Ole Miss / NCAA - Inside Perspective

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04-17-2018, 10:20 AM
TXDawg

Ole Miss / NCAA - Inside Perspective
I've been around this site for a while and have never claimed to be someone with "sources". I still don't consider that to be the case, but I had a very interesting encounter this weekend and wanted to share.

I was travelling this weekend and, like always, was wearing Mississippi State gear. As I'm sitting in the spectator area of the event I was attending, a guy sits next to me and asks if I'm a Mississippi State fan. I say yes and he proceeds to tell a few stories of people he knows with State connections. He then asks if I've been following "the NCAA stuff.?" I ask if he means the stuff with Ole Miss (assuming he had mistaken State and Ole Miss). He confirms he means Ole Miss and I tell him I was watching it pretty closely.

Turns out this guy is the attorney for one of the "named parties" in the NCAA case...he was in the room in Covington for the meeting between the COI and Ole Miss. We ended up having about a 30 minute conversation regarding the investigation, the punishment(s), and what's still to come. Obviously, I can't share all of what he said, but here are a few highlights:
- In his opinion, the level of sanctions Ole Miss received was heavily influenced by their strategy of self-imposing restrictions in advance of the hearing and NCAA ruling. I told him I thought they got off light; he didn't disagree.
- He said that the narrative that everything was done by rogue staffers and rogue boosters was completely false and he was SHOCKED that Freeze didn't get a show cause.
- He's surprised that Bjork has been able to retain his position but thinks the current situation with Patterson and the other transfers may be the nail in the coffin.
- He's involved on the periphery of the Patterson waiver request but is very familiar with the situation and is almost certain that Patterson's waiver will be granted and Ole Miss will end up looking very bad in the process.
- He said the RR suit is moving forward. He expects depositions to be held this summer and thinks the depositions will be "a circus." I asked him if Ole Miss really wants these depositions to happen or if they'd prefer the case to just go away. He replied that Merkel is really good, but the problem he has is that facts are facts. He also said "I don't know what people are going to say under oath, but I'm not sure anyone involved really wants this to move forward." His list of anticipated deposed parties included Lewis, Jones, Miller, Mullen, Freeze, Farrar, Warren, Sheridan, and others.
Great guy, great conversation. I don't think we'll ever know all that went on. He did imply that there was more that would come out - and I don't think he was just referring to RR.
04-17-2018, 10:50 AM
Todd4State

Now this is my kind of IT.
04-17-2018, 10:52 AM
Bulldog1

Wow! Great report, TXDawg!
04-17-2018, 11:02 AM
TXDawg

What worried me the most was his comment that no one involved really wants the RR depositions to happen.

I took that to include Leo, Kobe, and MSU.
04-17-2018, 11:13 AM
Johnson85

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXDawg

What worried me the most was his comment that no one involved really wants the RR depositions to happen.

I took that to include Leo, Kobe, and MSU.

There's no doubt about that. MSU is a clean recruiter, compared to Ole Miss.

That is one benefit of Ole Miss getting off light. If they had gotten hammered then the only thing keeping them from torching everything to the ground would have been if there was a concern about prostitution and recruits.

Since they are basically done with their sanctions now, they should just want everything to go away.
04-17-2018, 11:24 AM
TrapGame

After Freeze was humiliated and fired I'm sure some of the COI members took pity upon him and decided a show case would be salt on the wound. If we start getting people under oath for the RR suit I'm not sure om wants all of that out there. This could turn over some stones and reveal some buried bodies the NCAA didn't know about.
04-17-2018, 11:36 AM
mparkerfd20

So you were sitting next to Thomas Mars and didn't even know it?
04-17-2018, 11:46 AM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrapGame

After Freeze was humiliated and fired I'm sure some of the COI members took pity upon him and decided a show case would be salt on the wound. If we start getting people under oath for the RR suit I'm not sure om wants all of that out there. This could turn over some stones and reveal some buried bodies the NCAA didn't know about.

But the thing about Ole Miss is they don't get that. They're going to try to show everyone how powerful their lawyer network is and end up cutting off their nose to spite their face.
04-17-2018, 12:01 PM
TrapGame

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

But the thing about Ole Miss is they don't get that. They're going to try to show everyone how powerful their lawyer network is and end up cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Yep, all we can do is sit back and eat some popcorn.
04-17-2018, 12:05 PM
TXDawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by mparkerfd20

So you were sitting next to Thomas Mars and didn't even know it?

Not Mars, but this guy knows him and respects the hell out of him.
04-17-2018, 12:05 PM
coachnorm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrapGame

After Freeze was humiliated and fired I'm sure some of the COI members took pity upon him and decided a show case would be salt on the wound. If we start getting people under oath for the RR suit I'm not sure om wants all of that out there. This could turn over some stones and reveal some buried bodies the NCAA didn't know about.

