About nine months after I’d been suspended, and after nearly twenty years as a sports agent, I thought long and hard and decided it was time to come clean about the whole business, the way I had done it and the way other agents do it. George Dohrmann, Pulitizer Prize–winning sports writer, had spent months trying to convince me to go on the record about my experiences. Eventually, he persuaded me, and it became a cover story in Sports Illustrated, entitled “Confessions of an Agent.” I named thirty former college players who took money or accepted improper benefits from me. At the end of the story, the magazine included responses from those mentioned, reprinted below:
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED—OCTOBER 18, 2010
CONFESSIONS OF AN AGENT—RESPONSES
• When informed of the allegation that he had accepted money from Luchs, Kanavis McGhee asked SI to call back the next day. He did not return subsequent phone and e-mail messages from SI.
• Greg Townsend confirmed the details of his relationship with Luchs.
• Chuck Webb could not be reached for comment (SI left messages for Webb through his family).
• Mel Agee, Harold (Doc) Daniels, Chris Mims, Travis Claridge and Leon Bender are deceased.
• Carl Greenwood, Othello Henderson, Matt Soenksen, Chris Alexander, Bruce Walker, Jonathan Ogden and Singor Mobley confirmed receiving money or extra benefits from Luchs.
• Jamir Miller, Tony Banks and John Rushing declined to comment.
• Ryan Fien, Joel Steed and Torey Hunter said they did not receive money from Luchs.
• Vaughn Parker said he knew Luchs but had no comment as to whether he took money from Luchs.
• Greg Thomas, Delon Washington and Darick Holmes did not respond to phone messages.
• Phalen Pounds said Luchs was “a good guy” but declined to comment as to whether he took money.
• Rob Waldrop denied that Luchs paid him. He recalled that he had lunch with Luchs and that Luchs offered to pay a friend in an effort to get to Waldrop, but he said that he did not accept any money.
• Ryan Leaf declined to comment on specific allegations. “I remember Josh,” Leaf said in a statement. “As I recall, he was an old hometown friend of one or two of my teammates and we all hung out a bit. I don’t remember him aspiring to be an agent. We were all about the same age and we were interested in having a good time more than anything else.”
• R. Jay Soward confirmed receiving money from Luchs.
• Gary Wichard’s lawyer, Howard Silber, said his client declined to comment.
• Mel Kiper denied that it was prearranged for him to call during the Willie Howard meeting or any other. “I would never have called Gary, but Gary and other agents often call me and ask me to speak to players,” said Kiper. “Gary is my friend, but I do that all the time for many different agents. I give players my opinion of them as football players. But I would never promote Gary or any other agent to a player.” As for the belief among some agents that he favors Wichard’s clients, Kiper said, “My player ratings are not related to my relationship with Gary or any other agent. There are many examples of players Gary represented who I have not ranked highly.” (Howard confirmed to SI Luchs’s account of Kiper’s calling during Howard’s meeting with Luchs and Wichard.)
• John Blake’s lawyer, William H. Beaver II, said his client declined to comment.
• Kenyon Coleman declined to comment.
• Jeremy Shockey did not respond to messages left through the Saints or his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
• Through a New York Jets spokesperson, Santonio Holmes denied taking money from any agent while in college or telling Luchs and Steve Feldman that he had taken money. Feldman confirmed to SI that Holmes told him and Luchs that an agent was paying him.
I was interviewed by Bernard Goldberg on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. And shortly after, I started writing this book. It was time to tell the truth. After the Sports Illustrated story ran, the NFLPA called an emergency meeting of CARD and, citing that, among other things, I’d urinated for a player when I was sixteen years old, permanently revoked my certification. It was like wasting a bullet on a dead horse. Emergency meeting? For a guy who’d just walked away from the business? No need for future appeals. That’s okay. I was done.
Since I went public with how the sports business really works, I’ve gone from being just another agent doing what agents do to a whistle-blower, double agent (pun-intended), reformer, crusader, and expert on the dark side. I’ve been on countless radio and TV shows, have been interviewed by magazines inside and outside of sports, and ironically, as a rule-breaker have been asked to serve on or speak at numerous sports law conferences, interestingly on the subject of ethics.
Shortly after my story was published, I was invited by the NCAA to speak at their so-called compliance meetings, to help educate the very body whose rules and values agents like me were—and still are—flouting. I assisted in some high-profile investigations. ESPN.com ran an Associated Press story on October 27, 2010, excerpted below.
NCAA SEEKS INSIGHT ON ROGUE AGENTS
INDIANAPOLIS—The NCAA is taking a new approach to weeding out rogue agents … Spokeswoman Stacey Osburn confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the governing body had also been gathering information from former agent Josh Luchs.
The goal is to dissuade agents from providing improper benefits to college players—and players from taking benefits and running to the NFL. The panel seeking solutions is looking at a wide range of possibilities.
… The union [NFLPA], league, NCAA and other entities are discussing ways to halt the problem of agents, and college players, who break the rules. A series of high-profile cases are currently under investigation by the NCAA.
From then on, it’s been a flood. In January 2011, I spoke at the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene, Oregon. I was nervous about how law students would respond to someone like me. They’re there to learn the “ideal,” the law, and the way things are supposed to be. What I was talking about was the opposite, the very “real” way things are, not how they should be. Right away, one thing struck me as odd. Despite the fact that the university was putting on the Sports and Entertainment Law Conference, there was no participation, nor were there even observers from, the University of Oregon Athletic Department. The way the Warsaw Sports Review, published by the University’s Marketing Center, put it afterward was: “JOSH LUCHS JOINS UNIVERSITY COMPLIANCE OFFICERS AT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON LAW CONFERENCE … Luchs, who has recently been in the spotlight for his tell-all … where he confessed to paying players, was strategically placed between the Oregon State Associate AD and the Washington State Associate AD to add to the controversy of the panel.” In a strange twist, I also recruited another ex-client of mine to speak on the panel: former Oregon wide receiver Keenan Howry (of the infamous $5,300 check in the Luchs vs. Wichard case).
