If it were just another hotel in Oxford(aka, a third party business), the hotel owner would be disassociated, thus preventing future violations at the hotel. Allegation #11 shows this, the Hampton Inn owner Chan Patel has been disassociated for allowing recruits to stay at his hotel free of charge. Easy enough, right? Not exactly, because the Inn at Ole Miss is not just another hotel in Oxford.
-It's a hotel located on campus, and ran by the Ole Miss Alumni Association. The same Ole Miss Alumni Assocation that paid for Freeze's cell phone bill.
-It's a hotel that funds renovations through 6 digit "one time gifts" to the University.
-It's a hotel that serves as a home away from home for the wealthiest of OM Boosters.
An August 5, 2017 hottytoddy.com article states:
In conjunction with the new breakfast and catering offerings, The Inn released a new logo featuring the signature Ole Miss script.
"We want the new logo to act as a stamp of approval to show that we are the only hotel affiliated with the University of Mississippi" said Liz Lancaster McIntyre, marketing manager. "By staying at The Inn at Ole Miss, you are supporting the Ole Miss Alumni Association and the University of Mississippi."
It's also a hotel that has been the setting for 5 different allegations over a 2 year period involving:
-7 prospective student athletes
-3 assistant coaches(Kiffin, Harris and Farrar) and 1 grad assistant(Tray Scott, who was rehired as DL coach in 2017 before mysteriously taking a pay cut a month later)
-3 boosters(Walter Hughes, Arya Keyes, and Booster 12)
-atleast 5 family members and friends
It's also a hotel that has changed it's position to OM from nonredactable in the 2016 NOA to [third party business 3] in the 2017 ammendment.
-in the 2016 redacted NOA, the Inn at Ole Miss was named in 3 allegations; 6(j), 6(m) and 8(b).
-in the 2017 redacted ammended NOA, [Third Party Business 3] was named in 4 allegations; 6(j), 6(m), 8(b), and 14(d).
-When the enforcement staff made their reply to Ole Miss's response public, the Inn at Ole Miss was named 5 times; 6(j), 6(m), 8(b), 14(d), and 14(i). In the OM released version of the unredacted NOA, allegation 14(i) only referenced "free hotel lodging", without naming a redacted [Third Party Business]. When the NCAA posted their reply, allegation 14(i) referenced "free hotel lodging at the Inn at Ole Miss", once again OM was being deceptive when it comes to the Inn.
Four of the five allegations regarding the Inn at Ole Miss took place during Official Visit weekends and illegally lodged unofficial visitors(commits who were visiting on a different weekend), friends of the official visitors, or family members of the official visitors. The only allegation that was not during an Official Visit weekend, was allegation 14(d), which took place on August 15, 16 and 17 of 2014. Farrar arranged a room for Student Athlete 39 in this instance. In the Enforcement Staff's reply, there is an interesting text message conversation between Farrar and Booster 12 on August 17, 2014, the final day of Leo's stay at the Inn at Ole Miss.
Farrar: "He's in and wants to stay quiet"
Booster 12: "Yep I know"
Farrar: "Awesome!!!"
Booster 12: "God Mom is awesome. Is it done yet?"
Farrar: "He's in and wants to stay quiet That's what I meant, yes its done he committed. Just wants it to stay quiet."
Now these 5 allegations all come from 3 sources, an immune Leo Lewis, a pissed Tunsil step daddy, and a caught red handed Walter Hughes. The NCAA doesn't have Subpoena power, but they do have the power to assume, and anyone with a brain can assume that dozens if not hundreds of violations were committed at the Inn at Ole Miss during Freeze's tenure. This is not an isolated rouge booster/hotel owner allowing a few recruits to stay for free. This is an on-campus, university owned and operated hotel, that has been used as a safe space for boosters and coaches to work together in hooking up recruits and their family/friends with free rooms, food, goody bag back packs full of cash, and God knows what else...
-Allegations 14(d) and 14(i) occured over a year after Kiffin/Harris were interviewed for committing violations at the Inn.
-All 5 allegations occured after(from the Enforcement Staff's reply to OM response):
"It should be noted that on October 12, 2012, the institution committed a similar violation(recruits staying at the Inn against NCAA bylaws) in the same program. As corrective action, the institution provided rules education to the football staff regarding a prospect on an unofficial visit staying overnight in the hotel room of a prospect on an official paid visit. Branden Wenzel (Wenzel), then assistant recruiting director, acknowledged the football staff received the education and knew this rule"
With all of this said, someone has to take responsibility for these repeated blatant violations of NCAA rules. If OM wants to claim that it is a [Third Party Business], then it should be treated as such and become disassociated. If OM wants to claim that it is part of the university, then the University, and specifically the Athletic Department should be punished accordingly. You can't just say well it's a 3rd party business, so the school is not responsible for the actions allowed there, then turn around and say well it's part of the university so no one at the Inn should be individually punished/disassociated. Either way, someone must be held responsible, and if it's my choice it's obvious.
This is a alumni association run hotel that is being used by boosters and coaches to cheat behind friendly closed doors. This is on the Alumni Association, and they should be treated as a whole as a booster that has participated in and allowed multiple similar allegations to occur after being told not to on multiple occasions over a 2-3 year period. OM is trying to avoid this scenario, disguising the Inn as a third party business, or not even referencing to it at all in hopes that people don't realize that 5 similar to identical allegations have occurred there over Freeze's tenure. The Inn's allegations together perfectly define Lack of Institutional Control, the COI knows this, and OM doesn't want to admit this, although they have already admitted that all 5 allegations are true in their response with no dispute.
What's my opinion? OM quietly accepted these 5 allegations, without mentioning, discussing or bringing attention to the Inn, while leaking Leo's name and spending 60 pages spewing BS claims of Leo lying, while knowing that phone records have confirmed that Leo's story was true. It was a diversion tactic to get people talking about something that we now know wasn't worth talking about. What's worth talking about?
1. Coaches arranging for an elite 17 year old recruit to have a room to himself in the Inn, without checking in or any supervision once inside the halls of the Inn.
2. Coaches personally assisting recruits in checking into their OWN hotel suite in the Inn.
3. Coaches(Freeze) escorting recruits up to the top of the Tower and dropping them off in the Taco Bell themed room to meet with the Taco man himself.
4. Backpack's full of cash being left in the rooms prior to the recruits checking in.
5. The institution allowing under aged recruits to bring back girls, or even have girls waiting on them in their rooms, while under a roof owned by the university.
6. All 5 of the allegations also include free meals. There is only one place to get these meals in the Inn, that's the McCormick Cafe. That's David McCormick, past OM Alumni Association President, current Vaught Society Board Member, and buddy of Dickie Scruggs. Who caters the McCormick Cafe? A restaurant/catering business called My Michelle. My Michelle is named after the owner, Michelle Rounsaville, daughter of OM Spirit owner Chuck Rounsaville.
Plain and simple, recruits are staying in a university run hotel, that has rooms owned by coaches and sponsored by the wealthiest boosters OM has to offer. Anyone outside of Oxford can see that these 5 allegations are not anomalies at the Inn, but the norm, or more accurately, the plan. The Inn is a microcosm of the OM playbook, an orchestrated attempt to cheat from all ends of the equation; the University, the Alumni Association, the #Network, and the coaches #ALLIN together to achieve their number 1 goal, a championship in February.