Being that OM and the NCAA are both questionable, both parties might not want buried bodies unearthed. I stick with what I have said in the past. The OM legal squad had personal information on NCAA individuals and had a plan to single them out one by one and destroy them one by one. I believe that OM legal squad had all their tax information and know of tax evasions, knew who was cheating on spouses and was ready to destroy marriages. Other shady dealings of NCAA members were known by the OM legal squad. Everything was in place to destroy personal lives of NCAA officials. The NCAA abandoned their penalty matrix because it would have been too painful to enforce it?
04-17-2018, 12:08 PM
Pit Bull

NT
04-17-2018, 12:10 PM
Bully13

Quote:

Originally Posted by coachnorm

Being that OM and the NCAA are both questionable, both parties might not want buried bodies unearthed. I stick with what I have said in the past. The OM legal squad had personal information on NCAA individuals and had a plan to single them out one by one and destroy them one by one. I believe that OM legal squad had all their tax information and know of tax evasions, knew who was cheating on spouses and was ready to destroy marriages. Other shady dealings of NCAA members were known by the OM legal squad. Everything was in place to destroy personal lives of NCAA officials. The NCAA abandoned their penalty matrix because it would have been too painful to enforce it?

Wow, tsun still hiring private I's I see. investigative work, back ground checks and what not. interesting.
04-17-2018, 12:12 PM
Bully13

So tsun wants to roll with this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWKbiV9hCWM
04-17-2018, 12:14 PM
Pollodawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

But the thing about Ole Miss is they don't get that. They're going to try to show everyone how powerful their lawyer network is and end up cutting off their nose to spite their face.

This. Even though the most powerful attorneys I know, never say foot in Oxford
04-17-2018, 12:45 PM
Commercecomet24

Great stuff, TXDawg! Appreciate you bringing that info to us!

Rep Given!
04-17-2018, 01:03 PM
Johnson85

Quote:

Originally Posted by coachnorm

Being that OM and the NCAA are both questionable, both parties might not want buried bodies unearthed. I stick with what I have said in the past. The OM legal squad had personal information on NCAA individuals and had a plan to single them out one by one and destroy them one by one. I believe that OM legal squad had all their tax information and know of tax evasions, knew who was cheating on spouses and was ready to destroy marriages. Other shady dealings of NCAA members were known by the OM legal squad. Everything was in place to destroy personal lives of NCAA officials. The NCAA abandoned their penalty matrix because it would have been too painful to enforce it?

Ummmm....no. In the venn diagram of the lunatics that would be willing to commit a felony for Ole Miss football and the Ole Miss fans that would have the capability of procuring dirt on multiple members of the COI that is serious enough to be good blackmail material, I don't think the circles overlap.
04-17-2018, 06:41 PM
msbulldog

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXDawg

Not Mars, but this guy knows him and respects the hell out of him.

Tx Dawg. I had that same plaque in your avatar, I bought it back in the '70's at the Browns bookstore in downtown Starkville. I wish I knew what happened to it.
04-17-2018, 06:51 PM
coachnorm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnson85

Ummmm....no. In the venn diagram of the lunatics that would be willing to commit a felony for Ole Miss football and the Ole Miss fans that would have the capability of procuring dirt on multiple members of the COI that is serious enough to be good blackmail material, I don't think the circles overlap.

Maybe OM legal squad has a collective IQ profoundly higher than the NCAA and had a contingency plan to deal with them just in case it was needed. OM has been getting away with many things and probably knew that its cozy relationship would eventually get tested? I am not implying the OM fan base, I am implying a well oiled machine, the OM legal squad which may have been vigilant, ready and prepared. Exposing a scumbag for tax evasion, cheating on spouse, or other transgressions is not a felony but just as personally devastating.
04-17-2018, 10:05 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by coachnorm

Being that OM and the NCAA are both questionable, both parties might not want buried bodies unearthed. I stick with what I have said in the past. The OM legal squad had personal information on NCAA individuals and had a plan to single them out one by one and destroy them one by one. I believe that OM legal squad had all their tax information and know of tax evasions, knew who was cheating on spouses and was ready to destroy marriages. Other shady dealings of NCAA members were known by the OM legal squad. Everything was in place to destroy personal lives of NCAA officials. The NCAA abandoned their penalty matrix because it would have been too painful to enforce it?

Let's not forget what happened to Jackie Sherrill. Ole Miss fans hired PI's to try to ruin him and it just so happened to ramp up after we beat their golden boy Eli in 2001 and if I remember correctly we also landed a top 10 recruiting class that offseason.

That's just how Ole Miss rolls. They cheat. They get called out and then upset because someone calls them out. Then they try to take whoever down plus MSU with threats and suing people. When whoever fights back then all of a sudden "The rivalry has become toxic and we just all want to be friends."
04-17-2018, 11:57 PM
TXDawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by msbulldog

Tx Dawg. I had that same plaque in your avatar, I bought it back in the '70's at the Browns bookstore in downtown Starkville. I wish I knew what happened to it.

I got mine from my Dad. He graduated from State in the late 60’s. Not sure when he bought it, but it hung in the living room of the house I grew up in and I took ownership of it about 3 years ago. It’s a great piece that’s full of memories.