Bishop Sycamore Fraud

[Dale]

Speaking of Tate & IMG…
Did anyone read that story about their opponent today tricking ESPN? And IMG knew about it too.
How they told ESPN they were a top HS team in Ohio, with multiple D1 recruits. ESPN of course, have HORRIBLE recruiting coverage, didn’t verify the claims and even though showing HS games in Ohio every year, didn’t realize nobody had heard of Bishop Sycamore?
Turns out they are an Online charter school that is two years old & has zero college recruits. They played their first season last year and went 0-6, being outscored 227-42. And IMG was their last opponent last year & knew they were horrible & still agreed to play them again on ESPN.
Embarrassing for ESPN recruiting.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/zach_barnett/status/1432141791768289285?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[Ndaccountant]

Speaking of Tate & IMG…
Did anyone read that story about their opponent today tricking ESPN? And IMG knew about it too.
How they told ESPN they were a top HS team in Ohio, with multiple D1 recruits. ESPN of course, have HORRIBLE recruiting coverage, didn’t verify the claims and even though showing HS games in Ohio every year, didn’t realize nobody had heard of Bishop Sycamore?
Turns out they are an Online charter school that is two years old & has zero college recruits. They played their first season last year and went 0-6, being outscored 227-42. And IMG was their last opponent last year & knew they were horrible & still agreed to play them again on ESPN.
Embarrassing for ESPN recruiting.

Good.

W/R/T Tate, I stand by my previous comments....

I have no doubt that he is legitimately interested in ND and that ND does have a chance. Del has upped his game the last two cycles and I think he would need to dial it even more to win this one. It's possible, but Hartline is king of WR recruiting across the country.

 

[T-Boone]

I feel terrible for ESPN. Haha.

 

[DONTH8]

Sources inside the Gug suspiciously quiet, which is a good thing.

It’s when sources inside the Gug feel good that we should start to mentally detach ourselves.

Lol, yeah I remember a few years ago that they would say they feel good about things, and then weeks later the recruit would be going elsewhere... I think it was during the Demetris Robertson year it was especially bad. Then it became a joke to me that I will throw out whenever there is a recruitment and people saying they feel good.

Tbh, I dont even know who the "Gug" is composed of. It's just a meme to me whenever I hear about it now haha.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I feel terrible for ESPN. Haha.

Here is the funny thing...any minor search would reveal the true story here, which is kind of funny that ESPN and everyone else affiliated with this game didn't know. The guy that is director of the school is a parent of Javan Peterson (player for Bishop) that played one year in 2018 for a new school called Christians of Faith Academy. The school appeared out of thin air and was set up to supposedly be a school for less privaleged and academically struggling kids that could still play football. Unsurpsingly, the school never got Ohio High School Athletic Associate membership and the school dissolved (students went to "school" in a public library, practiced in public parks, lived in a hotel, etc.). Some games scheduled in 2018 were ultimately cancelled, including a game against IMG. The elder Peterson replicated the structure of the school and immediately came up with the idea for Bishop and the online school was created the following year (2019) and had high profile games cancelled (2019 Freedom Bowl game against Mainland (Fl) that was to take place in Georgia).

Peterson has been more or less swindling these games and people are either a) too lazy to research or b) are duped by falsities into playing. It's so transparent and out there to anyone with Google it's hard to understand how ESPN didn't know. Also, what the hell is IMG doing playing them again after last year. The focus is rightfully on Bishop and the nonsense coming from that situation. But IMG isn't without fault either.

 

[Reaper97]

Here is the funny thing...any minor search would reveal the true story here, which is kind of funny that ESPN and everyone else affiliated with this game didn't know. The guy that is director of the school is a parent of Javan Peterson (player for Bishop) that played one year in 2018 for a new school called Christians of Faith Academy. The school appeared out of thin air and was set up to supposedly be a school for less privaleged and academically struggling kids that could still play football. Unsurpsingly, the school never got Ohio High School Athletic Associate membership and the school dissolved (students went to "school" in a public library, practiced in public parks, lived in a hotel, etc.). Some games scheduled in 2018 were ultimately cancelled, including a game against IMG. The elder Peterson replicated the structure of the school and immediately came up with the idea for Bishop and the online school was created the following year (2019) and had high profile games cancelled (2019 Freedom Bowl game against Mainland (Fl) that was to take place in Georgia).

Peterson has been more or less swindling these games and people are either a) too lazy to research or b) are duped by falsities into playing. It's so transparent and out there to anyone with Google it's hard to understand how ESPN didn't know. Also, what the hell is IMG doing playing them again after last year. The focus is rightfully on Bishop and the nonsense coming from that situation. But IMG isn't without fault either.

Because Pepper Johnson, the coach of IMG, is a scumbag. He knew he could look good on National TV destroying a middle school team.
According to a few outlets, Bishop played a game Friday night too, less than 48 hours before.

