Nothing surprises me anymore… but it’s a nice touch that Mississippi State was offered a discount.
Seriously, kudos to John Bond and MSU for doing the right thing. It’ll be interesting to see if this story has any legs to it.
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UPDATE: Barrett Sallee lists some good reasons to be skeptical that Auburn’s in any real trouble right now. And if this is true…
According to the reports, Auburn has known about this since July. If Auburn had any doubt that Newton was going to be ruled ineligible at any point during the 2010 season, they shouldn’t have – and wouldn’t have – played him…
then Newton isn’t going to be held out by Auburn unless the NCAA mandates it. Auburn’s already all in.
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UPDATE #2: Here’s a weird comment from John Bond: “I reported the conversation to the Mississippi State Athletic Department. I was told by the Athletic Department that Mississippi State would not respond to the overture that was made to me, and that Mississippi State would continue to recruit Cam Newton as it does any other football recruit.”
So the school is told about funny business going on with Newton’s recruitment, won’t pay to play, but still continued to recruit the kid? Hmmm…
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UPDATE #3: Pete Thamel’s write up on the story is worth a read. This part sounds interesting:
… While Newton was at Florida, Mullen served as his offensive coordinator and his quarterback coach. Newton said he wanted to attend Mississippi State because of his relationship with Mullen, but also told Sports Illustrated that he ultimately left the decision to his father. Cecil Newton told The Montgomery Advertiser that he didn’t want his son to attend Mississippi State “to be a rented mule.”
Mullen declined comment via text message Thursday night, but told Rivals.com Radio in a recent interview about Newton, “That’s a long, long, long story for another day, I’m sure.”
Mullen said after a follow-up question, “I’ll hold off on that, it’ll be in the book.”
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UPDATE #4: Heh.
Get The Picture 
I can hear the Tide rolling in Tuscaloooooosa.
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Randall,
Are you in Augusta?
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This is taking the phrase “hired gun” to a woeful height for Auburn fans. If these allegations turn out to be true, what will have been more of a tease for Auburn fans: an undefeated 2004 and no national title to show for it, or the very likely possibility of having gone undefeated with your ticket all but stamped for Glendale but then it turns out the guy upon whose back you were riding had brought the bandwagon to a screeching halt with some major violations against Auburn if indeed they did pay Newton for his services?
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That would be too stupid, right? My guess is that the allegations of him being shopped are true, but that no one was receptive the notion and Cam just picked a school.
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Oh my……..this is too good to be true!!!!!!
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I know it is terrible to participate in Schadenfreude, but please oh please let this be true.
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Holy snikes! I wonder if the elder Newton’s Church was patched up with Yellawood!
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+1
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I think they should obviously hold him out until this thing is resolved …. just like we did while we sorted the AJ Green business.
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+1
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We sat AJ while he was under investigation, anyone think Auburn will do the same?
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Doubtful
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Why? They’re 9 games in. They’re either 9-0 or 0-9 at this point. Might as well roll the dice.
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Above meant for Brad, not JB.
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The key is Rogers. If someone were to prosecute him for fraud/shakedown he would be motivated to make a deal and spill his guts. What do you say D.A. of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi? Wanna be a celebrity?
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Oregon-Boise national championship game, here we come.
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While I would hate it for the game of college football, this could be just the break we need to become bowl eligibLe amd save cmr’s job
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the investigation was started in june/july but its now november and Cam is still playing. Is it weak evidence at best? or the investigation started late due to a lack of investigators with what all has carried on this past off season?
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See, A.J.? You don’t put tainted money in your regular bank account. You know, the one that you’ll voluntarily hand over records of to the NCAA.
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This one reeks of Alabama shenanigans.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0e65e16c1c/super-troopersshenanigans-from-dirttron
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Or Urban Meyer shenanigans. If I can’t have Cam, I will make sure Auburn can’t either. 😉
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Well, if Cam has to sit, it’s a cod-lock cinch that he won’t sit until AFTER our game, much like Dez Bryant last year.
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My thoughts exactly.
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This is just a tease to get us all worked up only to have the rug pulled out. SEC “nothing to see here move on.”
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“Cameron Newton is eligible at Auburn University, period. End of story.”
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all that really means is “The NCAA hasnt declared him ineligible yet, so we’re going to stonewall as much as possible and hope they can’t come up with anything.”
that’s what they do there. They’re old hands at keeping a lid on payola scandals at AU, aren’t they?
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See? He’s innocent. Innocent of what?
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John Bond may be poorly paraphrasing MSU’s reply in your Update No. 2. I can see how the school would say something like: “We’re not doing anything wrong so we’re not going to change anything.” The school would be paying lip service to nobility and nonchlance while getting frantic behind the scenes.
Bond was a pretty fair option QB. They played us a close one out there in 82, something like 29-22.
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Yet MSU thought Bond’s report had enough credibility to pass it on to the NCAA. Not sure why it would want to be further involved in Newton’s recruitment from then on, especially given what had been a checkered career up to that point.
