make his regular Monday appearances on Finebaum’s show. Brando explains here and again, here.

As an outside observer (I live on the Gulf Coast), it appears that Finebaum has outgrown WJOX and the station’s ownership is behaving like a spoiled little boy whose sandbox has been invaded by a bigger kid.

There is—obviously—a great deal of speculation that Sheridan has shared whatever information he has with Finebaum. Sheridan has also used the likelihood of litigation against him as the reason why he won’t name names. Some have argued that as an employee of USA Today, Sheridan enjoys protection against litigation as a journalist. However, most serious legal analysts dispute that notion since Sheridan doesn’t file news reports or produce content that a reasonable observer would consider “journalism.” Finebaum however, is a bona fide journalist and would enjoy complete protection, so you can probably guess what the exit question is…

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AUburgeddon: The NCAA blew it with Sheridan statement

Sometimes, in the heat of an angry moment, it’s best to step back, take a deep breath and think things through before lashing out at the source of your frustration. That’s what the NCAA should have done last Friday following the appearance of USA Today Sports Analyst Danny Sheridan’s with Paul Finebaum on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

Sheridan was on the show to discuss comments he’d made during earlier appearances on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network, in which he said that sources “inside the NCAA” had given him the name of the person they believed was responsible for payment to Cecil Newton during Auburn’s recruitment of the eventual Heisman Trophy and National Championship winning Quarterback, Cam Newton.

Those statements led to the NCAA enforcement staff requesting an interview with Sheridan last week, an interview that both Sheridan and the NCAA have confirmed. But in the heat of anger, the NCAA released the following statement a few hours after the OTL segment ended. I’ll explain later why I believe that move was a mistake, but here’s the statement again:

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Danny Sheridan continues to make vague, unsubstantiated claims without backing them up with proof. Contrary to his claims of having an inside source with details on the Auburn investigation, the NCAA has not provided information to Sheridan or anyone else.  As a matter of due diligence, the NCAA spoke with Sheridan this week to determine if he had any facts pertaining to the investigation. Sheridan, however, did not provide any information to the enforcement staff and certainly did not provide a name. Instead, he unsuccessfully attempted to gather information for his own use.

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Sheridan’s detractors seized on the statement as a crushing blow to Sheridan’s credibility. No one’s mind will be changed by what I write here about Sheridan’s credibility and there don’t seem to be any fence sitters on that matter.

The Mobile Press-Register’s Randy Kennedy then reported on Sheridan’s response to the NCAA statement with an equally terse retort:

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"The NCAA statement about me is total propaganda and an absolute misrepresentation of the facts. For the record, I do have sources at the NCAA and that's why the organization has chosen to shoot the messenger.

"The NCAA called me through my attorney and requested an interview. I spoke with two NCAA investigators last Wednesday for almost an hour. I was consistent with them as I have been with the media and the public in refusing to divulge my sources.

"I also politely declined to share the name of the individual I have been told gave money to Cecil Newton. For the NCAA to claim I did anything else is specious, deceitful, disingenuous and completely false. I will be happy to take a polygraph test on these specific issues and challenge them to do so as well."

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No one’s mind will be changed by what I write here about the NCAA’s credibility and there don’t seem to be any fence sitters on that matter, either. But if you’re keeping score, right now it stands Sheridan 1, NCAA 0.

The NCAA statement is the league’s first on-the-record acknowledgement that there is an active and ongoing enforcement investigation of Auburn University. No ifs, ands or buts about it. The statement doesn’t mention any other schools and it doesn’t limit the scope of the NCAA’s probe of the school to just the Newton case. Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News notes today that there are at least two other matters being probed by the league, and sourced media reports described an additional matter being looked into down in South Florida as late as June. IBCR has confirmed at least one other matter that was being looked into in Montgomery just last month.

So why was it a mistake for the NCAA to issue that statement? Anyone who’s familiar with the anatomy of an enforcement investigation knows that the league does not publicly comment on ongoing investigations as a matter of NCAA policy. The statement itself—including the key phrase “Auburn investigation”—is a violation of that policy and it has opened the door to a response from the Auburn Defense Team. The school can now publicly demand that the league either issue a Notice of Inquiry or drop the matter, because it is the league—not the school—that has violated a policy intended to protect the integrity of the investigation.

For all intents and purposes, the six-month clock between official notification of an investigation and delivery of a Notice of Allegations (or termination letter) started Friday afternoon. It’s anybody’s guess as to whether the school and its legal team forces this to a head, but it sure seems like an opportunity to push the issue.

The question is, would the school get the outcome it wants?

Exit Question (and answer): Why score it Sheridan 1, NCAA 0? Because Sheridan has forced the hand of the league. He got someone in a position of high authority in the NCAA to lose their cool and step beyond the bounds of the league’s longstanding veil of silence policy.

Whether you believe him or not, you must give him credit for moving the chains on a story that has been closely followed by fans and media in the state, the region and the country for the last 10 months. The story is far from over and the outcome remains in doubt. It’s sure been a source of free blogging here at IBCR.

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Sheridan responds: Statement regarding NCAA statement

Tit for tat. Shot for shot.

