The midgets NCAA butt buddy might not be around much longer.

[AUownsU]

I'm just posting part of the article since its so long. Also USA Today is gonna do another piece on Emmert wednessday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/04/02/ncaa-president-emmert-previous-cases-uconn-lsu/2047607/

Six years after Mark Emmert left his job at the University of Connecticut, the governor of Connecticut ordered an investigation into a massive construction project on campus that had been ravaged by scandal, including more than $100 million lost because of mismanagement.

To find out where things went wrong, the investigators looked at old papers of Emmert, who once supervised the project as UConn's chancellor. They soon found a bombshell.

Memos from 1998-99 showed that Emmert and two other top UConn officials knew about the construction project's big problems then, but failed to disclose them to the school's board of trustees or the state legislature.

The other two officials ultimately resigned after being placed on leave. The third — Emmert — went on to become president of the NCAA.

"There is absolutely no question that he was briefed on the magnitude of the problem three years into it," Jonathan Pelto, who co-chaired the investigation for Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, said of the findings. "He was in a position to blow the whistle and didn't."

Gov. Rell called the fiasco "an astounding failure of oversight and management."

It had no bearing on Emmert. By the time the problems were found, he was long gone, having become chancellor at LSU in 1999. Connecticut officials said their efforts to question him about his role in the matter were unproductive.

The case fits a pattern for Emmert. Rightly or wrongly, he has a history of dodging blame in scandals that have festered on his campuses, sometimes moving on to a more lucrative job before their full extent becomes known. Now as the top cop in college sports, he has talked tough, calling for more integrity in college sports and cracking down on wayward programs, including those that failed to blow the whistle, such as Penn State and Miami. But in his previous positions, Emmert has drawn criticism for not moving nearly as aggressively against problems that occurred under his watch. An investigation by USA TODAY Sports found:

•Emmert supervised a $1 billion construction project at UConn that launched in 1995 but gradually became an epic mess, with widespread code violations and tens of millions of dollars in budget overruns. In an interview with USA TODAY Sports at NCAA headquarters last week, Emmert denied knowing about any negative findings in an audit of the UConn project in 1998.


"I never saw an audit issue that was a problem at all, and we certainly wouldn't have kept it from people," he said.

His assertion contradicts the findings of two official investigations in 2005 and a 1998 handwritten memo in his name obtained by USA TODAY Sports. Emmert's role in the scandal never drew much attention because by the time it was discovered in 2005, he already had left UConn.

•At LSU, an academic fraud scandal emerged in the football program under then-coach Nick Saban in 2001-02. Emmert oversaw an investigation into the allegations made by a university instructor that eventually acknowledged five minor and isolated violations and declared most of the claims "unfounded."


Emmert even met on LSU's behalf with the NCAA, which accepted LSU's findings. But after Emmert decided to leave LSU in 2004, a witness testified in a deposition that the instructor was telling the truth and that the problems were far more systemic than the school admitted, even extending to grades being changed for football players, according to court records.

The culture was "appalling" and "like Romper Room," the employee said in 2004 testimony.

•The NCAA ruled that Montana State was guilty of a "lack of institutional control" in 1993 — the same time Emmert belonged to the university's senior management team along with Jim Isch, now Emmert's chief operating officer at the NCAA. The case related to academic fraud involving an assistant men's basketball coach and a recruit. The NCAA didn't rule on the case until after Emmert left for UConn in 1995. Emmert, who was Montana State's provost and vice president for academic affairs, told USA TODAY Sports he wasn't aware of the case and he did not oversee athletics at Montana State.


Furthermore, as a university president and chancellor, Emmert advocated for upgraded athletic facilities and the biggest salaries in the nation for himself and his football coach. Now at the NCAA, he works for schools who want reform to stem the runaway costs of athletics.

"He is a product of that same system with which he is trusted with reforming," said Jason Lanter, a psychology professor at Kutztown University and past president of the Drake Group, which seeks reform in college sports.

Others see another issue.

"When you Google 'Emmert,' you do sort of see this pattern, which is he's a great front man, but there always seems to be these problems with the people around him," Pelto said. "Does he trust bad people? Is the problem that he doesn't know what's going on? Is the problem that he does know what's going on and doesn't do anything about it?"

[Buzz Killington]

Where is Pete Thamel when you need him?  Oh yeah, that's right...he's telling the world how Kevin Ware kills unicorns for fun.

[ssgaufan]

Won't make a difference.  Too many bama fucks in positions with the ncaa to change the culture or to even think about bringing the hammer on bammer.

