Last updated on 12/19/2013
UO Senate rules call for an annual written report from our NCAA FAR. It’s been years since UO’s FAR Jim O’Fallon did that. (O’Fallon is well known for his work on the NCAA Infractions Committee, including the infamous Nate Miles investigation.) It’s also been a long time since UO’s 2004 comprehensive Athletic Task Force Committee, which included former President Dave Frohnmayer, made recommendation #2 a performance review for O’Fallon. He’s had the job for 25 years now, with no review. I’ve given notice for a Senate resolution to come up in Feb, to start that long overdue process.
It took some prompting, but O’Fallon did show up at the December 2013 meeting to deliver a report about NCAA investigation of Willie Lyles and Chip Kelly. Quick version: Kelly hired Lyles to recruit some Texas players, including one whose mother he was apparently bonking boinking. Kelly then shorted Lyles $25K on the deal, and left UO holding the bag for the costs of the NCAA investigation and, according to UO Warsaw Sports Management Director Paul Swangard, the $20K fine. There’s more in the Oregonian timeline on UO and Willie Lyles, here.
None of that is in O’Fallon’s long monologue, of course, nor did he give the Senate the required advance copy so we could prepare questions. He starts at 102:30, video here.
And there’s a transcription of sorts here. (Full disclosure: O’Fallon hasn’t threatened to sue me for defamation in more than a year.)
Dude … it’s “boinking”. ;)
Kelly didn’t short Lyles — he was paid. But Lyles shorted UO *if* we’re going to believe the official fairy tale, that cost about $150K, that he didn’t provide the materials he supposedly was hired to supply until asked after the Kelly-Lyles relationship/violations surfaced. Everyone knows he was paid to deliver a few TX recruits, with a couple conveniently leaving the program before they could produce for UO.
Boinking. Thanks for that.
What I remember was that Kelly paid Lyles $25K, then reneged on the 2nd promised $25K payment. At which point Lyles got pissed and started talking to reporters.
Well … hmm…. what you say does ring a bell that he was promised more. Still, being paid 25K for what he provided became the huge sticking point since it was well above what other schools paid for similar recruiting info and silly considering what he materials provided UO, which was basically worthless. It was all a willful charade by all parties. And is it any surprise that Kelly now says how much he loves the NFL since he doesn’t have to recruit? lmao!
Also .. Lyles was roundly defamed and accused and part of his talking was an attempt to repair his reputation for something he viewed as ethical and most likely accepted in the circles he traveled in. (Think SEC) Kelly and UO used him and then UO, the NCAA and the media helped themselves by using him more.
Yup, Lyles tried to break the NCAA’s prime directive: No black man is allowed to make money off college athletics.
He said sticking point, heh, heh, heh.
If you do some research into college basketball I think your interpretation of the NCAA prime directive might take a hit, but your point certainly has serious merit. As you know, it’s always about “the club” — white, privileged and male.
I’ll amend your O’fallon motion to propose we never review him, so long as he never speaks in front of the Senate again.
Found a relevant summary article on the Lyles affair by Ken Goe:
http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2012/12/goe_will_chip_kelly_still_be_o.html#incart_river
Here’s a snippet, and the article is full of other links (including this one: http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/07/new_details_emerge_in_recruiti.html).
“But Kelly already had left a troubling trail.
Oregon apparently began cultivating Lyles in 2007, about the time Kelly became UO offensive coordinator.
Lyles, who worked for several recruiting services, told Yahoo in a 2011 interview that he used to pick up Kelly at his hotel and ferry him around to high schools.
Lyles had mentoring relationships with a number of players who wound up at Oregon, including LaMichael James and Lache Seastrunk.
It was a $25,000 payment to Lyles’ Complete Scouting Services shortly after Seastrunk signed his 2010 letter of intent with Oregon that ultimately caught the NCAA’s attention.
The payment supposedly was for a 2011 recruiting package that Lyles told Yahoo didn’t exist when he received the money.
Apparently, it wasn’t until Feb. 17, 2011, nearly a year later — and about the time Yahoo was asking questions — that Lyles said Kelly and UO recruiting assistant Josh Gibson suddenly asked for something tangible.
Lyles might or might not be a trustworthy witness, but phone records show a 12-minute call between Kelly and Lyles on Feb. 17.
What Lyles threw together to send and what Oregon then released in response to public records requests was outdated, unusable and certainly not worth $25,000.
Lyles’ conclusion? The Ducks weren’t buying the recruiting package. They were paying for access and influence.
That is against NCAA rules.”
O’Fallon calls the original news report a “Yay-hoo” report. Cleverly done, sir…
.. is that UO has mindlessly placed itself into *the race* to recruit guaranteed pro athletes-in-the-making and those who now wannabee seen as overlooked pros in-the-making, along with earth shattering event hosting. (See the current Men’s Basketball roster for one, coupled with Eugene becoming an ever growing track town destination for various, and obviously to them, important events.)
Why has this happened? To justify vague hype followed by huge institutional spending in the hopes of living a synthetic dream: “if you build it, they will come”. This is the world largely inhabited by singular dreamers but which, unfortunately and occasionally, includes insecure billionaires and their MANY hangers-on. Obviously, it has nothing to do with higher education … and yet, UO is caught up in it. Now what?
to sad truth
I think if you go through the NFL and NBA rosters/drafts over the last 10 years you will find that the overall % of UO athletes that make it to the pro level is not even in the top 25 of all schools.
The pressure for “events” is almost entirely driven by the nonsensical nature of the Matt Court arena payback situation.