Breaking news - and good news for Auburn: The NCAA has ruled quarterback Cam Newton eligible to compete.
The NCAA ruled that Newton's father, Cecil, violated NCAA rules by soliciting money for his son to play football - but apparently that Cam Newton did not know of the pay-for-play scheme.
Newton and Auburn play South Carolina in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome on Saturday. If Auburn wins, the Tigers will compete for the BCS Championship.
From the NCAA's web site:
Auburn University football student-athlete Cam Newton is immediately eligible to compete, according to a decision today by the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff. The NCAA concluded on Monday that a violation of amateurism rules occurred, therefore Auburn University declared the student-athlete ineligible yesterday for violations of NCAA amateurism rules.
When a school discovers an NCAA rules violation has occurred, it must declare the student-athlete ineligible and may request the student-athlete’s eligibility be reinstated. Reinstatement decisions are made by the NCAA national office staff and can include conditions such as withholding from competition and repayment of extra benefits. Newton was reinstated without any conditions.
According to facts of the case agreed upon by Auburn University and the NCAA enforcement staff, the student-athlete’s father and an owner of a scouting service worked together to actively market the student-athlete as a part of a pay-for-play scenario in return for Newton’s commitment to attend college and play football. NCAA rules (Bylaw 12.3.3) do not allow individuals or entities to represent a prospective student-athlete for compensation to a school for an athletic scholarship.
In conjunction with the case, Auburn University has limited the access Newton’s father has to the athletics program and Mississippi State has disassociated the involved individual.
From the SEC:
"The conduct of Cam Newton's father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics," said Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference Commissioner. "The actions taken by Auburn University and Mississippi State University make it clear this behavior will not be tolerated in the SEC."
- Peter St. Onge
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
NCAA: Cam Newton is eligible
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27 comments:
This is unreal given the UNC situations
Good to see consistency in the ruling and timeframe. It took three months do determine punishment for two UNC players who apparently spent the night at a letterman's house and then less than two weeks to investigate a $200,000 pay for play scheme that apparently is true.
Newton's dad is a true man of God.
Hands out for money and no tax paying required.
Cowardly anon 1:19 - Two weeks? What are you talking about? This investigation has been going on since JANUARY. The story only got published on espn.com a few weeks ago. Try not to choke on those sour grapes.
WAR CAM EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm...it's a little dubious that the NCAA would say the dad is on the take, but Newton himself knew nothing about it. It's not like this was a "street agent" or a hanger-on - it was his father!
But I guess that's "Shamateur" athletics for you. Seriously, the colleges should pay these guys a stipend above board, rather than pretending football and basketball players are "student-athletes".
This just proves that in the eyes of the NCAA Auburn is relevant while despite their best efforts UNC is not in football, now in basketballl it would be the other way around.
Wasn't it Cam Newton himself that called the coach at MSU and told them he was going to Auburn because the money was too much? By my understanding this was an admission that he did know. Hmmm, Auburn is in a good position for a championship game and Cam is the front runner for the Heisman had nothing to do with the ruling? If Cams father did act alone in this pay for play scam and is guilty who will the NCAA punish for this, UNC?
What a bunch of crap. $EC rules. Good thing Cam didn't sleep on someone's couch and lose eligibility for "benefits". UNC should sue.
Looking more like a Paul Dee vendetta.
J-
If you are right, and this has been investigated since January, and he was just reinstated today, then Auburn should be 0-11.
Just sayin.
All about MONEY. NCAA cannot afford to rule Cam ineligible. They have played an entire season and now looking at TV ratings - BIG MONEY - for the national stage. If he is deemed inel. then you have Oregon and TCU - two markets with little population and East Coast TVs watch Dancing With the Stars instead.
This is where the BCS system (which is controlled by big money) is used to hedge.
If this was a player on TCU or Boise State, then the NCAA would do rule him ineligible, no doubt.
Because it's Auburn and for some unknown reason they love the stupid BCS, it's A-OK.
I hope the Gamecocks give that crook a beatdown.
War Cam Eagle.
Of course they did... The last thing the NCAA wants is a BCS title game with Oregon and non-AQ school TCU.
Let's see. Florida dismissed him from the team for knowingly being in possession of stolen school property. That should have been a warning sign but those other schools were willing to ignore it.
Want some cheese with that WHINE unc-cheat fans? Look on the bright side, you still have bball...oh wait...nevermind. Go Tigers!
Fo sho, son!
Anon 1:54 PM - Kenny Rogers, the other guilty party in this affair (along with Cam Newton's old man), claimed that Cam made that call to say the Auburn money was too much. But the NCAA has found that Rogers is every bit as much of a fraud as Cecil Newton.
Rogers and the old man - just the two of them - came up with this scheme. Misipi State refused to go along and turned them in. Cam, unable to choose between Misipi State and Auburn, deferred to the old man, who figured if he picked Auburn, that would be the end of it. But Misipi State had already turned him and Rogers in, and the mess that has just come to light in the last month is the result.