Amazingly, this was the first time I’d ever seen any university compliance people in my professional life, in spite of the fact that part of their job was to monitor people like me. I’d heard they existed, but like rare animals in the wild, I’d never seen one. During the panel the Washington State compliance person said, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” I took that to mean a couple of things: First, they are protesting that there’s so much to know, so much going on, they can’t possibly stay on top of all of it. Second, if they don’t know about something, they have less liability. It’s not as if they knew about a violation but ignored it. What was clear was that as a body, a compliance department is in way over its head.
In March 2011, I shared the dais with another agent at the University of Texas Law School in Austin. This is how they promoted it:
Sports Agents Josh Luchs and Bob Boland to Speak at “The Role of Agents in Entertainment & Sports” Conference. Josh Luchs, a former National Football League agent who was recently featured in Sports Illustrated and on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel regarding his admission of paying college football stars for nearly 20 years, will speak at The University of Texas School of Law’s Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law second annual symposium on Thursday, March 24. Luchs will discuss his experience paying players in the hope of signing them as clients and violating NCAA ethics rules with several professors and agents, including Bob Boland, a professor at New York University and well-known sports agent. He has negotiated more than 100 player and endorsement deals in a variety of sports, including the NFL.
This was the first time I’d done a lecture rather than just field questions on a panel, so I was nervous. And to make it a little more intimidating, the event took place in a mock courtroom in front of the seal of the Great State of Texas. If I ever envisioned myself in a Texas courtroom, it would have been under very different circumstances, perhaps subpoenaed, but never as an invited guest, let alone as an expert. I didn’t get to feel good about myself too long, though. The dean of the University of Texas Law School, Lawrence Sager, introduced the participants, including esteemed professors, and former Texas linebacker Brian Jones, now a CBS football analyst. Then he introduced me as a “former criminal.” There was an audible gasp from the crowd, waiting for me to go after the dean for his defamatory remark. The large contingent of lawyers, and even I as a non-lawyer, knew there’s supposed to be a presumption of innocence in America. And I’d never been convicted of any crime. Who’d have thought the dean of the law school would sound like a tabloid sound bite instead of a legal scholar? I held my tongue (an older and wiser me).
A couple of highlights from the conference: A current student asked my advice privately on an agent situation he was in the middle of. He was a former roommate of some University of Texas players now in the NFL, who he said had been paid by agents while in school. Having witnessed how the agent-player world works, he was now in a situation with two major sports agencies battling over UT prospects, both of whom had offered him a job as a runner to help deliver next year’s players for meetings and as clients. He was asking me the best ways to protect himself and his interests, and how to parlay it into a job as an agent with one of the sports agencies. In other words, business was going on as usual—right there at the conference that was specifically designed to stop it.
One of the lecturers was well-respected Villanova law professor David Caudill, whose research and scholarly interest is focused on sports and entertainment law. During the question-and-answer portion, he said the perspective I was providing was invaluable to the coaches and athletic directors and that any school that did not take advantage of the opportunity for me to speak to their student athletes is foolish. Then he asked if he could be my booking agent … to much laughter from the crowd. Professor Maureen Weston of Pepperdine’s School of Law, also on the panel, asked me to speak at her school in Malibu and I agreed.
Before the conference, Mike Powell from the Texas secretary of state’s office and I discussed the proposed Texas law on agent conduct and his office’s commitment to protecting the universities and athletes in Texas from agents and runners. I didn’t hear any more from the dean. He ducked out shortly after the introductions and didn’t return.
An April 1, I was on a panel at Fordham University’s School of Law in New York City: Agents, Amateurism and Accountability: Legal and Ethical Questions Arising from the Relationships Between Lawyer/Agents and the Amateur Athletes Seeking Their Representation. The participants: Jean Afterman, Vice President, Assistant General Manager, New York Yankees; Jared Fox, NFL Agent, SportStars, Inc.; Richard Karcher, Professor of Law and Director, Center for Law and Sports, Florida Coastal School of Law; Josh Luchs, Former NFL Agent; Fernando Tamayo, Associate, Coffey Burlington and Former International Scouting Coordinator, Boston Red Sox.
During the conference, we were filmed for a segment of a documentary on sports agents being done by Morgan Spurlock, director-producer of Super Size Me (in which he eats nothing but McDonald’s for thirty days) and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (about product placement). His crew filmed some of the panel exchanges and then set up a one-on-one with me. The producer, Matthew Galkin, asked Jared Fox, the other agent on the panel, if he’d sign a release and be willing to be filmed, but Fox declined. Spurlock’s take on the world of sports agents, The Dotted Line, premiered on ESPN in October 2011.
I continued to do sports and law panels, even speaking at Yeshiva University—coming full circle from paying a player with my bar mitzvah money. After that appearance, this ran on a multi–law school blog:
Josh Luchs at New York Law School!
Josh Luchs. Yes. THE Josh Luchs will be lecturing at New York Law School on April 28th … between 1–2pm. Do not miss out on a great opportunity to hear about the realities of the sports industry and how Mr. Luchs hopes to change it.
I am happy to say, I think I talked some of the students out of wasting a part of their lives on this business. My parents would’ve been proud.
It’s been interesting, even enlightening, hearing about these rules from the side of the people who attempt to police them. In my career as an agent, I knew the rules as a complex language to be learned only in order to know how to circumvent them—almost a game in itself. As it turns out, behind the rules were people sincerely trying to enforce them, but by and large, they had no idea what I, or most other agents, had been up to.
I did another talk at the Philadephia Sports Law Conference at Temple University. On the panel with me were Herman Frazier, Senior Associate Athletic Director at Temple; and Greg Sirb, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, who is responsible for enforcing agent laws and getting agents registered. I told him and the audience I remembered receiving a letter from the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission office asking me to register and pay a fee, which I immediately threw in the trash. Greg confirmed there was nothing his office could do to mandate agent cooperation. The reason, he said, was it was the NCAA’s problem. Its members make money from athletics and therefore have the financial resources, but not the motivation, to investigate; so, in general, they don’t. On the other hand, his office, which is charged with investigation, is constrained by tight state budgets and overwhelming workloads. The organizer of the Temple event mentioned he’d asked Mark Levin of the NFLPA to participate in the panel but when Mark found out I would be there, he refused to participate and made some disparaging remarks about me. When I hear things like that, it affirms what I’m doing, opening up and telling the truth, making the powers that be uncomfortable.
