M
mkasalo
Guest
South Bend Tribune Article and new PF.com Article
South Bend Tribune Article and new PF.com Article
This was in this morning's South Bend Tribune...
http://www.southbendtribune.com/app...Sports02/606270460/-1/NDSPORTS/CAT=NDSports02
June 27. 2006 6:59AM
Notre Dame is defending the passer
Irish keep Quinn's eligibility safe
ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer
It is part of Mike Karwoski's job to check out every whisper, every bit of innuendo, every rumor.
So he didn't laugh uncontrollably when a report from a Web site called profootballtalk.com crossed his desk recently.
He was too annoyed to laugh. And perhaps too nauseous as well.
"Typical freaking Internet," the Notre Dame associate athletic director in charge of compliance offered. "It's a joke."
The headline read "Weis, Irish flirting with disaster," and it went on to say:
A league source with intimate knowledge of the applicable NCAA regulations tells us that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis might have rendered quarterback Brady Quinn and other incoming seniors ineligible if, as we previously have reported, Weis has directed seniors with designs on pro football to pick their agents before the start of the 2006 season.
"My sources in the NFL," Karwoski mocked. "Yeah, great, what sources? First of all your sources should be with the kid, with the agent and the university. We're the ones who know what's going on."
And perhaps the ones who would avoid a 56-word sentence and the term "incoming seniors."
In any event, what's going on is this: Weis and Karwoski have talked to Quinn, a senior who is expected to be the first pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, about narrowing down a list of potential agents this offseason, not deciding on one.
"They wanted to get rid of the riffraff, find out who the legitimate people were," Karwoski said. "I told them there is nothing in the rules that prevents you from sitting down and talking to an agent. You can also call the ones you're not interested in and tell them that, that they're not going to be part of any further discussions.
"If there's a group of four, five, 10 that pique their interest, I don't have a problem with the player saying, 'We're going to revisit this at the end of the season when my eligibility is done.' The only thing I cautioned them about was don't tell somebody, 'You're the guy.' You are prevented by NCAA rules from making a written or verbal agreement."
Players and their families are also prohibited from taking money from an agent while the player still has college eligibility.
Dave Slates, Quinn's uncle and one of the four people advising the quarterback, takes it a step further.
"We don't even allow the family to have a Coke bought for them from one of these guys," he said.
Slates, Quinn's parents (Robin and Ty) and another uncle, Scott Binder, met with 15 agents initially and narrowed the field to six. At that point, Quinn joined the process and the family has now weeded the list to "a few."
"Brady was getting text-messages, called and mailed information on a daily basis," Slates said. "I don't know how these guys get his cell number and stuff, but they do.
"What we've done is let the guys know who are still in the running that they are and let the guys who are no longer in the running who they are. And everybody knows not to contact Brady until January. And you know what? They've honored that. Now Brady can focus on football and we can move on with our lives, knowing we'll have a very abbreviated final process ahead of us."
Notre Dame does its part to button up the process by requiring agents to register with its compliance office. None of the communications are to be made to the players directly during the season, but rather to Karwoski, who passes on the information.
"Sure, there are agents who try to work around the system," Karwoski said. "But I tell our guys, 'I would question those agents and ask them why they're not working on the up and up.' "
Karwoski and his staff also hold informational meetings in the fall right before the season and in the spring before the players go home.
"I tell every kid, and I'm straight up with this, 'You know what the rules are,' " Karwoski said. " 'If I find out you did something, don't come to me to go to the NCAA to try to get your eligibility reinstated, because I won't. You know the rules, and that's it.' "
Slates, who also saw the profootballtalk.com article, credits Weis with the family knowing the rules backward and forward.
"The implication that Charlie would be unaware of the rules is just silly," Slates said. "Charlie is a very detail guy.
"In fact, our family is very thankful to Charlie for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Brady is probably in this position in large part because Charlie has arrived in South Bend. But with this agent stuff, he's gone above and beyond the call."
Staff writer Eric Hansen:
ehansen@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6470
This was also on Pro-Football.com site, a followup
POSTED 8:36 a.m. EDT, June 27, 2006
NOTRE DAME DENIES THAT WEIS TOLD PLAYERS TO PICK AGENTS
According to the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette, Notre Dame denied on Monday that coach Charlie Weis has told his senior players with NFL aspirations to select agents prior to the start of the 2006 football season.
After reporting last week that quarterback Brady Quinn has honed in on agent Don Yee (at, as we've heard, the urging of both Weis and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady), we were told by a league source that Weis has given his guys the directive to pick their agents before the season begins, in order to minimize distractions. There mere fact that Quinn, who potentially will be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, has spent time (as reported elsewhere) narrowing the universe of potential agents to six (and as we've heard unofficially cutting the list to one) tends to support the notion that Weis has put out such an edict.