[War Eagle!!!]

Damn...I didn't realize it was that bad with Emmert...

[AUChizad]

Damn...I didn't realize it was that bad with Emmert...

Really? Cause I kinda figured we (Auburn fans) all already knew this stuff.

Of course, that was just the "lunatic fringe", "Never to Yield" sunshine pumper crowd, according to Finebaum.

Nice to see the USA Today join the fringe.

[War Eagle!!!]

Really? Cause I kinda figured we (Auburn fans) all already knew this stuff.

Of course, that was just the "lunatic fringe", "Never to Yield" sunshine pumper crowd, according to Finebaum.

Nice to see the USA Today join the fringe.

I knew the LSU shit.

I didn't know anything about UConn or Montana State.

[Townhallsavoy]

With the new head of investigations guy being a Bama grad, it won't matter who the president is. 

[The Six]

With the new head of investigations guy being a Bama grad, it won't matter who the president is.

This. Twice.

[CCTAU]

Oh come on! You guys saw the article form an unbiased bamturd that went to work at the NCAA. He clearly stated that there is no bias towards bammer at all. None. Learn to read stupid aubies.....

[AUChizad]

If there is a God...

http://www.mrsec.com/2013/04/usa-today-digs-into-emmert-digs-up-issues-for-lsu-saban/

Privacy Policy | What Is This?
USA TODAY DIGS INTO EMMERT, DIGS UP ISSUES FOR LSU, SABAN

April 3rd, 2013 12:10 PM Posted By: John Pennington Schools: Alabama, LSU

NCAA president Mark Emmert is a man under fire.  The organization he runs is one of the least popular in the country, it’s mired in a scandal regarding its own handling of an investigation, and it’s facing a potentially landscape-changing lawsuit.

Now the press is getting involved, too.  USA Today has begun digging into Emmert’s past.

It’s this writer’s opinion that any time you dig long and hard enough into someone’s past — especially someone who’s worked at a number of different jobs — you’re going to find dirt.  That’s because people who work in a number of places are bound to make a number of enemies.  All it takes is for one or two enemies at each stop to start hurling accusations and a man’s reputation will go bye-bye lickety-split.

That said, one of the places Emmert worked was at LSU as the school’s chancellor from 1999 through 2004.  People there are talking.  We’ll let USA Today pick it up from there:

“At LSU, an academic fraud scandal emerged in the football program under then-coach Nick Saban in 2001-02. Emmert oversaw an investigation into the allegations made by a university instructor that eventually acknowledged five minor and isolated violations and declared most of the claims ‘unfounded.’

Emmert even met on LSU’s behalf with the NCAA, which accepted LSU’s findings. But after Emmert decided to leave LSU in 2004, a witness testified in a deposition that the instructor was telling the truth and that the problems were far more systemic than the school admitted, even extending to grades being changed for football players, according to court records.

The culture was ‘appalling’ and ‘like Romper Room,’ the employee said in 2004 testimony.”

That blurb shifts into a longer breakdown of LSU’s issues under Emmert.

Whether Emmert was guilty of a cover-up or not, LSU is back in the news today.  So is Nick Saban, who will have to answers about this situation and how it might pertain to his current program at Alabama.  Already enemies of Emmert — Penn State fans, duh — are taking the USA Today report as Gospel.

The old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity is just that — an old saying.  The phrase was coined long before talk radio, the internet, and social media made the rush to judgement oh so much easier.  USA Today’s decision to re-open the vaults on Emmert will most assuredly cause headaches for a few folks in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa over the next few days.

Not to mention for Emmert, upon whose head currently rests the NCAA’s presidential crown.  As well as the weight of the world.

Here’s hoping Emmert doesn’t complain about any of this.  After all, it was his organization that decided last summer to take out-of-its-jurisdiction, precedent-setting, PR-driven action against Penn State.  The public was outraged by the Jerry Sandusky scandal and only massive penalties could sate its bloodlust.  The public wants a smaller, less powerful NCAA right up to the point that it wants a body to overstep its bounds and hammer some school, coach, or president.

Well now the sporting world is outraged by the NCAA over, well, over anything and everything.  Emmert is the face of this year’s big scandal.  He’s got the lynch mob on his tail this time around.

Emmert probably feels as though he’s not being given a fair opportunity to defend himself.  But I seem to remember a few folks at Penn State saying the same thing just a few short months ago.

