AUBURN -- Former Auburn football player Stanley McClover has apparently told HBO's Real Sports that he accepted money to play for the Tigers in 2003, but former teammates have questioned whether the story is true, and a tweet from McClover also suggests that Internet reports about that interview aren't complete. Real Sports is preparing a segment on recruiting that involves several teams, according to players who have been contacted by the show. HBO declined this week to discuss the specifics of the show, which is scheduled to air in late March. Stanley McClover: What's his story? (File photo)The NCAA is unlikely to investigate because the statute of limitations has expired. In the meantime, HBO is preparing to shoot a segment on McClover's charity Sunday. Former Auburn running back Ronnie Brown said he has spoken to McClover about his claims and doesn't understand them. Former Auburn teammate Jeris McIntyre said he never heard of players being paid. Ken Scott, McClover's coach at Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., said Auburn never paid any of the players it signed from his school, and other elements of McClover's story are wrong. Efforts to reach McClover were unsuccessful. Auburn fans also reached out to him on his Twitter page. McClover tweeted back Tuesday: "It's amazing how quick people will judge you with no facts... Live for me and my daughter!!! We will be just fine!" The next day he tweeted: "READING ALL THESE RUMORS BLOGS ABOUT ME.. AND ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW..HOW YOU WRITE A STORY WITHOUT FACTS IS BEYOND MY MIND." Brown said former Auburn teammates contacted him with the story that McClover may have said he was paid. Before the story leaked, Brown said he had the following conversation with McClover: "He had told me that HBO had come to him and wanted to do a piece on should athletes get paid, and I said, 'Oh.' "And then Stanley said, 'They're going to do something on my charity.' And I said, 'That's cool. That's a good way to get the charity out there.'" But Brown's former teammates called back and said that wasn't the whole story. "I found out that Stanley was talking about he had a choice to go to different colleges, and one of the reasons he chose Auburn was because they offered him money," Brown said. "So I called him. I said, 'Whoa, what is this? What is this about?' Ronnie BrownHe said, 'Well, it has nothing to do with Auburn. I was just telling my story about me trying to help kids. I figured it would be good to tell my story.' "I said, 'What are you talking about? If you tell that story, people are going to say you were paid.' He said, 'This has nothing to do with the school. This is about me and my story, and trying to help kids.' "I said, 'You can't implicate a school eight or nine years later. Why would you say that anyway?'" Brown said McClover didn't have an answer. "I said, 'Yeah, because you never did anything wrong. You were never offered anything. This is kind of detrimental to Auburn.'" Brown said he doesn't know if McClover has tried to change his story or if he considers what he said a mistake. "I hope he feels like he made a mistake," Brown said. "At the end of the day, I don't think it will be that credible, but I think the damage will already have been done." McIntyre was also approached by HBO, as were other teammates. Like McClover, he agreed to be interviewed. "They approached me through Facebook," McIntyre said. "He (HBO interviewer) said he was doing a story on big-time college football, and that's the reason I gave him my number to talk about it. But once it got into the questioning, and I got those 'off-the-record' type of questions, I thought, 'You're not going to get me, buddy.' A couple of days later, I saw where Stanley was going to do something with him." McIntyre talked with McClover after that. "His answer was, 'I'm telling my story, I'm helping my charity, I went to Auburn and was drafted in the late rounds.'" McIntyre said it's hard for him to believe McClover was paid. He said HBO asked him if he was paid. "He asked me if players get paid under the table at Auburn. I told him, 'No.' We were pretty much struggling," McIntyre said. McIntyre said McClover would have been an unlikely candidate to receive extra benefits. "He was a good player, don't get me wrong," McIntyre said, "but I played with Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Karlos Dansby, Dontarrious Thomas, Marcus McNeill, Quentin Groves. The list goes on, and all the players I talk to are saying, 'No way.'" McIntyre said most players drove old cars and nobody received special treatment.Another of McClover's teammates, Bret Eddins, summed it up with a joke: "If he had money, it must have been in a Roth IRA or something." Dillard's Scott said he agreed to be interviewed by HBO because McClover told him the network was doing a feature story on his days at the high school. Scott said he immediately thought, "Of all the guys we've had here, they're doing a documentary on you?" Scott said McClover told him the documentary was about how he had committed to Ohio State and signed with Auburn, and that the show would feature other players who had changed their minds. "So I started talking about Stanley, that he was a pretty good player here," Scott said. "And the HBO guy said, 'No, tell me about the time Auburn came here and all the coaches came to your office and asked you to leave.' That never happened. Then I started thinking, 'What is this really about, because what you told me it was about was different, and this is catching me by surprise.'" Scott, who started coaching at Dillard in 1979, disputed any notion of improprieties involving his players. "I've been involved in every athlete they recruited here, either as an assistant coach, but mainly as the head coach, and, no, I've never had any inkling of anything out of the ordinary, and that includes the players who had a much higher standing than Stanley," said Scott. Scott said McClover has not returned his calls since he was interviewed. "I wanted to ask him, 'What is this all about? Because nothing like that ever came up.' Auburn was very professional with us for years. I'm not just talking about a couple of times. I'm talking about every time."
Good article and without getting into the X's and O's of Tuberville I think we can all agree that he got great Jimmy and Joes on campus.
So, HBO is going to air a false documentation against Auburn? Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?! Before anyone says, "McClover might be recanting his story"...It doesn't matter what he does now, HBO will run it.
Not for sure. And fact is, nobody knows what he said.
Another of McClover's teammates, Bret Eddins, summed it up with a joke: "If he had money, it must have been in a Roth IRA or something."
Someone has a tape in Northport so it doesn't matter if HBO airs it or not. Cheaters!
Northport has lots of tape.
8 Replies
1096 Views