More violations in volunteer land...

[cgilmo]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4727155

The NCAA is probing Tennessee's football recruiting practices, according to several prep prospects, their family members and high school administrators, The New York Times reported Wednesday.


Marcus Lattimore, a running back who had made an unofficial visit to Tennessee but was not interested in attending the school, said the hostesses brought signs, including one that read, "Come to Tennessee," according to the report.

Two of Lattimore's high school teammates, Brandon Willis and Corey Miller, have ****** committed to Tennessee. Lattimore said the hostesses were "real pretty, real nice and just real cool" and thinks they had "a lot" of influence in his teammates making oral commitments, according to the report.

"I haven't seen no other schools do that," Lattimore said, according to the report. "It's crazy."



Gee Marcus, why don't you see other schools doing that? Probably because it's a NCAA recruiting rules violation.

 

[dfr52]

I laughed when I saw they story, using female "hostesses" to recruit.

 

[cwells46]

:mrgreen:

 

[kentuckyderby]

How many teams from the confernce have been penalized in last 20 years?

My Illini hope squad had its share of issues when I was there (D Thomas)

 

[Hallsgator]

I laughed when I saw they story, using female "hostesses" to recruit.

There are actually a lot of schools that do this. Hostesses are allowed to go to games, but can not have face-to-face contact with players, just like coaches.

 

[cwells46]

I am not just saying this because I bleed orange and white, but every team in America has this type of thing that they do even if they deny it.....Its the great american way now....Stick a hot girl that likes sports and loves to bang athletes on this squad to woo players.

 

[rymflaherty]

Sadly that is not surprising at all.
Get a big money contract to turn a program around and it seems they try to do so at any cost.

 

[Card Magnet]

So a college can't hire ladies of the night to hold up signs to potential recruits. Check.

 

[19braves77]

This was actually a pretty popular recruiting tactic by Bear Bryant up until his last year. Alabama had the "Bama Belle's ". You can still find events by former Belle's bragging about their conquests from the early 80's on message boards with photo proof. All schools do it but not like this any more since the Colorado situation. The Athletic Department can have no knowledge of it or encourage it. Tennessee is going to have problems after the NCAA interviews the Tennessee girls that were posting about the players that they had spent time with on Facebook back in August and said that they were paid to do it when they were freshman by Fulmer when he was still around. The Athlectic Department called it an "escort service".

Think about it. Your a high school prospect from Farm City, Iowa and you have 6 hot girls texting you during a football game and displaying a sign saying that John Doe should come play at Tennessee during your home football games every other week. They then make plans to meet up with you during your official visit and you go off campus to a party after the game. If I was a four star recruit and 18 again, that would work on me. Many of the players go on to date the girls for four years and then leave them when the NFL comes or marry them. However, schools should just want the players to come play for the program and the education. The " Evil Pun" will come eventually.

 

[cgilmo]

re: the argument that "everybody does it"

No one else was dumb enough to have a paper trail that was obvious


no one else got caught


Bama got 3 years for doing something that everyone else does. Maybe Tennessee's time is coming.

The SEC loves scapegoats to take the fall for conference wide problems.

 

[Penno]

I'm wondering what Mike Slive is going to do. If this is tied back to the football program (which is one of the main areas of the investigation), I'm sure Mike is itching to take a shot at Lane.

 

[Daltonb1219]

Always seems like the southern teams are the ones landing recruiting violations.

 

[Card Magnet]

A few seasons ago, Paterno tried to do the same in Penn State. He called up a couple of hotties he hooked up with back at a WWII troops show. Of course they were then 70 at the time, so it didn't work, and the NCAA let it slide.

 

[tide12champrings]

Always seems like the southern teams are the ones landing recruiting violations.

It always seems the yuppies are crying about a playoff.

 

[gt2590]

I rememeber reading Chris Leak's blog when he was being recruited. He flew in the Gator private jet and had young ladies all around him during his visit. Not a new tactic, but dumb to try and make it "official".