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If your thought here is that it appears MSU is saying one thing and doing another, you’re right and it wouldn’t be surprising.
College people think rhetoric can cover anything.
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“So the school is told about funny business going on with Newton’s recruitment, won’t pay to play, but still continued to recruit the kid? Hmmm…”
Well . . . Donnan continued to recruit Albert Means even after it became common knowledge his recruitment was being shopped around.
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Should say “commitment” instead of “recruitment” in the second sentence.
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My understanding is that Donnan stopped when he was told UGA would have to pay to play.
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If I remember correctly, he told the assistant coaches who were with him, “We’re done here,” and walked out.
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Means took an official visit to UGA only a couple of weeks before signing day.
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I have to say the most interesting part of the NYT story is the following:
Over the past year, he (Rev. Newton) has struggled with Newnan officials about the condition of his church. The city has threatened to demolish it because it did not comply with building codes. Last week, a local newspaper, The Times-Herald, reported that the church had completed its work and was in compliance.
According to ESPN.com, the N.C.A.A. contacted Cecil Newton about a month ago, requesting financial documents. He told the news outlet that he submitted bank statements and other records related to the church. Newton also owns a construction company, according to news reports.
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This makes the fact that Cam left/was asked to leave Florida a little easier to take, at least from the Gator perpsective
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I will say this, while I’m VERY skeptical about this story because it seems really fishy, Auburn’s going to be in some seriously deep trouble if any of this is proven to be true. They were apparently informed about all of this back in the summer. They chose not to AJ Green-shirt him until he was exonerated fully by the NCAA. If they were wrong, then Auburn’s 9-0 suddenly becomes 0-9, and then they likely end up with some truly Old Testament NCAA probation.
My question in all of this is, why in the heck did John Bond go to ESPN with this story yesterday? What is his motivation? He says he just wants to protect Mississippi State from getting into any trouble. Awesome. He accomplished that back when he reported all of this to MSU officials and, by proxy, the SEC. Missy State’s not in any trouble over this. Of course, now that he’s gone to the press with it, MSU is connected to this whole tawdry affair in public. I would hate to think that Bond was trying to tarnish what Auburn and Newton are accomplishing this season, but that’s really the only answer I can come up with to the question. Perhaps it’s becoming clear to him that if Auburn and Newton *did* cheat, they did it well and are getting away with it.
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War $cam Eagle! Yes we $cam!
it couldnt happen to a nicer fanbase. Of course, using the Reggie Bush case as the paradigm, it’ll be 2015 before they finally sort it out. By then, the tshirts will be printed, the rings will be handed out, and the trophies will be in someone’s case. Sure, you can take the trophies back, but that won’t ever stop the barners from running their mouths about how they were the real champs on the field (of whatever).
Of course they were paying people. They’ve been doing it for years. Was Corky Frost’s name brought up in this deal at any point?
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I bet the ole collection plate business has been good this year.
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“…if a man of God will pimp his kid, then we are all pretty much lost.” -Barnhardt
Batting a thousand in the sanctimonious what about the children department.
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This has not been a banner week for the homespun wisdom of Tony Barnhart.
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Wonder if Tony’s TV show, that no one can actually see, is having some sort of brain matter removal impact?
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He’s been doing a radio show with the Trade School’s play-by-play announcer…wonder if some of the bug dumb is rubbing off on him.
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John Bond is up to his eyeballs in this and is trying to cover his ass.
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Oh…now I understand, Florida did not have the money to get Newton back. They had to pay Rainey’s lawyers.
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+1
Well played sir…
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Thanks, and please send donations to my building fund.
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If this is true, then John Bond will have redeemed himself from beating my Tide 6-3 in 1980 and ruining a nice win streak we had going.
After Chizik was hired, Pat Dye made a comment on the Finebaum show to the effect that Auburn would do whatever it took to compete. Perhaps we are seeing the result of that now.
Some thoughts:
1) Pretty hard to hide $200k.
2) If the elder Newton used his church to facilitate anything like this…well, despicable.
3) Auburn cheated under Dye. Fact. I can’t believe they let him around the program anymore.
4) Might as well play him now. No need to sit him. If they are in trouble, the damage is done.
5) If Means was worth $200k, then surely Newton was worth something in the seven figure range. 🙂
Have a good day,
BD
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(1) If you have a church and a construction company you can launder money easily; (2) Yes, it is; (3) Yes, Dye cheated and the Auburn fans didn’t, and still don’t, care; (4) They will stonewall even if he is guilty and claim the title if they win it even if the NCAA (and/or the SEC) strips them of it; and (5) He sold out too cheaply.
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Pay for play with shady JUCO players?
Never.
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Auburn University should be applauded for its community outreach initiative. They have brought New Hope to the disadvantaged citizens in Newnan.
Cameron Newton is eligible at Auburn University, period. End of story.
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