So the background here is that Joe McKnight was "caught" driving a fancy SUV, which they claim belongs to his girlfriend. But here's a preliminary story on it - the bold parts are just ... bizarre, to say the least. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4758848 McKnight's girlfriend 'makes payments' The owner of the SUV that USC Trojans running back Joe McKnight has been seen driving says it was bought for the junior's girlfriend as a favor. In e-mails to the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News, Scott Schenter, a Santa Monica, Calif., businessman, said the car is driven by Johana Michelle Beltran -- McKnight's girlfriend -- and that he helped purchase the Land Rover because Beltran's family had trouble qualifying for a loan. "It is her car," Schenter wrote. "She makes the payments and she is responsible for insurance. The payments are a little over $500/month [not a big amount]." McKnight has denied driving the car, but the Los Angeles Times said in a story that one of its reporters has seen USC's leading rusher driving the SUV several times. The Times first reported the story Friday night. Schenter also said he is a University of Washington fan who has "nothing to do with agents, marketing players or representing athletes" despite his ownership of the Web domain www.4joemcknight.com, which he says has not been renewed. "I own so many Web site domains that I only purchased www.4joemcknight.com [didn't renew] because I thought it was clever along with the many other ones I own/owned," Schenter wrote in the e-mails. Schenter said a company he founded in May 2008, USC Marketing, stood for for "United States China Marketing," and that despite being an employee for the Los Angeles County's Assessor's office, he would "rather be known for my expertise in marketing and finance ventures." USC, already under review by the NCAA and Pac-10 regarding accusations that running back Reggie Bush and basketball star O.J. Mayo received improper benefits during their time at the school, is investigating McKnight's use of the vehicle. If McKnight is in violation of NCAA rules, it could affect his eligibility. It is against NCAA rules for athletes to accept benefits from agents or marketing representatives, or to accept "extra benefits" based on their ability. Despite being in attendance for USC men's basketball game against Tennessee in Los Angeles on Saturday night, athletic director Mike Garrett was not made available to local reporters. "I read the letter [by Scott Schenter] and found it interesting," said a statement from Garrett, read by a Trojans spokesman to the reporters at halftime as Garrett sat next to him. "Our compliance people are handling the matter. I have nothing more to say." USC plays Boston College in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 26 in San Francisco.
I'm going to post this article here. don't want to get into a debate about paying athletes, because i don't think athletes should be paid, however the money in these college football programs is astounding.
The sad part is, for the 50 - 75% of these kids who probably don't graduate and sure as hell don't play pro ball, this will all disappear by January of their "Senior" year. Go ahead and pay 'em already, time to stop pretending these C and D students with 950 SATs (after three or four tries) will ever get anything substantive out of a 120-hour university-level degree program.
I have to say Mac Brown deserves every penny he gets. Not only has he brought back Texas to the national spotlight. His personality, demeanor, and accent is perfect for a Texas coach. I can't think of a better coach for this school.
I really like Mack also, I've never called for him to be fired when most fans didn't appreciate what he was building before 05-06 I don't think $5MM is too much for the money that program generates for the school. I posted the article just for perspective. I think paying kids would open a huge can of worms, and you think big time programs are at an advantage now, Texas would get 50% of top recruits. scholarships put these schools on even playing field, some of these programs don't make money.
I think one problem we're going to see more and more of in college is that coaches salaries have jumped so much that now all the smaller schools are never going to be able to keep star coaches. Smaller schools just can't afford to pay the $4+MM, 10-yr type salaries that Texas, OU, ND, etc are giving now, so they can't ever build a program. I know it's always been like that to some extent, but the problem definitely seems to be growing.
Who cares? The NCAA is apparently still investigating Reggie Bush's actions (which should strip USC of the one BCS title they "won" and Bush's Heisman), but they are too scared or too protective of USC to do anything and they probably won't do anything here. If this was Western Kentucky or UTEP with this kind of track record, they'd be facing the death penalty.
