Parrish Alford and the Daily Journal to....

[Liverpooldawg]

the rescue.

PARRISH ALFORD: Slowly but surely, truth will emerge in Oxford


OXFORD

One of the first things any school does when publicly acknowledging an NCAA investigation is to spin.

Priority One becomes controlling the message.

You’ve been accused of breaking the rules, and you want to get out your version of the truth.

The truth will come out some time this spring, give or take, for all to see.

In the meantime we’ve entered a somewhat quiet time unless someone close to the investigation gets the urge to leak something. In fact, that’s happened twice, and last week’s Associated Press report launched into the public domain some numbers that hadn’t been there previously.

The AP report said there are 28 total allegations across the three sports investigated, that 13 of those deal with football and that nine deal with the current administration of coach Hugh Freeze.

Since a Yahoo report on Jan. 29 said the school had received a letter from the NCAA notifying it of alleged violations of NCAA rules Ole Miss has issued two public statements through athletics director Ross Bjork.

The first simply reminded the eager reading public that the school was bound by confidentiality. Bjork expressed confidence in his coaches, not for the first time, and said the school is working hard to seek a resolution of the case.

It’s part of the second statement that is getting twisted in social media conversation.

The statement was three paragraphs in length. It noted allegations in women’s basketball and track “and in football with many of the allegations dating back to the former football staff in 2010 and the withholding and reinstatement process around Laremy Tunsil in the fall of 2015.”

Until it makes its response to the NCAA public – and it has 90 days from receipt of the letter to respond to the NCAA – this is the Ole Miss response. This is the Ole Miss version of truth.

The school has not confirmed the numbers put forth in the AP report, but let’s use those numbers now – 13 football alleged violations, nine attached to the Freeze staff.

The school in October released the allegations against Tunsil just prior to his reinstatement. There were five violations in the release.

There was the matter of sophomore defensive back C.J. Hampton who was suspended and reinstated early in the season. The AP tacked on at the end of its story two infractions previously self-reported to the NCAA by the school.

Add those up, and you’re just a violation away from nine.

Maybe there’s a smoking gun out there that occurred on Freeze’s watch and unravels the progress the program has made the last two years. If so, it hasn’t been reported, and it’s not being discussed in the shadows by Oxford citizens even after the NCAA has spent three years investigating the school.

Houston Nutt was coach from 2008-2011 and was on sports radio in Arkansas with Bo Mattingly a couple of weeks ago.

He said, “I haven’t had a major violation in 30 years of coaching, Bo, not one. You got to have a letter from the NCAA, so, … They would already let me know if there was something that I did, because I would have gotten a letter from the NCAA. That’s disappointing. It seems like there’s some deflection going on, but we’ll see when it all comes out. It’s got to eventually come out, what happened, we’ll see.”

At press time, I’ve gotten no response from the NCAA as to whether it would have informed Nutt by letter of violations it uncovered from five or six years ago.

Fans will believe what they will. There’s a narrative, though, that says the school has lied by saying Freeze and his staff are not part of the allegations.

Nutt is right. The truth will come out. It may or may not set Ole Miss free, but for now, the school has clearly not said or implied that Freeze and his staff are not part of the allegations.

By laying out the Tunsil violations, it admits the opposite.

Parrish Alford (parrish.alford@journalinc.com) covers Ole Miss for the Daily Journal. He blogs daily at InsideOleMissSports.com.

[ShotgunDawg]

Alford was just laying everything out. Although we know what his opinion is, he didn't offer it in the article.

[Liverpooldawg]

If you say so. It came across as his usual spin to me. Perhaps I'm still letting that recruiting pitch he wrote on signing day color my opinion.

[662dawg]

If you say so. It came across as his usual spin to me. Perhaps I'm still letting that recruiting pitch he wrote on signing day color my opinion.

It's a definite spin. You don't have to go any further than the 1st sentence.

[mic]

It's a definite spin. You don't have to go any further than the 1st sentence.

I didn't even read it and knew it would be a spin.. Look who wrote it..

[shannondawg]

I think that is about as close as he will come to say that might be some lying going on.

Frankly I was surprised he would even mention that might be some spin from them on the situation up there. Hell, he might even feel good that he might have come even close to being a unbiased reporter that he might do a little digging on his own, rather than being force fed from the plantation spin machine.

[Dawgtini]

I didn't even read it and knew it would be a spin.. Look who wrote it..

Ditto. Not giving him the traffic.