But Notre Dame associate athletic director for compliance Mike Karowski says that any such suggestion is "far-fetched."
"Did I find it a little ridiculous? Yeah," Karowski said Monday. "No one from the site has called me or Charlie or anyone else asking how anything is handled."
But so what if we haven't called Charlie or Karowski? Either Weis has told his guys to pick agents early or he hasn't. The fact that we haven't dialed up someone for a self-serving perfunctory denial doesn't mean that what we've heard isn't true.
Says Karowski: "We told them they can't make the final decision or any overtures. Are some of our kids working with a list of 10 as opposed to 30, sure, it’s permissible."
"We have every confidence that Charlie knows the rules, has communicated the rules and that our compliance people are in complete concert as to what can be done and what can’t be done," added Notre Dame associate athletic director for media relations John Heisler.
The issue likely has become a sore spot in South Bend because (as we realized after hearing that Weis is telling the kids to pick agents) even a verbal agreement to retain the agent upon completion of the player's eligibility renders the player ineligible.
And it's obvious that something out of the ordinary is happening, given that Karowski has conceded at least "some of our kids" have narrowed the list of potential agents more than two months before Touchdown Jesus settles in with His popcorn for the first game of the year. If any one of those kids makes a final decision, communicates the decision to the agent, and the agent explicitly or implicitly accepts the representation, the kid technically has rendered himself ineligible.
That's why the entire notion of narrowing the list of potential agents before the start of the season seems like a bad idea to us. First of all, the flow of news is pretty slow right now for the folks who cover college football, and the fact that some Notre Dame players are whittling down their list of potential agents could prompt all sorts of sniffing around that wouldn't happen if the lists was being narrowed in October or November when the journalists are otherwise consumed with, you know, covering football games. Second, the wisest approach in any endeavor requiring compliance with rules is to figure out where the "line" is -- and to stay the hell away from it. Third, USC's experiences from April and May suggest that more and more folks are now inclined to pay attention to potential rules violations that previously were ignored.
Of course, the real question here is whether the NCAA would ever take action against its golden child. Barring blatant misconduct, we seriously doubt that the Irish would ever find themselves on the short end of an investigation -- and our guess is that the school took that reality into consideration when advising players as to the do's and dont's for getting a head start for picking an agent.
PF.com is just trying to get some airtime and free publicity I think.
ND/CW/or BQ wouldn't make such a mistake.
I am sure everything is in good hands.
I don't think we have anything to worry about.
South Bend Tribune Article and new PF.com Article
This was in this morning's South Bend Tribune...
http://www.southbendtribune.com/app...Sports02/606270460/-1/NDSPORTS/CAT=NDSports02
June 27. 2006 6:59AM
Notre Dame is defending the passer
Irish keep Quinn's eligibility safe
ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer
It is part of Mike Karwoski's job to check out every whisper, every bit of innuendo, every rumor.
So he didn't laugh uncontrollably when a report from a Web site called profootballtalk.com crossed his desk recently.
He was too annoyed to laugh. And perhaps too nauseous as well.
"Typical freaking Internet," the Notre Dame associate athletic director in charge of compliance offered. "It's a joke."
The headline read "Weis, Irish flirting with disaster," and it went on to say:
A league source with intimate knowledge of the applicable NCAA regulations tells us that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis might have rendered quarterback Brady Quinn and other incoming seniors ineligible if, as we previously have reported, Weis has directed seniors with designs on pro football to pick their agents before the start of the 2006 season.
"My sources in the NFL," Karwoski mocked. "Yeah, great, what sources? First of all your sources should be with the kid, with the agent and the university. We're the ones who know what's going on."
And perhaps the ones who would avoid a 56-word sentence and the term "incoming seniors."
In any event, what's going on is this: Weis and Karwoski have talked to Quinn, a senior who is expected to be the first pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, about narrowing down a list of potential agents this offseason, not deciding on one.
"They wanted to get rid of the riffraff, find out who the legitimate people were," Karwoski said. "I told them there is nothing in the rules that prevents you from sitting down and talking to an agent. You can also call the ones you're not interested in and tell them that, that they're not going to be part of any further discussions.
"If there's a group of four, five, 10 that pique their interest, I don't have a problem with the player saying, 'We're going to revisit this at the end of the season when my eligibility is done.' The only thing I cautioned them about was don't tell somebody, 'You're the guy.' You are prevented by NCAA rules from making a written or verbal agreement."
Players and their families are also prohibited from taking money from an agent while the player still has college eligibility.
Dave Slates, Quinn's uncle and one of the four people advising the quarterback, takes it a step further.
"We don't even allow the family to have a Coke bought for them from one of these guys," he said.
Slates, Quinn's parents (Robin and Ty) and another uncle, Scott Binder, met with 15 agents initially and narrowed the field to six. At that point, Quinn joined the process and the family has now weeded the list to "a few."