While I was in Philadelphia, I did an interview on a local morning show, Mike & Kerry, on Fox. Kerry asked, “There are some people that say, okay, this guy, he crossed the line, why is he coming out now?” She went on, “Are these the ramblings of a man who’s angry he never made it further being an agent than he did? I mean, you had one big client, Ryan Leaf.” I had an impulse to get angry; where did she, a local TV talking head, get off telling me I was a failure? But instead, I clarified that I signed but did not end up representing Leaf. It feels good to tell the truth.
Next stop was New York Law, where I was to deliver a lecture to a small group of law students. It happened to be the first day of the NFL draft. I took the train from Philadelphia to Penn Station and took a cab to my hotel, passing by Radio City Music Hall, where the draft was being held. I felt like an ex-addict having withdrawals. I should’ve been there. I wanted to know who was going to be picked. What teams would trade up or down. Which players would rise or fall. Who the surprises would be. I called my wife from the taxi to talk me down. I’d been hooked on the draft from the time I was a little kid, faking sickness so my mom would let me stay home from school. Any time I told her I wasn’t feeling well, she’d ask, “Is it draft day?” Now it really was draft day and instead of being there, irony of ironies, I was on my way to lecture about the injustices of the system and my role in it.
Not long afterward, I came home to testify at the California Senate hearing in the L.A. Coliseum entitled “Protecting Student Athletes from Unscrupulous Athlete Agents.” The hearing was to gather input and support for State Senator Kevin de León’s proposed agent-athlete legislation, designed to regulate and punish improper behavior.
The first to testify was my old acquaintance, J. J. Stokes. J. J. was sworn in and claimed he had never been offered any money from agents or received any improper benefits. I reminded him I had offered him money and he said he did not remember. He acknowledged that he had known money was available if he wanted to get it but hadn’t done so. Afterward, I brought up the Jamir Miller draft party he and other Bruins had attended and explained that since we had hosted it, by attending he’d have taken an improper benefit when he got a drink at the bar or food from the buffet. He said he paid for his own drinks. If so, he would have to have been the only person at the draft party to have done that—maybe the only person in the history of such parties.
I highlighted an area that I believe is a major chink in the armor supposedly protecting student-athletes. The staffs at university compliance departments are paid by those universities, not by the NCAA, so self-preservation plays a role. If they look too closely into where the player got the gold chain he’s wearing it may lead to suspensions, sanctions, and possible forfeiture of games. The head coach would then call a press conference proclaiming they have the best compliance staff in the country. A little later, when the trouble is finally exposed, the compliance staff is likely to be the first to be fired and the head coach keeps his job and remains the highest-paid person at the university.
Senator de León asked USC Vice President of Compliance Dave Roberts why the civil remedies available to the university have not been pursued in, for instance, the case of Reggie Bush receiving payments from marketing agents. Other than the “promised” return of his Heisman Trophy, Bush received no punishment, while the school serves a two-year bowl suspension and national rankings free-fall (full story follows on page 214). Roberts’s explanation was that such civil proceedings would open a Pandora’s box of possible violations, which might lead to more sanctions, and that the NCAA does not offer immunity to its member institutions. Why would a school look into one set of violations that could uncover a whole new set of violations? I compared NCAA-style amateurism to 1920s Prohibition: “As long as you have Prohibition, you’re going to have bootleggers.” And I told De León, “Everybody is a potential runner, and that includes coaches and family members and players on the team.”
Carmen Trutanich, City Attorney of Los Angeles, testified that currently agents have “absolutely no fear” of being prosecuted under state law but that they would if De León’s agent-athlete bill were enacted. “If you’re a sports agent,” he said, “understand the cavalry has mounted.” We’ll see.
I was also invited to attend NCAA Regional Rules Meetings, the first of which was in Arizona. I found myself at the front of a room filled with more than a hundred compliance staff from schools, some of which I had visited, and many at which I had paid players. I was ready to be treated like the least popular girl at the dance. To my surprise most of them were appreciative that I was willing to be so candid. I was left with the clear impression that these staffs are dedicated; that they want to understand how agents work, how they get around the rules; and that the more they know, the better they can do their jobs. Many of the compliance people don’t agree with all of the NCAA rules but realize they’re charged with enforcing them until such time as they change. These compliance departments are understaffed and underfunded, but well-intentioned. Again, the truth was a great weapon.
Before the second Rules Meeting, in Tampa, I was having nightmares. I imagined talking about my experiences with Maurice Clarett in front of a very intimidating guy in a sweater vest in the front row, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. Under NCAA rules, it was mandatory he be there and he would have been … until he found himself the target of another onslaught of accusations, this time about players trading memorabilia for tattoos, gifts, and possible kickbacks, all on his watch as head coach (see Tressel story, page 222). Lucky for me, but not for him, he had more pressing matters to deal with. Part of me was relieved. But another part wondered what it would have been like; maybe interesting fireworks.
Then, just before my appearance, the NCAA asked me to alter my presentation by removing a slide that showed a montage of recent sports investigation headlines and photos of Coach Tressel and players such as OSU’s Terrelle Pryor or Marvin Austin of UNC (see their sordid stories on pages 223 and 217). The slide was composed of information from newspapers, magazines, and the Web, nothing that isn’t available to everyone, but the NCAA felt it would be too sensitive and wanted it out. I agreed but replaced the offending slide with a blank one, and during my presentation I unsubtly said, “What I used to have here was a slide crammed full of headlines on recent alleged perpetrators, but I was ‘encouraged’ to remove it, and I did.” I’d been invited to tell the truth … as long as it didn’t hurt certain people’s feelings. In any case, my section of the discussion elicited very good feedback, though the Q&A was short. One compliance officer from Ohio State claimed to have never read my Sports Illustrated article. I find that hard to believe, not because I think my personal story is so fascinating but because it’s critical information for anyone whose job is compliance with NCAA, NFLPA, university, or state regulations. Besides, Ohio State had publicly responded to the Santonio Holmes mention in the article, saying they’d investigated the matter and were satisfied with the explanation Holmes had provided. I am beginning to learn that’s largely because compliance people don’t want to ask or answer a lot of specific questions in front of their peers, or bosses, or, most importantly, NCAA staff.
