Former Ohio State coach John Cooper tries on the ol’ SEC “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying” hat for size and likes the way it looks:
“I see some of these teams, the Auburns. I’m told, I don’t know and I haven’t coached in that league, but I’m told that down south the Alabamas and LSUs and some of these teams that have these great players, that maybe the NCAA needs to look into their situation,” Cooper said. “Those teams have been on probation. As you know, Alabama’s certainly one of the most penalized teams in college football, as is the Southeastern Conference. We say the SEC’s the best and they are the best, but they’ve also had more NCAA violations than probably all the other leagues put together the last 10 years.”
Something’s gotta explain that lifetime 2-14 mark against SEC teams, right?
Get The Picture 
So what’s ole Cooper doing these days, that put him on such a high horse?
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Well, now that Ohio State is losing to Michigan again, it seemed like a good opportunity to check in on the expert in such things.
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There’s a fine Columbus tattoo parlor that would be willing to tattoo “Hate SEC Cheaterz” in the configuration of Mr. Cooper’s choice, for a very reasonable price.
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+1
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This from the guy who let Andy Katzenmoyer take a course load consisting of music, AIDS awareness, and golf to pull his grades up to playing eligibility. Trust me, Coop, that high horse is way too advanced for you to ride.
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BINGO.
The only thing John Cooper has to say on this issue is that he was good enough at it to not get caught.
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Look if anyone should know a thing or two about running a renegade program it would be Cooper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cooper_(American_football)
“His dismal record against the school’s arch-rival, a lackluster 3–8 bowl record, a bowl-less 6–6 season in 1999, and pervasive academic and discipline problems amongst his players led to Cooper’s firing after the 2000 season.”
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Is Cooper a hypocrite? Yes. Is what he said the truth? Abso-f#cking-lutely! When will the NCAA put an end to the pay for play practices of Auburn and Bama? Since CMR runs a clean program at Georgia WE ought to be at the front of the line asking for the SEC and those schools in particular to be cleaned up. The SEC turns a blind eye to it. The SEC under Slive has become at least as bad as the old SWC and Auburn, for one, is worse than SMU ever was.
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Well, I think the reason we’re not at the front of the line is that we have no idea what kind of skeletons are hiding in the closet, Mr. Mayor.
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I agree with both of you unfortunately. While I don’t think sec dominance is linked to cheating I do think that their are dirtier programs than our own within the conference. But I would never suggest that we entirely clean either. I don’t know, but I think cynicism is better than naïveté in this context. I would like it all cleaned up however. Us included if necessary.
I do think coopers whining is equivalent to tech complaining about getting pounded is due to academic standards. I’ve seen some good players but questionable scholars on their b-ball teams. Tech’s problem is the same as the big ten’s: they aren’t as good at football as the sec is. Cheating helps bama beat Georgia. It doesnt help Indiana against bama.
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This is also a theory as to why we readily report secondary violations such as butt dialing, emailing recruits instead of texting, and also refuse to play the dirty AAU game in basketball recruiting. It keeps the NCAA out of our dumpsters.
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Don’t forget to complain about oversigning.
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Well the SEC hasn’t gotten to the point of having officials admit on the record that they “have a payroll to make.” And the next time they do catch Auburn paying their players (and they will) I doubt AU’s argument is going to be “wait, we aren’t paying any NEW players, just finishing up paying the ones we already promised money.” Both of which happened at SMU. But hey, by all means let’s vote for Craig James. At least it will keep him off television. During football games anyway.
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The only problem politico’s can stay on TV seemingly forever and anywhere.
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didnt Terry Bowden describe just such a situation at AU? Remember the “I thought it was off the record” interview where he said that he found out they were paying guys; he wanted to stop it, but he agreed to let Wayne Hall keep paying the guys who were already getting paid.
Nothing ever came of it, but Terry never denied it was true that he said all that stuff, or that what he said was true. He just brushed it off as “off the record” and refused to discuss it further. Maybe Lowder left a goat’s head at the foot of Tater Tot’s bed or something.
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+1.
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Absolutely true. Like I said, they WILL catch Auburn again. Both Bowden and Tuberville have said publicly that they tried and were unable to stop player payments and that their attempt to do so was a big part of why people wanted them gone. I’m just saying that if you watch the ESPN film about the SMU situation you will be flabbergasted by how matter of factly these guys look into the camera and say things you just can’t imagine. And yet the seemed clueless as to why everybody else thought it was a problem. College football was very different at that time. At least the Auburns of the world are smart enough to hide their dirty laundry. SMU hung it out for all to see and then said, “What? You got a problem with that?” When they got caught a second time, they actually made the argument to the NCAA that they were not paying any NEW players, just finishing up paying the ones we already promised money.
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11 players in the hospital due to off-season workouts. Michigan on probation, coach fired. Ohio State on probation, coach fired. Penn State – as long as you’re winning and keeping your child victims off-campus, we’re down with that, until a DA with some fortitude blows the thing up.
Someone forgot to tell Coop that the B1G high-horse is a boomerang these days. Or maybe he’s exceedingly clever and understands exactly what he’s really calling attention to after being unceremoniously dumped by tOSU.
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Seriously,, where the hell has Coop been the past few years? Doesn’t he realize that the only SEcteam that can compete with the Big 10/11/12 these days is The aU? They have stolen all the thunder from the GT and USC’s recently. Did he really think the tatoo parlors is the first issue at tosu? Guess he missed the news headlines the past decade. What a blonde thing to say.
Now if he wants to be on firm ground, stick with oversigning, they do have a lot more integrity than some of the SEC schools in that regard. Hey Coop, wake up, a new era has dawned. And man you missed some juicy stuff in your old league. And it’s stinky!
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Pingback: Obligatory John Cooper Post (yawn) « Tide Bits
“I heard ole Cooper talk about you,
and I heard ole Cooper put you down,
But I hope old Cooper will remember…..
The SEC don’t don’t need him around…anyhow…”
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Ironically, he was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Of course, they been scalawagin’ up there for about 150 years now.
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BTW I caught you guys at that concert you gave in Macon 40 years ago. Really loved it.
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