"Brady was getting text-messages, called and mailed information on a daily basis," Slates said. "I don't know how these guys get his cell number and stuff, but they do.
"What we've done is let the guys know who are still in the running that they are and let the guys who are no longer in the running who they are. And everybody knows not to contact Brady until January. And you know what? They've honored that. Now Brady can focus on football and we can move on with our lives, knowing we'll have a very abbreviated final process ahead of us."
Notre Dame does its part to button up the process by requiring agents to register with its compliance office. None of the communications are to be made to the players directly during the season, but rather to Karwoski, who passes on the information.
"Sure, there are agents who try to work around the system," Karwoski said. "But I tell our guys, 'I would question those agents and ask them why they're not working on the up and up.' "
Karwoski and his staff also hold informational meetings in the fall right before the season and in the spring before the players go home.
"I tell every kid, and I'm straight up with this, 'You know what the rules are,' " Karwoski said. " 'If I find out you did something, don't come to me to go to the NCAA to try to get your eligibility reinstated, because I won't. You know the rules, and that's it.' "
Slates, who also saw the profootballtalk.com article, credits Weis with the family knowing the rules backward and forward.
"The implication that Charlie would be unaware of the rules is just silly," Slates said. "Charlie is a very detail guy.
"In fact, our family is very thankful to Charlie for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Brady is probably in this position in large part because Charlie has arrived in South Bend. But with this agent stuff, he's gone above and beyond the call."
Staff writer Eric Hansen:
ehansen@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6470
This was also on Pro-Football.com site, a followup
POSTED 8:36 a.m. EDT, June 27, 2006
NOTRE DAME DENIES THAT WEIS TOLD PLAYERS TO PICK AGENTS
According to the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette, Notre Dame denied on Monday that coach Charlie Weis has told his senior players with NFL aspirations to select agents prior to the start of the 2006 football season.
After reporting last week that quarterback Brady Quinn has honed in on agent Don Yee (at, as we've heard, the urging of both Weis and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady), we were told by a league source that Weis has given his guys the directive to pick their agents before the season begins, in order to minimize distractions. There mere fact that Quinn, who potentially will be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, has spent time (as reported elsewhere) narrowing the universe of potential agents to six (and as we've heard unofficially cutting the list to one) tends to support the notion that Weis has put out such an edict.
But Notre Dame associate athletic director for compliance Mike Karowski says that any such suggestion is "far-fetched."
"Did I find it a little ridiculous? Yeah," Karowski said Monday. "No one from the site has called me or Charlie or anyone else asking how anything is handled."
But so what if we haven't called Charlie or Karowski? Either Weis has told his guys to pick agents early or he hasn't. The fact that we haven't dialed up someone for a self-serving perfunctory denial doesn't mean that what we've heard isn't true.
Says Karowski: "We told them they can't make the final decision or any overtures. Are some of our kids working with a list of 10 as opposed to 30, sure, it’s permissible."
"We have every confidence that Charlie knows the rules, has communicated the rules and that our compliance people are in complete concert as to what can be done and what can’t be done," added Notre Dame associate athletic director for media relations John Heisler.
The issue likely has become a sore spot in South Bend because (as we realized after hearing that Weis is telling the kids to pick agents) even a verbal agreement to retain the agent upon completion of the player's eligibility renders the player ineligible.
And it's obvious that something out of the ordinary is happening, given that Karowski has conceded at least "some of our kids" have narrowed the list of potential agents more than two months before Touchdown Jesus settles in with His popcorn for the first game of the year. If any one of those kids makes a final decision, communicates the decision to the agent, and the agent explicitly or implicitly accepts the representation, the kid technically has rendered himself ineligible.
That's why the entire notion of narrowing the list of potential agents before the start of the season seems like a bad idea to us. First of all, the flow of news is pretty slow right now for the folks who cover college football, and the fact that some Notre Dame players are whittling down their list of potential agents could prompt all sorts of sniffing around that wouldn't happen if the lists was being narrowed in October or November when the journalists are otherwise consumed with, you know, covering football games. Second, the wisest approach in any endeavor requiring compliance with rules is to figure out where the "line" is -- and to stay the hell away from it. Third, USC's experiences from April and May suggest that more and more folks are now inclined to pay attention to potential rules violations that previously were ignored.
Of course, the real question here is whether the NCAA would ever take action against its golden child. Barring blatant misconduct, we seriously doubt that the Irish would ever find themselves on the short end of an investigation -- and our guess is that the school took that reality into consideration when advising players as to the do's and dont's for getting a head start for picking an agent.
PF.com is just trying to get some airtime and free publicity I think.
ND/CW/or BQ wouldn't make such a mistake.
I am sure everything is in good hands.
I don't think we have anything to worry about.