Not all the problems were due to lack of effort, though. At the National Association of Athletic Compliance (NAAC) convention in Orlando, I was on a panel, moderated by Jon Fagg, Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Arkansas, that addressed all aspects of regulation, conduct, and enforcement.
NCAA Vice President for Enforcement Julie Roe Latch—and a former college basketball player—was the keynote speaker on the topic of integrity. Given my history, she was a tough act to follow. It was if I were the counterpoint to what she’d been preaching. If you liked Julie Latch on integrity, you’ll love Josh Luchs on deceit, fraud, and corruption.
And I was first up on a panel comprising besides me: NCAA Director of Agent, Gambling, and Amateurism Activities Rachel Newman Baker and Associate Athletic Director for Compliance at the University of Alabama, Mike Ward. Rachel talked about the NCAA broadening the definition of the term “agent” to include more participants in the process, a good intention but not particularly current or well defined. She also touched on trends in college sports, but they were hardly new to me: draft parties, which we’d been conducting since the 1990s. Third parties calling themselves brand managers, advisors, strategic coaches, or any other label that allows outsiders to make a buck on the backs of college stars. An alternative to high school football called 7 on 7 that serves as a college recruiting process—essentially a marketplace where young talent can be reviewed and auctioned off like on a commodities floor—and makes the people behind it very rich, bringing agenting, even if it’s not called that, down to the high school level. This is what I suspected the Bob Leinart–Chuck Price–Gary Wichard Air 7 collaboration was going to be all about.
After the panel I had a chance to speak privately with Mike Ward about the conflict of interest inherent in coaches’ agents also representing players from the same school. He agreed that it was a conflict and said that Alabama coach Nick Saban’s agent, Jimmy Sexton won’t represent ’Bama players for that reason. I replied that Sexton may not, but his partners do. In fact, this year’s ESPN NFL draft-day Green Room coverage featured Saban with his players alongside—guess who? Saban’s agent, Jimmy Sexton.
I’m scheduled for more law school panels and more NCAA meetings. I’m doing as many as I can possibly fit into my schedule … while trying to make a living at my career in real estate. I’ve found something that turns me on as much as recruiting players: telling the truth about recruiting players.
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Though I may not like the comparison, in more than one appearance or article I’ve been referred to as “the agent industry’s Jose Canseco.” I’ve blown the whistle loud and clear about the illegal procedure in big-time sports. Has the bad behavior stopped or at least slowed? Or was I exaggerating, making too much of nothing? Or was I an exception, a bad guy in a good business? Here’s a partial list of recent investigations and infractions. You decide.
CASE: REGGIE BUSH, PETE CARROLL, USC, AND THE HEISMAN TROPHY
June 2010: After an examination spanning four years, the NCAA announced sanctions against the University of Southern California for its lack of oversight in the behavior of star running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. Dating to 2004, Bush received gifts from sports marketing agent Lloyd Lake and his partner, Michael Michaels, that, according to Lake, totaled over $290,000. When Bush chose Mike Ornstein as his marketing agent, Lake, the agent spurned, wanted to be repaid. Bush refused, so Lake sued. The matter begged for investigation.
Revealed: Over the years, Bush and his family received lavish gifts, favors, and money, trips, living expenses, credit cards—from both Lake and Ornstein—in a battle of graft to win him as a client. In the view of the NCAA, responsibility for oversight of such relations rests with the school. NCAA Infractions Committee Chair Paul Dee said, “High-profile players merit high-profile enforcement.”
Punishment: USC received four years of probation and had to forfeit its last two wins of the 2004 season, including the 2005 Orange Bowl, plus all wins of the 2005 season. The school was banned from bowl games in 2010 and 2011 and loses thirty scholarships over the next three years. Running backs coach Todd McNair was banned by the NCAA from off-campus player recruiting for a year because he’d been aware of Bush’s arrangement with the agents, and his contract at USC was not renewed. (He has since sued the NCAA.)
July 2010—New USC President Max Nikias announced USC would take down all jerseys and displays that honored Reggie Bush and would return their copy of his Heisman Trophy.
September 2010—The Heisman Committee explored revoking the trophy from Bush, but Bush voluntarily agreed to return it. As of this writing, it has not been returned.
A slew of sanctions, harsh punishments, and justice done. Or did the real culprits escape? If USC is responsible for oversight of high-profile players, who oversees the oversight? The head coach and the school’s compliance department. Pete Carroll was head coach and under his direction, the compliance department had a staff of exactly one person to keep track of the activities of all the school’s athletes. And the compliance department is paid by the school, so their incentive to blow the whistle on their employer is less than compelling. What was the head coach’s punishment in this sordid affair? A five-year, $33-million contract with the Seattle Seahawks, negotiated by his agent, Gary Uberstine. Before USC decided what to do, if anything, to their head coach, he slipped out the back door of his Trojan office and into the front office of an NFL team. Hardly a fall from grace. And his former assistant coach took the fall, receiving an NCAA ban and not having his contract renewed.
If there is any “punishment” it would be Gary Uberstine losing his easy access to Trojan players as Pete Carroll’s agent. While other agents weren’t allowed on campus, if Pete Carroll happened to introduce his own agent to players like Saints left tackle Charles Brown, Browns tight end Jordan Cameron, Panthers wide receiver Keary Colbert, and others, and they happened to sign with his agent, that was no doubt, just coincidence. Now, it seems, Gary Uberstine will have to recruit USC players without a high-placed conduit. Let’s see if he does as well.
Hmm … a case of agents paying players or their families prior to the players’ eligibility. Protests of innocence and ignorance. Last-minute confessions. Selective punishment. Rewards for the perpetrators. Sounds familiar. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The only difference is the amount of money. It’s gotten a lot more expensive to do what I used to do.
CASE: CECIL NEWTON SHOPPING HIS SON CAM, FUTURE HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER, TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
November 2010: Mississippi State University charged Cecil Newton, father of star quarterback Cam Newton, with shopping his son’s amateur services to various universities for the best monetary offer. It was also alleged that on some occasions, Cam was in the room with his father and potential interested parties/universities. The elder Newton was quoted as saying it would take “more than a scholarship” to get Cam to play at a given school. Later, in a Dallas radio interview, he added that it would take “$100,000 to $180,000” for his son to transfer to MSU.