 

[dankgesang]

Here is the funny thing...any minor search would reveal the true story here, which is kind of funny that ESPN and everyone else affiliated with this game didn't know. The guy that is director of the school is a parent of Javan Peterson (player for Bishop) that played one year in 2018 for a new school called Christians of Faith Academy. The school appeared out of thin air and was set up to supposedly be a school for less privaleged and academically struggling kids that could still play football. Unsurpsingly, the school never got Ohio High School Athletic Associate membership and the school dissolved (students went to "school" in a public library, practiced in public parks, lived in a hotel, etc.). Some games scheduled in 2018 were ultimately cancelled, including a game against IMG. The elder Peterson replicated the structure of the school and immediately came up with the idea for Bishop and the online school was created the following year (2019) and had high profile games cancelled (2019 Freedom Bowl game against Mainland (Fl) that was to take place in Georgia).

Peterson has been more or less swindling these games and people are either a) too lazy to research or b) are duped by falsities into playing. It's so transparent and out there to anyone with Google it's hard to understand how ESPN didn't know. Also, what the hell is IMG doing playing them again after last year. The focus is rightfully on Bishop and the nonsense coming from that situation. But IMG isn't without fault either.

Let's just do it and be legends, but a whole ass high school.

 

[Dale]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/andrew_ivins/status/1432363373157568521?s=21[/TWEET]

Their schedule, if holds, doesn’t get much easier. Duncansville, De Matha, St. Ed’s. These kids are just okay getting their ass kicked in hopes they somehow get noticed or trick a coach?

 

[Irishnuke]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/zach_barnett/status/1432141791768289285?s=21[/TWEET]

I really thought he was making a joke and was going to say IMG was the fake school that existed only for sports. Isn’t that kinda true?

 

[Dale]

I really thought he was making a joke and was going to say IMG was the fake school that existed only for sports. Isn’t that kinda true?

That’s the joke haha. The kids are there for sports for sure but they do have real class. Mainly because if they didn’t their kids wouldn’t qualify for the colleges they are getting offered to go to.

 

[Reaper97]

That’s the joke haha. The kids are there for sports for sure but they do have real class. Mainly because if they didn’t their kids wouldn’t qualify for the colleges they are getting offered to go to.

Yeah, ND admissions wouldn’t be allowing Hainsey, Griffith, ect… into ND with fake classes.

 

[Irish#1]

I really thought he was making a joke and was going to say IMG was the fake school that existed only for sports. Isn’t that kinda true?

Pretty much.

 

[Dale]

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/complexsports/status/1432444340606013441?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[Irish#1]

Coach has an active warrant. Lol

 

[T-Boone]

It is up there with Bama scheduling The Citadel

 

[greyhammer90]

How is IMG not getting more flak? Seems super shady on their end too.

 

[zelezo vlk]

How is IMG not getting more flak? Seems super shady on their end too.

You do not mess with that many future college stars lol. ESPN is about getting clicks, not doing anything else.

 

[T-Boone]

Do schools get paid when they have a game on ESPN?

 

[IrishLion]

Speaking of IMG and Carnell Tate, they play at LaSalle in Ohio this Friday. I may have to cross the river for that one. LaSalle is DII in Ohio, but pretty strong against the DI members of the GCL lately. I don't think they can keep pace with IMG of course, but it should be an entertaining game at least.

(I also didn't realize that IMG has four different teams, one of which is a post-grad team. That's crazy.)

 

[fightingirish26]

Speaking of IMG and Carnell Tate, they play at LaSalle in Ohio this Friday. I may have to cross the river for that one. LaSalle is DII in Ohio, but pretty strong against the DI members of the GCL lately. I don't think they can keep pace with IMG of course, but it should be an entertaining game at least.

(I also didn't realize that IMG has four different teams, one of which is a post-grad team. That's crazy.)

Keep an eye out for the strong contingent of ND coaches who will be there as well (Del, Tommy, Lance, Quinn, Elston).

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Any OSU coaches going to be there?

Reading in to this, would we send coaches if we knew we were out of it? (Carnell may not have even told the coaches yet).

 

[DONTH8]

Sorry to keep beating a dead horse here... but it just dawned on me that I'm shocked we didn't know this whole fraud going in. Sure you would THINK espn knew what they were doing. But we at IE KNOW that BobbyMac would have been giving us the update on Bishop Sycamores 3 star running back's favorite chewing gum, the magazines that their 4 star junior safety keeps under his bed, and the hot mom of the unranked WR who is getting looks from Cleveland State. Honestly, we should have known that this was fishy from the get go.

 

[BobbyMac]

Sorry to keep beating a dead horse here... but it just dawned on me that I'm shocked we didn't know this whole fraud going in. Sure you would THINK espn knew what they were doing. But we at IE KNOW that BobbyMac would have been giving us the update on Bishop Sycamores 3 star running back's favorite chewing gum, the magazines that their 4 star junior safety keeps under his bed, and the hot mom of the unranked WR who is getting looks from Cleveland State. Honestly, we should have known that this was fishy from the get go.

But that's just it... They had no on the radar guys and I personally don't know all of the Columbus schools like say Cincy so Bishop Sycamore didn't throw an obvious red flags. Yeah, I saw their schedule last year and knew they were on tv (a game I couldn't watch live) but without players I'm watching, it's gonna get past me pretty easy.