[Maroonandwhite]

If you say so. It came across as his usual spin to me. Perhaps I'm still letting that recruiting pitch he wrote on signing day color my opinion.

I guess when one is paid to write for a newspaper, he/she has to have something to print. That was a whole lot of wasted space and time (I took to read it). Alford said NOTHING that hasn't already been rehashed about a million times. He literally provided zero to the ongoing discussion. Why not just go with a story completely unrelated to this subject? If you (PA) are going to write about a subject, actually have some news. Being a go-to guy for the Oxford elites does not equal journalism.

[Mjoelner34]

Hey Alford, think you may want to check your facts next time before you attempt a spin.

"The truth will come out. It may or may not set Ole Miss free, but for now, the school has clearly not said or implied that Freeze and his staff are not part of the allegations."

Guess you forgot about this guy huh?

Deontay Anderson
"I talked to Coach Freeze about [potential violations]," Anderson said, adding that "he said it was about things that had happened in the past before he got to Ole Miss. I knew he would be honest with me. When I first heard it, it didn’t shake me up."

[drunkernhelldawg]

For me, it's mostly new as I haven't been following it closely. I think the Nutt quote is super interesting. As Alford indicates in his concluding sentence, that and the Tunsil stuff show that it's not really about past football administrations. It's about what's been happening lately.

[starkvegasdawg]

I'm sure for writing anything other than all is well he has already been called in and chastised harshly. The first rule of the network is you don't deviate from the network.

[bulldogcountry1]

"Spin"

"Controlling the message"

"your version of the truth"

...and that's just the first three sentences of the article.

[GreenheadDawg]

Hey Alford, think you may want to check your facts next time before you attempt a spin.

"The truth will come out. It may or may not set Ole Miss free, but for now, the school has clearly not said or implied that Freeze and his staff are not part of the allegations."

Guess you forgot about this guy huh?

Deontay Anderson
"I talked to Coach Freeze about [potential violations]," Anderson said, adding that "he said it was about things that had happened in the past before he got to Ole Miss. I knew he would be honest with me. When I first heard it, it didn’t shake me up."

Lying to recruits don't count. Didn't you know that. Sometimes the apostle freeze has to lie because he fears for the players soul. **

[BulldogBear]

"Spin"

"Controlling the message"

"your version of the truth"

...and that's just the first three sentences of the article.

That about sums it up.....typical article where the journalist (using that term loosely) makes a big deal out of trying to convince you he's being objectively but including the thinly disguised bias anyway. The purpose of this article is to try to crawfish and give the stupid or just simply ignorant out there the impression that Ole Miss has never denied any of this, which is horsecrap. Trying to change the message so to speak.

[Martianlander]

Probably ghost written by a unm professor.

[TrapGame]

Probably ghost written by a unm professor.

I'm sure B-Dork faxed him the daily talking points.

[Political Hack]

Hey Alford, think you may want to check your facts next time before you attempt a spin.

"The truth will come out. It may or may not set Ole Miss free, but for now, the school has clearly not said or implied that Freeze and his staff are not part of the allegations."

Guess you forgot about this guy huh?

Deontay Anderson
"I talked to Coach Freeze about [potential violations]," Anderson said, adding that "he said it was about things that had happened in the past before he got to Ole Miss. I knew he would be honest with me. When I first heard it, it didn’t shake me up."

And that's why the story was written. They want to get out in front of that again as if they hadn't lied already. He's trying to confirm for them that they didn't lie. That's not true. Unless he's somehow trying to draw a line between what "Freeze said" and the "school said" he flat out lied in his article for OM.

[Coach34]

"The school in October released the allegations against Tunsil just prior to his reinstatement. There were five violations in the release."

I obviously missed this- what were those 5 allegations?

1. Car from their booster

????

[Political Hack]

I'm sure B-Dork faxed him the daily talking points.

You mean the "exclusive" talking points.

[Coach34]

"The school in October released the allegations against Tunsil just prior to his reinstatement. There were five violations in the release."

I obviously missed this- what were those 5 allegations?

1. Car from their booster

????

"During the course of the process, it was determined by the NCAA that Tunsil received impermissible extra benefits that included the use of three separate loaner vehicles over a sixth-month period without payment, a four-month interest-free promissory note on a $3,000 down payment for purchasing a used vehicle, two nights of lodging at a local home, an airline ticket purchased by a friend of a teammate, and one day use of a rental vehicle. In addition, it was determined that Tunsil was not completely forthcoming when initially questioned by NCAA investigators regarding the loaner vehicles. He later corrected his account and since apologized. "