December 2010: The NCAA issued a statement that Auburn University, where Cam Newton ultimately played, had declared him ineligible after determining his father had solicited schools for money. Finally, outrage and justice?
Not so fast. Auburn immediately filed for Newton’s reinstatement. The NCAA reinstated Newton, saying there was insufficient evidence that Auburn had been aware of the activities of Newton’s father. The NCAA action made Cam Newton eligible to play in the SEC Championship Game which, if Auburn won, would put the team in the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) National Championship Game, the most lucrative college sports event in America. Auburn agreed to restrict Cecil Newton from access to any Auburn athletic activities or games. The NCAA’s action also cleared the way for Cam to be a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, which he ultimately won.
So, his father put him up for auction, with his son allegedly aware and present; they got caught; and the young quarterback was severely punished with … the National Championship, the Heisman Trophy, and a huge rookie contract in the NFL. And by the way, in defiance of the NCAA and Auburn agreement with Cecil Newton, he did attend the BCS Championship.
CASE: GARY WICHARD, CREDIT CARDS, UNC ASSISTANT COACH JOHN BLAKE, AND PLAYER MARVIN AUSTIN
September 2010: Yahoo! Sports reported on an alleged improper financial relationship between my former boss, Gary Wichard, and John Blake, at the time assistant football coach at the University of North Carolina. Yahoo’s work led to investigations by the NCAA and NFLPA. Blake was accused of arranging trips for Marvin Austin, UNC defensive tackle, including visits to a California training facility a stone’s throw from Wichard’s office. Hotel receipts showed the travel was paid for by Pro Tect, Wichard’s agency.
The State of North Carolina and the NCAA investigated based on evidence including: six or more wire transfers from Wichard’s bank to Blake, a personal loan of $45,000 to Blake from the same bank, and a Pro Tect credit card in Blake’s name. Despite past marketing brochures that listed Blake as an employee of Pro Tect, Wichard and Blake denied Blake ever worked for the firm. Both Wichard and Blake denied that Blake was steering players to Wichard’s agency, which is to say, they denied that he was a runner.
The university looked into the matter and the potential impact on the school, its football coach, Butch Davis, and the program itself. The Raleigh News & Observer uncovered a “Termination by University for Cause” clause in Coach Davis’s contract that says he can be dismissed if a violation is committed by one of his assistants and if Davis “had reason to know or should have known through the exercise of due diligence.”
The NFLPA followed with their own investigation, accusing Gary Wichard of breaking their agent–college player regulations. Wichard was represented in the NFLPA review by none other than Howard Silber, the same attorney who had worked for Wichard in getting the NFLPA to suspend me.
John Blake was forced to resign from UNC. Gary Wichard was suspended by the NFLPA for nine months “for having impermissible communication with University of North Carolina player Marvin Austin at a time Austin was not eligible for the NFL draft under the NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.” Interestingly, Wichard was not suspended for paying for flights, hotels, and player training, but for this euphemism that sounds like a parking meter violation, “impermissible communication.” Marvin Austin was suspended by the Tar Heels for the LSU–UNC Chick-Filet Kickoff Bowl, with an almost laughable explanation from Coach Davis. “This decision is not a result of the ongoing NCAA review. Marvin has violated team rules and has neglected his responsibilities to the team.”
Coincidence or Pattern?
I had first-hand knowledge of Gary arranging to pay for the training of players when we’d done it for Travis Johnson, a defensive end from Florida State. The details came out in our lawsuit. At first Johnson’s trainer, Joseph Masiello, admitted to having been hired by Wichard, but he later “recanted” that he’d been paid. See the excerpts below from the Sports Business Journal and my note of clarification at the bottom.
PRIVATE TRAINER ACCUSES NFL AGENT
By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer—May 29, 2006
NFL player agent Gary Wichard paid a private trainer to work with Houston Texans defensive tackle Travis Johnson while Johnson was a student athlete at Florida State University, according to a sworn declaration by the trainer. Joseph Masiello, a Malibu, Calif.-based trainer who has worked for Wichard for more than a decade, said that he provided the training while Johnson was a junior in college.
“From April [to] May of 2004, I provided training services to Travis Johnson, a student athlete, at the specific request of Gary Wichard,” Masiello states in the declaration.
In addition to the declaration, the court file contains a bill from Masiello to Wichard’s company, Pro Tect Management, for $1,200. It contains the notation “Travis.”
TRAINER RECANTS STATEMENT ABOUT AGENT
By Liz Mullen, Staff Writer—June 12, 2006
A private athletic trainer has recanted a sworn statement he made last year claiming that NFL player agent Gary Wichard paid him to train a student athlete at Florida State University. Joseph Masiello of Malibu, Calif., states in his new sworn statement that his original statement “contains a number of errors,” and that he “did not have adequate time to review the declaration before executing it.”
… Masiello said in his first statement in August 2005 that Wichard paid him to train defensive tackle Travis Johnson, who now plays for the Houston Texans.
Both of his declarations are part of a lawsuit filed against Wichard’s company, Pro Tect Management, by Joshua Luchs, an NFL player agent and former employee of Wichard who claims he is owed money.
In the original declaration, Masiello stated, “From April [to] May of 2004, I provided training services to Travis Johnson, a student athlete, at the specific request of Gary Wichard.”
… In his new declaration, Masiello states “that the invoice attached to my previous declaration was created in error, and that the invoice was never paid by Gary Wichard or Pro Tect Management.”
Note: Under whatever pressure Wichard’s attorneys may have brought to bear, the trainer contradicted his original claim of having been paid by Pro Tect, and the Sports Business Journal ran the retraction story, but Masiello never denied that he had trained Johnson for Pro Tect (and that, even if not paid, is a violation).
October 2010: As a result of the NCAA investigation, Marvin Austin and two other Tar Heels players, Greg Little and Robert Quinn, were declared permanently ineligible for the team. UNC Athletic Director Dick Baddour referred to it as “a sad day when three young men are no longer able to represent their school based on actions they have taken and decisions they have made contrary to NCAA rules.”