The bizarre story gets even more bizarre, day by day.

Here is Danny Sheridan’s statement—responding to the NCAA’s statement yesterday—regarding the Cam Newton recruitment and the NCAA’s Auburn investigation.

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"The NCAA statement about me is total propaganda and an absolute misrepresentation of the facts. For the record, I do have sources at the NCAA and that's why the organization has chosen to shoot the messenger.

"The NCAA called me through my attorney and requested an interview. I spoke with two NCAA investigators last Wednesday for almost an hour. I was consistent with them as I have been with the media and the public in refusing to divulge my sources.

"I also politely declined to share the name of the individual I have been told gave money to Cecil Newton. For the NCAA to claim I did anything else is specious, deceitful, disingenuous and completely false. I will be happy to take a polygraph test on these specific issues and challenge them to do so as well."

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I frankly think the NCAA screwed up with yesterday’s statement, in which it not only copped to the fact that there is an active and ongoing investigation, it’s an “Auburn investigation.” That’s the first time we’ve seen an official statement from the league that they are knee deep in the process of investigating the 2010 National Champs.

What’s interesting is that when Paul Finebaum asked Sheridan whether he had knowledge of whether the school was being investigated for matters other than the Newton story, Sheridan’s attorney would not let him answer. It makes you go “hmmm.”

What’s also interesting to me is that the Mobile Press-Register’s Randy Kennedy has been reporting al.com’s coverage of this story. Kennedy is no wet-behind-the-ears beat writer or sports reporter. He’s the Sports Editor for one of the largest daily newspapers on the Gulf Coast.

But he’s always been a newshound at heart and he appears to be having fun doing his job.

Exit Question: Randy, when are you going to get Twitter?

Sheridan lawyer confirms contact by NCAA

The Mobile Press-Register reported today that Vince Kilborn, attorney for USA Today football analyst Danny Sheridan, confirms that the NCAA has contacted them and requested an interview. The report comes from the Press-Register Sports Editor Randy Kennedy.

"I can confirm that an NCAA representative called me Monday and asked to speak to my client about the whole Cam Newton matter," Kilborn said yesterday.

Two weeks ago today, Sheridan appeared on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network after saying that he’d discovered, through NCAA sources, that league investigators had identified a “bag man” who helped recruit former Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton. However, Sheridan famously failed to reveal the name of the individual, citing “advice of counsel.” The football analyst had twice appeared on the Finebaum show regarding the Newton case. The first was an interview during SEC Media Days in Birmingham, Ala. last July. The second was a week later, in which Sheridan made the claim regarding the alleged “bag man.”

His refusal to name the individual touched off a firestorm of criticism.

"I let them know that if they wished to talk to me, I will talk to them on or off the record about subjects of mutual interest."

While Kennedy says that the “NCAA has never implicated or even confirmed” that Auburn is a target of their investigation, anyone with more than a brick for a brain understands that the 2010 National Champion is squarely in their sights. The New York Times reported in July on a famous exchange between the Head Enforcer and Auburn Coach Gene Chizik, wherein the latter was told “ask not for whom the bell tolls” and we’ll let you know when we stop tollin’.

Still, it remains unclear what Sheridan could offer the NCAA that it doesn’t already have. Sheridan says his sources for the “bag man” are insiders at the league itself. Surely NCAA President Mark Emmert doesn’t expect Sheridan to out his source and cost someone their job—that was the very reason why he refused to reveal the name two weeks ago in the Finebaum interview.

As noted last week, this bizarre case gets even more bizarre with each turn.

Mark Emmert to Danny Sheridan: Gimme a call sometime

Scroll down for update.

On a Friday broadcast heard on SiriusXM 91, NCAA President Mark Emmert was asked about Danny Sheridan’s recent comments on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network. As you may have heard, Sheridan appeared on PFRN Wednesday to discuss the ongoing NCAA investigation into the recruitment of former Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton. Sheridan appeared on the show as scheduled but under advice of counsel, declined to reveal the name of “the bagman.” But Sheridan also claims that his source is inside the NCAA.

Sheridan made waves at SEC Media Days when he told PFRN that the NCAA had identified at least one key figure in the case—the much ballyhooed “bagman.”

Here’s the audio clip of the conversation between show host Jack Arute and President Emmert:

Arute brings up an important point echoed throughout mainstream sports journalism—how troubling is it, given the firewall that is supposed to exist between the gambling world and the governing body of college athletics, that someone with so many ties to sports wagering has an “inside source?” My sense is that Emmert either ignored that aspect of the matter or he doesn’t get it.

Another key takeaway—what does it say about the state of affairs in college sports if the President of the NCAA is asking a famous sports odds analyst to give him a call sometime? Does he expect Sheridan’s information to somehow corroborate what enforcement already has?

Exit question: Is it just me, or does Emmert sound like Newt Gingrich?

This bizarre story keeps getting more bizarre with every turn.

UPDATE: Danny Sheridan tweeted a statement in response to President Emmert’s comments.

“My response to NCAA president Mark Emmert comments today: I very much appreciate what President Emmert said today. I would be willing to meet with him at his convenience and discuss items of mutual importance.”

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