An interesting read...
http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040613/NEWS/406130383/1011
CECIL HURT: Mississippi State faces Tide-like quandary June 13, 2004
On Saturday, Mississippi State athletic officials spent most of the day in Indianapolis, where the NCAA Committee on Infractions seems to do most of its heavy lifting. No one outside of the Committee and the MSU contingent knows what went on behind closed doors -- but a lot of people in Alabama are very interested.
It’s not just that Mississippi State and Alabama share the same division, or have a somewhat prickly relationship at the moment because MSU has hired the former Alabama player, Sylvester Croom, that Alabama passed on. What makes this case, and the ruling expected in August, so interesting is that it is running on a parallel track to Alabama’s 2002 case -- not surprising, according to some, since the same conductor is in charge.
There has been no single highly publicized charge made against Mississippi State. There is not an Albert Means. But there is a laundry list of charges against State, ranging from relatively small amounts of cash to promises of vehicles and jobs for family members, all supposedly made by Jackie Sherrill or one of his assistants, Guy Fremin. Again, in the Alabama case, the head coach’s name never really surfaced in the allegations.
But aside from those differences, some Mississippi State people feel that they are riding the same railroad as Alabama. The feeling of those State-watchers is that the NCAA has a high-profile target that it has sought for many years -- Sherrill, not Logan Young -- and that the case has been tailored to bring down that target by the same investigator, Rich Johanningmeier.
There have also been more than a few hints of another similarity. There is a strong suspicion in Starkville that a rival coach has played the same “confidential witness" role in this case that Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer played in the Alabama case, pointing the NCAA in this or that direction without ever actually going on the record and alleging anything. It might be difficult to pry documentation loose, barring the unusual circumstances that led to the uncovering of Fulmer’s role. But you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar (or even have been to Oxford) to guess which coach that Sherrill and others suspect.
If Sherrill wants to go hunting a conspiracy, one can expect that Ronnie Cottrell’s lawyers, among others, would join the safari.
Aside from that, there is also the issue of how the COI will react to Mississippi State. Unlike Alabama, which employed the prevent defense -- just stop the lack of institutional control charge, no matter how much damage is done -- MSU has been blitzing. State didn’t fire Sherrill. It didn’t inflict any self-imposed penalties. Sherrill refused to even speak to Johanningmeier. MSU has, basically, denied every charge that could be construed as major, and labeled a fairly large number of witnesses as “unreliable" and their testimony as “hearsay."
In Alabama, where NCAA motives are taken with a sea’s worth of salt, that seems like a logical precaution. The question is, how will it be taken in Indianapolis? It certainly seems to raise the specter of “lack of institutional control."
Some of the MSU allegations also fall in the five-year window from the previous case, which means that Cowboy Tom Yeager could be in a position to unleash his rhetorical six-shooter in Starkville’s direction. On the other hand, the Committee of Infractions is easily daunted, and State’s combative attitude will probably pay dividends.
At some point before the college season starts, the State report will be issued. But like the Alabama case, there will be repercussions, one way or the other, into 2005 and beyond.
Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED], or (205) 722-0225.
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ROLL TIDE! Rick
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