Butch Davis was ultimately fired, Baddour resigned, and the football program sustained a major setback. As for Marvin Austin, despite getting booted from the Tar Heels team, he played in the East-West Shrine Game in January 2011, wearing a UNC helmet. And despite questions about his character, he was drafted in the second round by the Giants.
Gary Wichard died of pancreatic cancer during the period of his suspension by the NFLPA. He likely won’t be remembered for the great players or the good contracts he negotiated but as the first agent who died while serving an NFLPA suspension, facing potential jail time in the state of North Carolina. Unlike me, sadly he would never have the opportunity to rewrite the ending of his story.
CASE: JIM TRESSEL, OHIO STATE MEMORABILIA, AND THE TATTOO PARLOR
April 2010: Ohio State University head coach Jim Tressel (the same Jim Tressel accused by Maurice Clarett in a 2004 ESPN story of flagrant violations) was informed by an e-mail from a former Buckeye player that a local tattoo parlor owned by Eddie Rife had been raided by the FBI and valuable OSU football memorabilia had been found, including championship rings, jerseys, and awards. If such memorabilia is sold or traded for value by players, it is strictly forbidden by NCAA rules. Tressel responded that he’d “get on it ASAP.” He did not inform the head of the athletic department or the president of the university or the school’s compliance department. He forwarded the e-mail to a local businessman with ties to the team.
September 2010: The coach signed the routine compliance form that asks if he has knowledge of any NCAA violations, his signature indicating he had no such knowledge.
December 2010: The U.S. Attorney’s Office notified the university that it had found the memorabilia evidence, which led to an internal inquiry by OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith. That review did not find the e-mails but did uncover the players involved. After conferring with the NCAA and Big Ten officials, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four other players—offensive lineman Mike Adams, running back Daniel “Boom” Herron, wide receiver DeVier Posey, and backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas—were to be suspended for five games. Additionally, Pryor and the others had to repay money or benefits ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 by making contributions to a charity. But their suspension did not begin immediately with the next game on the schedule, which happened to be the prestigious and lucrative nationally televised Sugar Bowl. Instead, their suspension did not take effect until the first five games of the following season.
Tressel was given a two-game suspension and a fine of $250,000. Asked if Tressel’s job was at risk, Ohio State University President Gordon Gee said, “No, are you kidding? Let me be very clear. I’m just hoping the coach doesn’t dismiss me.”
Meantime, the NCAA continued to look into the matter.
April, 2011: The NCAA, in a “notice of allegations,” maintained that Tressel had “permitted football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics while ineligible,” that he had “failed to deport himself … [with] honesty and integrity” and that he had lied when filling out a compliance form saying he had no knowledge of violations by his players. From that moment on, the athletic department and the university began distancing themselves from Tressel.
Then two significant things occurred in the media: ESPN columnist Pat Forde said enough was enough, that it was time for Tressel to be canned. Forde maintained that if Ohio State had had the guts to fire the winningest coach in their history, Woody Hayes, the day after he punched an opposing player (on national television), then the school should have the backbone to ax Jim Tressel. And Sports Illustrated determined the whole tale hadn’t been told and sent George Dohrmann, the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer who had written the magazine’s piece on me, to Columbus to dig up the rest of the sordid story.
George uncovered a lot of dirt. He not only found evidence of wrong-doing; he seemed to find a pattern. Way back in Tressel’s first tour of duty at Ohio State, as an assistant to Earle Bruce in 1983–85, his image was as a man of integrity and Christian ethics. And contradictions. One of his jobs was to run the Buckeyes’ summer camp, attended by a combination of prospects Ohio State was interested in as well as a bunch of enthusiastic but less talented players. The camp culminated with a raffle in which all the kids bought chances to win cleats and jerseys (team memorabilia, though not as valuable as the kind OSU players would get caught selling). An anonymous associate at the camp said Tressel fixed the raffle so the Buckeye prospects always won the prizes, which was a violation of NCAA rules—not to mention just a lousy thing to do to innocent kids. He said, “In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets.”
Tressel later left Ohio State for Youngstown University, where he engineered a remarkable football turnaround, winning the division championship. Again, he was a man of values, looking out for his players … perhaps too much so. He eventually left Youngstown University under a cloud of accusations that involved a star quarterback getting big sums of money and favors from a rich school trustee. The university and the NCAA insisted they’d looked into the matter and found no knowing misdeeds by Coach Tressel. As he would later with the tattoo-parlor incident, Tressel relied on the “ignorance defense” and his superiors bought it.
He returned to Columbus as head coach in 2001 and over the next decade led the Buckeyes to the third best record in the history of the school, winning Big Ten championships, trips to bowl games, and, most importantly, consistent victories over archrival Michigan. He became an icon who could do no wrong. And even if he did wrong, he seemed to handle it right. When the NCAA and OSU suspended his players for five games and him only two, he asked to have his punishment match the players’. Five-game suspension, fine paid, investigation over, case closed.
But Dohrmann found the investigation was hardly complete, and the punishment hardly up to the crime. He pieced together evidence that showed the memorabilia-market-cum-tattoo-parlor scandal hadn’t just happened in the past year but went back to 2002, OSU’s national championship year, and touched not five, but some twenty-eight players. And the trading of goods for services was hardly on a petty scale. Players had traded rings, trophies, signatures—including at least one item with Tressel’s autograph—not just for garden-variety hundred-dollar tattoos but for “sleeves,” top-to-bottom arm-murals that cost thousands of dollars.
Hours before the Sports Illustrated story would break, with rumors of its explosive content all over the sports blog-o-sphere, the athletic department and the university president had a talk with their coach. On Memorial Day, Jim Tressel “decided” to resign.
What will be the ultimate punishment for Ohio State? For Jim Tressel? For stars like Terrelle Pryor? Will the school be stripped of its 2010 Big Ten Championship? Will the university’s athletic director be sacrificed, or the president? Or … will Ohio State, home of the Buckeyes, one of the iconic teams in college football, a stalwart of the NCAA, be given a slap on the wrist? Will it all be swept under the rug as were the allegations of Maurice Clarett?