It’s funny how quickly public opinion can change.  One minute you’re cheered as the righteous executioner.  The next you’re the one who everyone wants stoned.

Unfortunately in this case, LSU, Saban, and Alabama might get a little bruised, too, just for having connections back to Emmert.

SIDENOTE – Not surprisingly, the first couple of comments under this have completely missed the point and taken this as some sort of hit piece on Saban/Alabama.

1.  LSU officials and Saban will be asked about the USA Today story.  Though the story is old, the witch hunt to bring down Emmert has dug it up.

2.  I think I made it clear to most folks who actually took the time to read the piece that I don’t think this is Gospel regarding Emmert, but the court of public opinion will.

[bottomfeeder]

That's going to leave a mark.

[AUownsU]

If there is a God...

http://www.mrsec.com/2013/04/usa-today-digs-into-emmert-digs-up-issues-for-lsu-saban/

And less than 6 hours later, Auburn is being drug through the mud. Bravo, Mr. REC. You are one sly son of a bitch. I'll give you that.

[The Prowler]

And less than 6 hours later, Auburn is being drug through the mud. Bravo, Mr. REC. You are one sly son of a bitch. I'll give you that.

drug through the mud twice, to try and take attention off of Emmert...requested by Nick Saban.

[AUChizad]

ESPN is not running this one up the flagpole.

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-report-reveals-that-alabama-coach.html?m=1

New Report Reveals That Alabama Coach Nick Saban Stood Watch Over An Academic Scandal At LSU

University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban presided over an academic scandal that mostly was covered up at LSU in 2001-02, according to a new report from USA Today.

The Saban revelations are part of an investigative series about NCAA President Mark Emmert. Before assuming his current position, Emmert served as chancellor at the University of Connecticut and LSU. USA Today reports that Emmert played a prominent role in limiting damage from an academic scandal that happened on Saban's watch at LSU.

Saban's connections to scandal should not come as a surprise, given that he was brought to Alabama by a man with documented ties to massive insurance fraud. Saban was head coach at LSU from 1999 to 2004 and won one national championship before leaving to spend two seasons as head coach of the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League. He became Alabama's coach in November 2006 and has led the Crimson Tide to national titles in 2009, 2011, and 2012.

Paul Bryant Jr., the current president of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, played a major role in luring Saban to Tuscaloosa. Bryant, the son of late Hall of Fame Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, long has been considered one of the most powerful boosters in college athletics. Despite his role as head of UA's governing body and kingmaker in the athletics program, Bryant Jr. keeps a low profile, rarely granting interviews.

That might be because of ugliness in his past as CEO of Greene Group Inc., an umbrella firm for Bryant's business interests in casino management, dog tracks, catfish farming, ready-mix concrete, and insurance.

Alabama Reassurance, one of Bryant's companies under Greene Group, was implicated in a $15-million insurance-fraud scheme that drew a 15-year federal prison for a Philadelphia-based lawyer/entrepreneur named Allen W. Stewart. The case was tried in 1997, with Stewart found guilty on all counts, and he only recently was released from prison. Bryant, meanwhile, managed to escape scrutiny, even though an Alabama-based probe was planned if the Pennsylvania case resulted in convictions. (A court document from the Allen W. Stewart case can be viewed at the end of this post; a footnote on page 11 outlines Alabama Re's connections to the case.)

G. Douglas Jones, a UA graduate who has done legal work for Bryant, had been named U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by the time the Stewart case drew to a close. Once Jones took office, the planned Alabama Re investigation mysteriously was canceled. We have asked Jones multiple times about his apparent role in protecting Paul Bryant Jr. from a federal investigation, and Jones has refused to answer our questions.

The bottom line? Public documents show that scandal lurks in the background of Alabama's lead trustee and No. 1 football booster. Thanks to USA Today, we now know that scandal also has touched Nick Saban, the coach Paul Bryant Jr. helped bring to UA. Here is how reporter Brent Schrotenboer describes Mark Emmert's role in covering up the academic scandal at LSU:

At LSU, an academic fraud scandal emerged in the football program under then-coach Nick Saban in 2001-02. Emmert oversaw an investigation into the allegations made by a university instructor that eventually acknowledged five minor and isolated violations and declared most of the claims "unfounded."

Emmert even met on LSU's behalf with the NCAA, which accepted LSU's findings. But after Emmert decided to leave LSU in 2004, a witness testified in a deposition that the instructor was telling the truth and that the problems were far more systemic than the school admitted, even extending to grades being changed for football players, according to court records.