Anon 2:36 PM - that would be true if Auburn were guilty of anything. But they aren't, and never have been. What happened is that after the investigation, it has been found that the old man, acting on his own, sought payment for a signature on a letter-of-intent, which violates the "amateur" status of Newton. That decision was made on Monday, at which point Auburn declared him ineligible. They immediately applied for reinstatement based on the fact that Cam himself and Auburn were not guilty of any wrongdoing. The NCAA agreed and reinstated him as of Tuesday. So Cam was ineligible on Monday and Tuesday of this week. No games played, nothing to forfeit.
I can tell most of these anonymous postings are from disgruntled UNC fans. I find it interesting that when the story breaks that a low-life slug and an athlete's father, trying to make themselves rich and famous, throw a few lies out there and everyone accepts it as gospel. Then when the authorities find that the athlete and the school he ends up at are innocent, that is dismissed as a fraud. And keep in mind the FBI was on this case too, not just the NCAA.
Here's the bottom line:
The NCAA ruled Newton eligible. In other words, regardless of what his father may have done, the NCAA deemed that Newton is eligible.
On the other hand, players at UNC-CHeat like Marvin Anchorman Runner Austin, Greg Little and Robert Quinn have been declared permanently ineligible. They individually took gifts. They individually had tutors do their school work.
Face it Tarholes: Your football program is dirty.
NCAA fumbled the ball.
In the future all great football players can have representatives solicit illegal payments as long as they don't tell the player.
The NCAA opened the door on this one.
HIMOUNTAIN
So, you can pay a parent who then tells their kid where to go to school... and that is ok?
This is ridiculous! Auburn should have to forfeit all 12 games and go on probation! The NCAA is totally full of it!
Hypocritical BS.
J - Not sure I believe that Cam knew nothing. Logic leads me in a different direction based on my own fatherly experiences and being recruited by D-1 programs. No, I was not as talented as Cam is, but my dad played a very active roll in my recruiting and was ALWAYS with me when entertaining offers from "big football programs." There's no way a coach meets with a player's parents and not the player. Bottomline, the NCAA cannot afford to lose Auburn at this point. Im not much for conspiracy theories, but having Cam wrapped up in Heisman talk, national title talk, etc...they need to wave the magical wand and make it go away.
Anon 10:42 - I see your point. But I suspect your experience is different because it sounds like you had a good father. Evidence is mounting that the same cannot be said of Cecil Newton. How many dozens of times have we read in the paper or heard on the news about some preacher bilking his congregation or others out of boatloads of money? (See Jinwright, Bakker, etc.) How many similar instances do we personally know that aren't in the news? (I know of a few churches where they take up multiple offerings every service and the preacher just happens to own several luxury cars, for no good reason.)
Is it really that much of a stretch to think that this preacher, not getting the $$ he wanted out of his congregations, could have seen his athletically-gifted son as a shot at a big payday, and cooked up a scheme with a slug that went to the school the son really wanted to go to? I don't think it's that much of a stretch. I also don't see it as much of a stretch to believe that when the school turned him in, and then the son couldn't decide between his top 2 choices and deferred to Dad, that Dad thought, "Well, if he goes to school #2, where nothing improper took place, nothing will come back to me." Then, when it went bad, the slug, wanting to take everyone down with him, says, "Yeah, everybody knew about it, and the kid told us he went to the other school because the money was too much."
So at this point, yes, I do believe that the whole scheme could take place without Cam knowing. Kenny Rogers and Cecil Newton cooked up a scheme to make themselves rich and it blew up in their faces.
This is the 25th comment so far -- a new record for an SEC Expats story ! I got nothing much to add to the Cam speculation expect this. I'm not saying Cam is guilty of anything or not, but Auburn does seem to be getting a little extra care from the NCAA with this timely pardon. With all the money that college football has at stake and with Auburn and Cam going for the National Championship and the Heisman, the timing of the NCAA announcement seems to be at least fortunate for all who want to maximize the revenue from these events. But I'm more interested in what takes place on the field. I do think that Auburn has a great team and that taking AU and giving USC and 5 would be a great bet in Vegas. I'm also interested to see if Garcia becomes the 3rd QB in a row that Auburn knocks out of the game. Would that be the War Eagle version of a hat trick ?????
I come from an auburn family. We have been graduating from Auburn since my grand daddy first went there in the 1940s. To all you Auburn fans who have been writing "War Cam Eagle"...that is offensive and not in the spirit of the Auburn I love. No player is bigger than the team. SO War Damn Eagle! Leave Cam where he belongs...PART of a team.
What I take away from the NCAA statement is that they followed procedure by reinstating Cam. What I mean to say is that he was ruled ineligible by virtue of his father's actions with MSU and Auburn HAD to make him ineligible. The NCAA considered a request to reinstate him at Auburn and did so.
The NCAA didn't say that the investigation was over. If they find that money changed hands at Auburn, then they will issue sanctions.
Having said that, Auburn has long had a reputation for being dirty and I wouldn't be surprised a bit to find out that they paid Cam Newton.
Sorry Auburn fans.
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