As of this writing, the answers are: 1) In what may be the first step on the road back to coaching, Jim Tressel was hired by the Indianapolis Colts as, what ESPN.com writer Tim Keown called, “the most over-qualified replay-reviewer in the history of professional football,” and given a self-imposed suspension of not five games like his former players, but one for good measure, six games. 2) Terrelle Pryor elected to forfeit his senior year, enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, and was selected by the Raiders in the third round. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Pryor would not be able to play the first five games of the pro season. Goodell wouldn’t acknowledge they were mirroring the NCAA punishment but said the decision was to prevent circumventing the rules of the pro draft. (Since when did the NCAA rules become the NFL rules? It’s a dangerous road to travel.) 3) OSU preemptively offered self-imposed penalties: Jim Tressel’s exit, “vacating” the entire 2010 season including the Big Ten Championship and Sugar Bowl win, and serving a two-year NCAA probation. 4) In August of 2011, the NCAA held hearings during which OSU officials testified on the entire case, enumerated their self-imposed penalties, and added another—donation of the school’s share of the Sugar Bowl revenue of $338,000 to charity. The NCAA will now deliberate for up to twelve weeks before reaching their final conclusion on whether those sacrifices are enough or more should be added. They could ban Ohio State from one more bowl game or limit their recruiting or worse. They could hit them with “lack of institutional control,” for which they can lose scholarships, wins, and most painfully, sports revenues, (second only to the “death penalty” or being banned from playing a sport). But the NCAA has said that charge is off the table. It was on the table for USC and UNC. Why not for OSU? Good question.
The scandals just keep coming. In July 2010, Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was investigated by the school along with the NCAA about his attending a party in Miami hosted by a sports agent, a clear violation. In September, he was suspended by the NCAA and required to repay almost $2,000 in impermissible benefits as a contribution to charity.
Georgia receiver A. J. Green was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season by the NCAA for selling his 2009 Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000 to former UNC defensive back Chris Hawkins, who the NCAA determined to be an agent or person who markets amateur athletes.
After a report revealed the Fiesta Bowl CEO had engaged in extravagant spending and inappropriate use of funds, he was fired and the Bowl Championship Series threatened to end ties with the game. Ultimately, they opted to fine the Fiesta Bowl $1 million and maintain the relationship.
Four former Auburn players went on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and admitted they’d received thousands of dollars from boosters, in $100 handshakes and specially filled book bags, while being recruited by or playing for the Tigers. The show’s producer had sent me an e-mail that this special was, in part, fueled by my appearance with Bernard Goldberg, which had spurred their interest to dig further.
Willie Lyles, the football trainer-scout, came under NCAA investigation for receiving $25,000 from University of Oregon coach Chip Kelly for player information and for allegedly telling Texas A&M to “beat” $80,000 to sign Patrick Peterson in 2007. Willie went public with his version of the story, also inspired, he says, by my confessions.
And rest assured, right now, as you read this, the next scandal is already happening. In fact, just before going to press with this book, just when some thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. College sports reached a new low … again.
NEVIN SHAPIRO: PONZI SCHEME PERPETRATOR, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI BOOSTER, AND THE MOST BRAZEN RULE VIOLATOR IN THE HISTORY OF THE NCAA
August 2011: Yahoo! Sports reporter Charles Robinson broke the story of Nevin Shapiro, jailed for conducting a $930 million Ponzi scheme and also guilty, by his own account, of using millions of his ill-gotten wealth to illegally recruit Miami Hurricane prospects, lavishly entertain star players, and later lure them to his sports agency.
The scope of Shapiro’s actions is staggering: showering improper benefits—money, gifts, trips, parties, prostitutes, and bounties or rewards for injuring opposing teams—on as many as seventy-two players, with the knowledge and even participation of various university officials, coaches, and trainers, from 2002 to 2010.
Shapiro’s involvement with the Hurricanes began with Willis McGahee in the NCAA-approved “living scholar” program, in which a booster pays the scholarship for a player and develops a one-on-one relationship. Shapiro came to know other players and soon inherited the paternalistic role once held by entertainer Luther Campbell, notorious for supplying cash to Miami players in the 1980s and ’90s. “His role was diminished by the NCAA and the school, and someone needed to pick up that mantle … He was ‘Uncle Luke,’ and I became ‘Little Luke,’ ” said Shapiro.
Among the marquee players in his flock were defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, linebacker Jon Beason, wide receivers Andre Johnson and Devin Hester, tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., safety Antrel Rolle, and defensive end Andrew Williams. “Everything started when I gave some Miami Heat basketball tickets to Andrew Williams,” Shapiro said. Williams denied receiving the tickets but Shapiro says he later bought a big-screen TV for Williams and subsequently met Williams’s roommates, defensive ends Cornelius Green and Jerome McDougle, on whom he also bestowed material benefits. Eight former Miami players or recruits confirmed they’d gotten such benefits, including running back Tyrone Moss, who Shapiro says he entertained on his $1.6-million yacht and gave $1,000 in cash. Moss said, “Yeah … It was me and a few more of the guys in my incoming class that he kind of showed some love to.”
Along the way, Shapiro paid $1.5 million for a 30 percent interest in a sports agency, Axcess Sports & Entertainment, with a partner, then-NFL agent Michael Huyghue. Axcess signed two first-round picks, Wilfork and Beason. Huyghue wooed the players with money and other goodies, notably $50,000 in one chunk to Wilfork. Huyghue’s pedigree, so to speak, was GM of the Birmingham Fire of the now-defunct World League of American Football, Vice President with the Detroit Lions, Senior Vice President with the Jacksonville Jaguars, associate of David Dunn at his Athletes First agency, and later Commissioner of the UFL.
Shapiro’s activities could flaunt four key NCAA rules—bylaw 11, impermissible compensation to coaches; bylaw 12, dealing with amateurism; bylaw 13, improper recruiting; and bylaw 16, extra benefits to athletes—and could even go beyond the statute of limitations, allowable when there is “a pattern of willful violations” over a period longer than four years.
When asked about the allegations, the school, via Associate Athletic Director Chris Freet, gave the stock university-under-suspicion response: “We are fully cooperating with the NCAA and are conducting a joint investigation. We take these matters very seriously.”
The specific incidents Yahoo! Sports uncovered read like a how-to manual on corrupting college sports. At least seventy-two players involved, seven coaches, and three support staff are accused of receiving improper benefits or of witnessing or playing a part in the improper actions.