Court records show that grades were changed for football players while Nick Saban was head coach at LSU? Amazingly, the Alabama mainstream press, so far, has not picked up on this story.

How bad was LSU's academic environment while Saban was football coach? From USA Today:


The culture was "appalling" and "like Romper Room," the employee said in 2004 testimony.


Mark Emmert
According to USA Today, Emmert became a "God-like figure" at LSU, partly because of his ability to raise money and boost the football program:

At LSU, Emmert made changes to help turn around the football program, saying "success in LSU football is essential for the success of Louisiana State University."

He hired Saban as coach in 1999 and helped make him the nation's highest paid coach ($2.3 million) after the Tigers won the BCS championship in January 2004. Two years earlier, Emmert himself had become the nation's highest-paid head of a public campus when his compensation was increased to about $500,000, a portion of which was paid by the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

Supporters justified his salary in part because he oversaw a fundraising drive that was on its way to bringing in $255 million.

Public records, however, show that football success came at the expense of academic integrity:

Scandal broke in 2001-02. A university instructor accused the school of having systemic academic fraud in its football program, including plagiarized papers on bobsledding players were turning in and un-enrolled students showing up to take notes for football players, who often slept through class. A graduate assistant also spoke out about the plagiarism problem.

At the time, LSU already was on NCAA probation for a recruiting scandal in men's basketball that happened prior to Emmert's arrival. Findings of more major violations typically would trigger harsh penalties.

Led by Emmert, LSU investigated the fraud allegations and said they found only five minor isolated problems, resulting in a self-imposed penalty of two lost scholarships in football. "Despite isolated incidents, the allegations were largely unfounded," says LSU's 82-page report on the allegations.

Court documents eventually would show that the incidents were not "isolated," and the allegations were not "largely unfounded":

The NCAA accepted LSU's findings in May 2004 and declined to put the school on probation. But the two female accusers had sued LSU, claiming they were forced from their jobs at the university in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the powerful football program.

Shortly after the NCAA case was settled and Emmert announced he was leaving for Washington, another LSU academic counseling employee backed up the women's claims under oath, saying there were numerous examples of favoritism for football players in academics, including changed grades and having papers typed for them, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

LSU later paid the two women more than $110,000 each to settle their lawsuits.

Did Mark Emmert conduct a serious investigation of Nick Saban's football program? It doesn't look like. From USA Today:

A person who worked for LSU as an academic counselor in athletics at the time told USA TODAY Sports the investigation was a whitewash designed to minimize damage. The person asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

"They'd interviewed the people they wanted to," the person said. "It was typical, let's get together and do damage control and construct a narrative that will allow us to say, 'OK, we've done something wrong here, but it ain't that bad.'"

The attorney for the accusers, Jill Craft, told USA TODAY Sports, that "LSU's self-report was way downplayed to what they were originally told and what my clients reported. In fact, the evidence that shook out over time revealed that the academic issues, especially in football, were systemic."

What could this mean for Saban and Alabama? John Pennington, of the Web site Mr. SEC, touched on that question in a post titled "USA Today Digs Into Emmert, Digs Up Issues For LSU, Saban." From Pennington:

Whether Emmert was guilty of a cover-up or not, LSU is back in the news today. So is Nick Saban, who will have to answers about this situation and how it might pertain to his current program at Alabama.

[Godfather]

So New York Times vs Roopstigo.  I gotta say roopstigo seems pretty credible. They are on the cusp of the news headlines.

[AUChizad]

Edward Aschoff (who I normally like) is laughing at me for bringing this up after he RT'ed the Roberts story.

"The findings came out in 2005..."
"This story said the scandal was recognized in 2005"
"Look into what? It came to light in 2005. You act like I'm saying it didn't exist."

[Godfather]

Edward Aschoff (who I normally like) is laughing at me for bringing this up after he RT'ed the Roberts story.

"The findings came out in 2005..."
"This story said the scandal was recognized in 2005"
"Look into what? It came to light in 2005. You act like I'm saying it didn't exist."

[Tiger Wench]

That needs to be a permanent icon on this board. 

[Godfather]

That needs to be a permanent icon on this board.

I's suppose I coulds do dat

[AUownsU]

drug through the mud twice, to try and take attention off of Emmert...requested by Nick Saban.

Saw this on AUfam. Quite interesting honestly..

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/mark-meadows/

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/pete-derzis/

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/brad-edwards/

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/davis_rece/

http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/niki-noto/