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By Gary Parrish "People treated me like a king" during the Albert Means
days, says Lynn Lang, former Trezevant High coach. Former Trezevant High coach Lynn Lang says he took care of player
Albert Means (above) and his family, but Means declines to respond to those
charges. "I was through with that five years ago," said Means. He's wearing a straw hat. He's yelling, acting like a fool. It fits the image people still have of him, one of a high school
coach who asked multiple universities for illegal inducements before selling
his prized recruit for $150,000 and keeping the money for himself. "It's the way I was painted," Lang said. "But
that's not the whole story." Today, on the day Over the past week, the former Trezevant High coach spoke to The
Commercial Appeal in a series of wide-ranging interviews. Among his charges:
Lang said he gave the Means family "around $60,000."
"
"Cottrell told me to write a check for $1,200 to the
Lang said the student -- Trezevant Class of 1998 product and
former Golden Bear running back Carl Cunningham -- was paid, "about
$30" to do it. He added it was necessary because it took Means 15 attempts
to pass the TCAP. "The whole thing just spiraled out of control," Lang
said. "I didn't have a clue about what I was doing. But let me tell you,
it wasn't just me running around asking everybody for money and then keeping it
all. That's not how this happened. "I was wrong, but I wasn't the only one who was wrong. I've
kept quiet for four years. But I've been waiting to tell this story." How it started It was May 1999, and a big day in the world of college recruiting.
For the first time that year, coaches were allowed by the NCAA to
visit high schools to see the players they'd build their future teams around.
At least half a dozen converged on a practice field in "All the main players were there," Lang said. " Among the coaches was Ole Miss assistant Kurt Roper. "Kurt was new to Ole Miss, and I wasn't really paying him
much attention, so I think he felt left out," Lang said. "So he
tracked me down as I was walking down to the football field, and said, 'Coach,
we're new at Ole Miss and we need to be able to recruit with the big boys. Tell
me what we have to do to get Means.' So I started playing back with him." After a few minutes, according to Lang, Roper got more specific. "He said, 'Coach, I need to know exactly what it's going to
take financially to get Means so that I can take it back to my people,' "
Lang said. "I just told him a house and two cars, and he said that
wouldn't be a problem." Lang talked to each of the coaches when that day was done. All of
them, he said, indicated they'd be willing to do "whatever it takes"
to get Means. "It was strange, because it was like they were a little
surprised that I didn't know exactly what to ask for," Lang said. "On
that day, it wasn't me asking for things. They were offering. And that's when I
knew what was going on." Still, Lang was hesitant. He knew he had a commodity. But could he
really get six figures for a prospect? "Lang didn't think it could be done at first," explained
Lang's former assistant, Milton Kirk. "So that's when I took him to see
Lacey." Lacey is Lacey Smith, an old-timer among Memphis City Schools
coaches. At the time, he was at Hillcrest, and Kirk called Smith and set up a
meeting at a bar on "Lacey is the one who convinced me I could get at least
$100,000 for Means," Lang said. "Lacey knew how to do it, and who to
talk to.'" Kirk corroborated Lang's story. But when contacted by The
Commercial Appeal, Smith, now at Mitchell High, denied discussing Means's
recruitment, though he did acknowledge meeting with the two Trezevant coaches. "I didn't tell Lang how to sell Means," Smith said.
"I wouldn't know how to sell a player." Either way, now Lang believed he did. "After I met with Lacey," Lang said, "I walked out
of there thinking, 'OK, maybe this is something you can do.'" The bidding On Feb. 2, 2005 -- five years to the day after Means signed with But Lang said Because Lang already had a deal in place with "They offered me a job to be the defensive line coach at Documents obtained by The Commercial Appeal corroborate Lang's
story. According to an NCAA report summarizing a conversation between
Hill and investigator Richard Johanningmeier, Hill admitted telling Lang that Nutt, still at "He told me his job was on the line and that he needed Means
because he had lost (Melrose High stars) David Paine and Kindal Moorehead to In late 1999 and early 2000, Ole Miss: Lang said he and Roper had a falling out following the
Ole Miss assistant's initial effort to determine a price for Means. "He kept calling Ms. Means after I told him not to do that
because I didn't want any calls going to that home," Lang said. "I
sort of cut him off." Reached by The Commercial Appeal at "During the spring recruiting period in my first year at Ole
Miss, I visited coach Lang at his school," the statement read. "He
told me several improper inducements that would be required to recruit one of
his players. I reported that conversation to my head coach and at no time did I
offer or provide any of those inducements." "Lawing wanted me to get into his car and ride around with
him," Lang said. "That's when he started telling me -- now this is
when Nick Saban had left and Bobby Williams took over -- that he had a new
coach in town who was willing to pay money, and he was asking me how much it
would take." Lang said he told Lawing it would take $100,000 plus enough cash
to pay back Young. Not long after that, Lawing, now at " Lang asked Donnan and Perry, now both out of Division 1 coaching, could not
be reached for comment, but each has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Contacted by The Commercial Appeal, Harper declined comment. "Once he got (Melrose High star) Dwayne Robertson to commit,
he backed off," Lang said. "Once they had him, they didn't need to
pay that kind of money for Means." By then, Bassett had already given Lang $7,000 for work at a camp
and to persuade Means to visit The worst part Lang said he understands why coaches might lie about their involvement
in NCAA recruiting violations. He's not sure he'll ever be able to comprehend
why Means and his family allowed him to be portrayed as someone who took
advantage of them without giving them anything in return. "It was sickening," Lang said. "The way it all came
out, people thought I just used this boy and his family. But they knew what was
going on every step of the way." Lang said he gave Means "about $200 a week" every week
his entire senior year and even bought the family an Oldsmobile. "Albert said a lot of things to you, but did he ever tell you
how I took care of him and his family, put food on his mama's table?" Lang
asked. "On any given day, Albert would have $500 in his pocket." Contacted by The Commercial Appeal, Means refused to respond to
Lang's charge. "I was through with that five years ago, and I don't want
nothing to do with that," he said. "You can write whatever you feel
like writing." Asked whether he took large amounts of cash from his coach, Means
said, "Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? I don't know." Then he hung up. "Isn't it funny how he's got nothing to say to you now?"
Lang said. "I just don't know why he and his family acted this whole time
like they never got anything." "You can tell I'm angry." Angry, but not vengeful. Lang said he just wants people to
understand he didn't act alone. "I made a mistake, and I understand that," he said.
"But why can't anybody else admit to their mistakes. Me and Kirk and Young
are supposed to be the only people who did wrong on this. But there were a lot
of people who did wrong." Lang lost his job as a Kirk is back teaching, but will never recoup the three years of
salary he lost as punishment for his role in the scandal. Means wasn't selected in the NFL draft. He was invited to the
Houston Texans camp and then released. Young is facing time in federal prison. Nobody made it through OK. "It's all just sad," Lang said. "I never could've
imagined this would all happen. Who could've? So I'm just sorry to have been a
part of it. "I'm sorry for myself, for Kirk, for the Means family and for
Mr. Young. There's nothing for anybody to be happy about. We should've all just
walked away." -- Gary Parrish: 529-2365
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