• Violating NCAA rules with the knowledge or help of six coaches. In football, Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland, and Aubrey Hill escorted top recruits to Shapiro’s home or box to pitch them. Some signed with Miami (Ray-Ray Armstrong, Dyron Dye, and Olivier Vernon) and some did not (Andre Debose, Matt Patchan, Orson Charles, and Jeffrey Godfrey). The coaches and/or their current schools refused to comment. In basketball, Shapiro made similar accusations about coaches Frank Haith, Jake Morton, and Jorge Fernandez and they too either denied the charges or did not respond.
• Shapiro claims to have provided prostitutes for thirty-nine Miami players or prospects, though the names have not been revealed. So far, two players have confirmed Shapiro paid for sexual favors for themselves and others when they played for the Hurricanes, often at luxurious parties at South Beach’s Mercury Hotel. Shapiro said he paid cash for the rooms and registered under his alias, Teddy Dupay (the actual name of a smallish basketball player Shapiro thought he ressembled). Yahoo! Sports found debit-card expenditures at the Mercury Hotel between major Miami games. Shapiro said, “In 2002 and 2003 we were really rocking it for a while and it was just out of control. But I decided to get away from the regular Mercury Hotel situations. I was getting too old for that kind of thing, and I had the boat for prostitution situations.”
• Shapiro said he never had a player “payroll” but often gave cash to players at his house in Miami Beach. This was corroborated by the former CFO in the Ponzi-scheme company, Capitol Investments. Shapiro also held tournaments in which players could win money for fishing, bowling, and playing pool. And in 2002, as Luther Campbell had done, Shapiro set up a bounty program, rewarding players for the “hit of the game” or “big plays” against major rival teams and star players. Bounty targets included Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and Seminoles quarterback Chris Rix: $5,000 if you could knock them out of the game. Three former players recall the bounty system. “We pounded the [expletive] out of that kid,” Shapiro said of Rix. “Watch the tape of those games … [Jon] Vilma tried to kill him—just crushed him … trying to get that $5,000.”
• All kinds of gifts—jewelry, watches, engagement rings, diamond-studded dog tags, clothing, SUV rims, plane tickets, televisions—were lavished on players to celebrate wins or as recruiting inducements for Axcess Sports.
• Shapiro had two Miami Beach residences—a large $2.7-million home with a pool and a $6.1-million coastal Mediterranean estate—both open to the players to hang out, watch sports, eat, drink, and bring their friends. Plus, Shapiro’s $1.6-million yacht was available for fishing, leisure trips, and prostitution. And several times a week, Shapiro would take large groups of players to strip clubs and night clubs—Solid Gold, the Cheetah, Pink Pony, Tootsie’s Cabaret, Mansion—and Shapiro’s entourage always went into the VIP section. “We rocked Mansion so many times, I couldn’t even count them,” Shapiro said. “And I never went in there once without players …” Shapiro also picked up the tab for players’ meals at Prime 112, Grazie, Prime Italian, Benihana, and other restaurants.
• Shapiro provided players housing on his yacht, in his homes, or in his rental properties—players including Devin Hester, running back Graig Cooper, tight end Kevin Everett, Vince Wilfork, and linebacker Tavares Gooden.
• Once, Shapiro paid for a player to go to the Pink Pony strip club and paid a dancer to have sex with the player. Later, when the dancer claimed to be pregnant, Shapiro gave her $500 for an abortion. “I was doing him a favor,” said Shapiro. “That idiot might have wanted to keep [the baby].”
• Axcess Sports, his agency with Huyghue, was a funnel for players. Shapiro would introduce players to Huyghue and then leave it to his partner to close—a classic runner-agent operation. From that point on, according to Shapiro, Huyghue provided whatever financial benefits it took to make the deal. Huyghue denies the claims but some key players support it.
• Shapiro’s stake in Axcess almost did him in. Drunk at halftime, with Miami losing 31-0 to Virginia, Shapiro spotted the university’s head of compliance, David Reed, and ripped into him, blaming him for scrutinizing the program too much and causing the school’s sports decline. Reed, in turn, instigated a background check on booster Shapiro’s connection to a professional sports agency.
All the while, Shapiro was a big supporter of the school and its sports programs, a major donor; despite his improper behavior with players, he was cultivated and treated like royalty by the highest officials at the university. He was allowed to run with the team out of the tunnel and was honored on the field by former Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee. (Dee, now the chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, was known for his scolding of USC on the Reggie Bush scandal, saying, “… high-profile players demand high-profile compliance.” And in 2007, he chastised Long Beach College President Leonard Alexander for basketball infractions, saying, “You have to put in place the kind of institutional control we have at Miami.” No comment.) In 2008, Shapiro made a $250,000 pledge for an athlete lounge named in his honor and donated $50,000 to the basketball program. In a photo that captures the whole ugly scenario, Shapiro is at the microphone next to Coach Haith, for whom Shapiro says he bought a recruit, and in the background is President Donna Shalala (former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Clinton), smiling at the check he had just written with money made in his Ponzi scheme. Shapiro says, “If they had hired a private investigator for a day … it would have been over in five minutes. You would have had all the information you needed. Follow me to a nightclub or a strip club. Lunches. Dinners. The boat. Hotels for parties … These guys were at my house. There was all kinds of [expletive] going on in. Gambling. Pool tournaments. Prostitution. Drinking.”
Why wasn’t anyone suspicious? Why weren’t his actions questioned? Why did David Reed’s background check go nowhere? Shapiro says it’s simply because the University of Miami didn’t want to know. The same reason schools always look the other way. The booster is … boosting, supporting the school, being a big promoter, donating, saying good things about Miami. There’s nothing wrong with recruiting good kids. Unless, of course, you break rules to do it. And if that happens, they don’t want to know.
Nevin Shapiro’s story is a lot like all the rest. But this time it’s bigger, uglier, and more flagrant. The dollars have more zeroes; the behavior has almost no limits; and the rules haven’t been broken—they’ve been shattered. The University of Miami will see people punished—some players, coaches, administrators, maybe even the president. But, I predict, once again, nothing will be done to change the long-term outcome for amateur sports.