If you analogize Nick Saban’s “pimp” rant to an alarm clock, pro agents hit the snooze bar, yawned and rolled back over to get a few more minutes sleep.
Meanwhile, somebody in the media thought it was relevant to get Bobby Petrino’s impression of what the NFL could do about the situation.
… Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino, a former Atlanta Falcons coach, said it was “wishful thinking” that the players association and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell can solve the problem for the college ranks.
“We have to worry about what we can control, our education, our continuing to work on the decision making, the understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong, not try to think that somebody else is going to handle it for us,” Petrino said.
And if that doesn’t work, Petrino went on to say, one could always bail.
Okay, he didn’t actually say that. But seriously, Bobby Petrino on the NFL? He wasn’t there long enough to learn the commissioner’s name, was he?
Get The Picture 
+1 on Petrino bail. Spit out my AM Mountain Dew.
LikeLike
So basically the agents’ attitude is “Well, SEC coaches have been getting their programs put on probation for decades, why shouldn’t we get in on the fun?” Awfully mature of them.
Anyway, Senator, since you’re educated in the ways of legalizin’, I got a question: Let’s say an agent contacts a star player from Big State U, flies him down to South Beach, takes him to a party, buys him meals, limo rides, all that stuff. The NCAA finds out a year or so later and drops the hammer — the player is declared ineligible, any wins in which he played are vacated, the school is put on probation, no bowl for a year or two.
My question is, would fans/administrators from Big State U have an opening for a class-action lawsuit against the agent? If the team finished with a bowl-eligible record but was denied a bowl trip due to NCAA sanctions, that’d be millions in revenue BSU would be missing out on. If they had to alter facilities or publications to reflect vacated records, that’d incur some costs too. As would simply investigating the improper conduct in question (or cooperating with an investigation by the NCAA).
I realize any such efforts would be a longshot, but it seems like the prospect of being dragged into court might get the agents’ attention. Nothing else seems to have managed that so far.
LikeLike
Well, as I like to tell clients, America is a great country: anybody can sue anybody over anything. But can they win? I don’t see it for a fan suit; maybe a school would have some sort of chance with a tortious interference with business claim. The problem with that one is that for the type of sanctions you hypothesize to be in play, the school is likely to have some USC-like culpability, which makes the prospects for a big kill against the agent(s) far less probable.
Keep in mind I’m a dirt lawyer, so I’m mainly talking out of my ass here. A business litigator could probably give you a better-reasoned response.
LikeLike
For some reason Senator I thought you were in real estate. It’s actually surprising the # of UGA bloggers that are also lawyers…
LikeLike
Bobby Petrino had more thoughts on the subject, but cut off his remarks in mid-thought to interview with another reporter.
LikeLike
Somebody had a great line about Petrino yesterday, to the effect that he was cutting an interview short so he could go put his name in the hat for Damon Evans’ job.
LikeLike
I still say this is were the Congress should be involved not with the BCS BS.
LikeLike
I wonder if Saban thinks his own agent is a pimp.
LikeLike
If so, what does that make Saban? 🙂
LikeLike