>From the Bham News:
Vols booster testifies in Cottrell's suit
08/14/03
MIKE PERRIN
News staff writer
MEMPHIS - University of Tennessee fan Roy Adams, decked out in a bright orange sports
coat, blue NCAA-embroidered Oxford shirt, Vols necktie and silver-fox cap, testified
for almost four hours Wednesday during a deposition in former Alabama assistant coach
Ronnie Cottrell's lawsuit against the NCAA.
Adams, who frequently posts under the name "TennStud" on the Web site
www.gridscape.com, brought along a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey for the occasion.
According to attorneys in the room, Adams poured himself at least one drink, saying it
soothed his nerves.
According to Cottrell's lawsuit, Adams is one of at least three Tennessee boosters at
the core of a conspiracy to "destroy" the University of Alabama football program.
The lawsuit, joined in July by Ivy Williams, another former UA assistant, seeks $60
million in damages from seven defendants claiming Cottrell and Williams have been
unable to find comparable jobs since being fired at Alabama. Adams is not a defendant.
Cottrell is out of coaching while Williams is an assistant at a Division II school in
Georgia.
Adams gave his deposition in Cottrell attorney Philip Shanks' conference room filled
with Alabama football memorabilia, seated facing a large cartoon poster of legendary
UA coach Paul Bryant with the slogan "The Bear Wants You."
Afterward, Adams criticized Cottrell's attorneys, including lead attorney Thomas
Gallion of Montgomery, for filing the suit.
"I still think it's an incredulous, stupid, lacking in any legal basis, harassment
lawsuit, probably financed by the local Bama booster," Adams said.
The Bama booster he referred to was Logan Young, who was disassociated from the
Alabama program in the aftermath of the Albert Means and Kenny Smith recruitment
investigation that landed the Tide on NCAA probation.
"I question whether Mr. Cottrell (has) the deep pockets to pay all these lawyers,"
Adams said. "This is just a harassment suit, financed by the local Bama booster to try
to get information to help his cause down the line.
"I would guess 25 or 50 percent of the facts that they assumed in asking me questions
are in error."
Gallion said Adams contradicted himself on several occasions during the deposition.
"He admitted he called the University of Alabama the `Evil Empire' on a regular basis.
He thought they were dealing with slave-traders. He started out calling Lynn Lang and
Milton Kirk" - Means' former coaches at Trezevant High School who solicited money from
college recruiters - "slave-traders and co-conspirators," Gallion said. "Then at the
end of the deposition changed and said they were very truthful, honest people."
Gallion said when he attempted to find out how he was able to post Alabama's NCAA
sanctions on the Internet before they were released by the university, Adams became
evasive.
"He claimed to be drunk when he did his posting," Gallion said. "He was `inebriated'
and he didn't remember it.
"The guy was kind of an interesting character. He admitted, a) being a drunk, b)
hating Alabama and c) doing everything he could to harm them regardless."
Adams said he was interested in exposing recruiting violations in Memphis.
"They think that University of Tennessee boosters had something to do with - and the
phrase Mr. Gallion kept using - `bringing down Alabama,'" Adams said. "Well, the
University of Tennessee boosters, certain individuals in this community, did have
something to do with it to the extent that the recruiting violations going on, the
buying and selling of coaches and athletes in this community, was going on right under
our noses.
"You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know what was going on ... "The
University of Alabama under (coach Mike) DuBose and prior to that was obviously
corrupt," Adams said, "and flagrant in their violations of NCAA rules as far as
recruiting goes here in Memphis."
Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge Steve Wilson has set an Oct.2 date to hear motions to
dismiss the lawsuit.
Along with the NCAA, Cottrell and Williams are suing Thomas E. Yeager, chairman of the
NCAA Committee on Infractions; Richard Johanningmeier, an NCAA enforcement
investigator; Gene Marsh and Marie Robbins, UA's faculty representative and former
compliance officer; Tom Culpepper, a freelance recruiting analyst; and attorney
Richard Hilliard, who was hired by Alabama to help prepare a response to the charges.
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