 

[BrownerandFry]

But that's just it... They had no on the radar guys and I personally don't know all of the Columbus schools like say Cincy so Bishop Sycamore didn't throw an obvious red flags. Yeah, I saw their schedule last year and knew they were on tv (a game I couldn't watch live) but without players I'm watching, it's gonna get past me pretty easy.

What's vile here, in the extreme, is the State of Ohio department that regulates high school athletics.

I would get the top ten leader and horsewhip them in public for being asleep at the wheel. Just 11 lashes apiece to be consonant with the number of players the fraud school had in each unit.

And I am not in the least joking.

Apparently, we live in a post-accountability era.

 

[dublinirish]

somebody explain to me how the likes of St Ignatius and other big schools in Ohio agreed to play these guys last year? were they given a bunch of cash or something?

 

[ACamp1900]

I can’t be the only one applauding BS for nationally embarrassing espn right???

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I can’t be the only one applauding BS for nationally embarrassing espn right???

A venerable tradition in the Campbell household.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

somebody explain to me how the likes of St Ignatius and other big schools in Ohio agreed to play these guys last year? were they given a bunch of cash or something?

I think this is it. Reading through all of these stories and a few HS football focused message boards that have been calling out this team for years, it looks like there are a couple shady companies caught up in this. So I know everyone is making fun of ESPN, but they are blaming the company they work with for all these high school events, Paragon Marketing, whose president has come out admitting they messed up and didn't do any due diligence.

Now you might wonder how they couldn't do any due diligence. Well it sounds like they were pitched the game (and many other games) by a company called Prep Gridiron Logistics (PGL). PGL pitches itself as a network for teams to be able to find opponents. But it seems like that's not all. Apparently they also have a contract with FloSports, a sports streaming service, to supply high profile HS football games. So its not so much a passive network as it is a middleman/salesman. It seems like they have organized many of Bishop Sycamore's games against these big schools. This part is unsubstantiated, but there was a rumor that the guy running PGL (which is basically a one man show) has some sort of financial stake in Bishop Sycamore. It would make sense too, because on the HS football message board, a person with Prep Gridirion Logistics as their username was consistently defending Bishop Sycamore and spouting many of the same lies they have been telling everyone else.

So you have a company in PGL that makes money from selling high profile HS football games, initially from FloSports, but apparently also expanding to ESPN via Paragon Marketing. I would assume some of this money is going to the schools as well, even if just for covering travel expenses. Then, my theory goes that Bishop Sycamore is giving kickbacks to PGL in exchange for giving them games to both boost the profile of the school and likely to make the con-men leaders of the school some money.

I really cannot tell you how sickening this whole thing is to me. Besides the fact that they are putting 20 years up against 16 year olds because of their lies, they are also scamming these guys who just want to play football. They are putting their guys in positions where they are being kicked out of hotels and being forced to steal food just to eat. They talk about 30 guys sharing a few apartments so almost everyone was forced to sleep on the floor. And with all the talk about giving these guys a chance, they can't even do that, not even practicing or attempting to do any sort of schooling.

And the worst part is that this is probably just the start. There is now money to be made in high school football and that's only going to bring out more con-men like the people running Bishop Sycamore. And while those few people might now be found out and made pariahs, the guy running PGL is probably going to stay out of the limelight and continue doing this.

 

[Ndaccountant]

What's vile here, in the extreme, is the State of Ohio department that regulates high school athletics.

I would get the top ten leader and horsewhip them in public for being asleep at the wheel. Just 11 lashes apiece to be consonant with the number of players the fraud school had in each unit.

And I am not in the least joking.

Apparently, we live in a post-accountability era.

You do realize that the Ohio High School Athletic Association has not accepted Bishop as a member, right? They set the rules accordingly. OSHAA did everything to blackball them. This isn't an OSHAA problem. Find someone else to flog.

EDIT - Also worth nothing that after COF Academy failed/was forced to close (the precursor to Bishop), OSHAA proposed a rule change forcing members to only play OHSAA teams. That provision was floated to the 800 schools making up OSHAA and it never was implemented.

 

[Ndaccountant]

somebody explain to me how the likes of St Ignatius and other big schools in Ohio agreed to play these guys last year? were they given a bunch of cash or something?

This has to do with 2 different things really.

1) The OSHAA playoffs work on a points based system. Beat a team in the highest division, get more points. Beat a team from the lowest division, you still get points, but on a much reduced rate. Divisions are based on enrollment. But to get points, the team has to be an OSHAA member.

2) Covid. You had so many schools impacted by Covid, schedules were slashed. For Iggy as an example, they played Bishop as the first game of the year on Sep 12. By that point, other major programs had played 2-3 games. Part of that is Covid difficulties, part of that is nobody wanting to play Iggy and take the loss. Better to play a lower division team and get some points versus getting no points with a L. From Iggy's perspective, playing Bishop was better than not playing at all when you already were behind so many games.

In 2019, after COF Academy failed, Bishop played a full schedule, but all schools were either out of state or non-OHSAA members.