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EUGENE -- The University of Oregon released a cache of documents today in response to public records inquiries related to an NCAA preliminary investigation into its use of controversial scouting services.
The information, however, raises more questions than it answers about Oregon's relationship with Houston-based recruiting consultant Willie Lyles and the quality of what he provided the Ducks.
The NCAA began an informal inquiry in March, after media reports that the Ducks had paid Lyles $25,000 in early 2010 -- weeks after a star player he had been mentoring, running back Lache Seastrunk, committed to Oregon.
The documents UO released include a 143-page publication evaluating high school players, provided by Lyles' company. It details high school prospects from five states, but the vast majority of players were from Texas. Forty of the 140 profiled are from Houston. Of the five from outside Texas, two were from South Carolina, and one each from California, Oklahoma and Louisiana. One recruit's bio page was redacted for privacy purposes, indicating he later enrolled at Oregon.
The released documents suggest the information Lyles provided falls far short of the 22-state game video and highlight package he promised to deliver.
Few videos were cited in the documents released today, but any of recruits who eventually enrolled at UO would not have been released because of student privacy laws. UO spokesman David Williford reiterated that the Ducks received video from Lyles' company, but said it was hard to separate from video received from other sources because the UO coaches only retained clips of players in whom they were interested, and didn't document from where they received the video.
In addition, he said some vide clips are received on CDs, and others on from secure websites that require password entry.
Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens has previously said the payment, documented in university records, was for Lyles' scouting service. But the timing of Oregon's payment raised the question of whether Lyles steered players to certain schools in exchange for payment, which would violate NCAA rules.
The released documents suggest the information Lyles provided falls far short of what he promised to deliver.
Lyles has not responded to The Oregonian's requests for comment via phone calls and email. Ducks head coach Chip Kelly also has declined to comment.
Williford said today Oregon had not received a notice of inquiry from the NCAA, which would signal that the NCAA was compiling a case against the school. In an e-mail to The Oregonian today, an NCAA spokesperson said, in part, "The NCAA cannot comment on current, pending or potential investigations."
The documents make clear the NCAA has been involved since March 4, the day after Yahoo Sports first reported the $25,000 payment to Lyles as well as a $3,745 payment to another company, New Level Athletics.
Lyles' relationship with Oregon has generated national attention, heightened because the Ducks are coming off a 12-0 regular season and loss to Auburn in the BCS Championship. It also has highlighted the increasing prominence of recruiting services and their sometimes-murky relationships with players and particular programs.
The NCAA strictly limits the kind of relationship an operator or employee of a scouting service can have with college coaches.
In answers to a list of frequently asked questions available on its website, the NCAA puts it this way: "It is not permissible for a recruiting/scouting service or employees of such services to act as an intermediary between a prospect and an NCAA institution (e.g. assist in arranging recruiting contacts, relaying information other than personal information). ...
"It is not permissible for NCAA coaches to receive verbal information from recruiting/scouting services. Coaches may only receive information from published services."
In the wake of the payment's unveiling, more details about Lyles have come to light. Most notably, Lyles has been connected to at least three Texas high school players who accepted football scholarships from Oregon:
On Feb. 3, 2010, Seastrunk and Williams signed national letters of intent with Oregon.
On Feb. 22, Lyles -- under the heading of his newly formed business Complete Scouting Services -- billed Oregon $25,000 for what is described on the invoice as the "2011 National Package."
http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/06/oregon_football_releases_recor.html
The information, however, raises more questions than it answers about Oregon's relationship with Houston-based recruiting consultant Willie Lyles and the quality of what he provided the Ducks.
The NCAA began an informal inquiry in March, after media reports that the Ducks had paid Lyles $25,000 in early 2010 -- weeks after a star player he had been mentoring, running back Lache Seastrunk, committed to Oregon.
The documents UO released include a 143-page publication evaluating high school players, provided by Lyles' company. It details high school prospects from five states, but the vast majority of players were from Texas. Forty of the 140 profiled are from Houston. Of the five from outside Texas, two were from South Carolina, and one each from California, Oklahoma and Louisiana. One recruit's bio page was redacted for privacy purposes, indicating he later enrolled at Oregon.
The released documents suggest the information Lyles provided falls far short of the 22-state game video and highlight package he promised to deliver.
Few videos were cited in the documents released today, but any of recruits who eventually enrolled at UO would not have been released because of student privacy laws. UO spokesman David Williford reiterated that the Ducks received video from Lyles' company, but said it was hard to separate from video received from other sources because the UO coaches only retained clips of players in whom they were interested, and didn't document from where they received the video.
In addition, he said some vide clips are received on CDs, and others on from secure websites that require password entry.
Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens has previously said the payment, documented in university records, was for Lyles' scouting service. But the timing of Oregon's payment raised the question of whether Lyles steered players to certain schools in exchange for payment, which would violate NCAA rules.
The released documents suggest the information Lyles provided falls far short of what he promised to deliver.
Lyles has not responded to The Oregonian's requests for comment via phone calls and email. Ducks head coach Chip Kelly also has declined to comment.
Williford said today Oregon had not received a notice of inquiry from the NCAA, which would signal that the NCAA was compiling a case against the school. In an e-mail to The Oregonian today, an NCAA spokesperson said, in part, "The NCAA cannot comment on current, pending or potential investigations."
The documents make clear the NCAA has been involved since March 4, the day after Yahoo Sports first reported the $25,000 payment to Lyles as well as a $3,745 payment to another company, New Level Athletics.
Lyles' relationship with Oregon has generated national attention, heightened because the Ducks are coming off a 12-0 regular season and loss to Auburn in the BCS Championship. It also has highlighted the increasing prominence of recruiting services and their sometimes-murky relationships with players and particular programs.
The NCAA strictly limits the kind of relationship an operator or employee of a scouting service can have with college coaches.
In answers to a list of frequently asked questions available on its website, the NCAA puts it this way: "It is not permissible for a recruiting/scouting service or employees of such services to act as an intermediary between a prospect and an NCAA institution (e.g. assist in arranging recruiting contacts, relaying information other than personal information). ...
"It is not permissible for NCAA coaches to receive verbal information from recruiting/scouting services. Coaches may only receive information from published services."
In the wake of the payment's unveiling, more details about Lyles have come to light. Most notably, Lyles has been connected to at least three Texas high school players who accepted football scholarships from Oregon:
- Lyles mentored UO running back Lache Seastrunk when he was a high school football player at Temple (Texas) High School. Lyles lived at least part-time in the same house in Temple with Seastrunk and his mother, Evelyn, during Seastrunk's senior year in high school, according to one report.
- Lyles attended a postseason college awards show as UO running back LaMichael James' guest last December. He described himself then as James' trainer and adviser.
- Lyles advised former UO running back Dontae Williams during the recruiting process, according to Charles Chevalier, a former Fellowship of Christian Athletes director for inner-city Houston. Chevalier described himself as Williams' mentor.
On Feb. 3, 2010, Seastrunk and Williams signed national letters of intent with Oregon.
On Feb. 22, Lyles -- under the heading of his newly formed business Complete Scouting Services -- billed Oregon $25,000 for what is described on the invoice as the "2011 National Package."
http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/06/oregon_football_releases_recor.html
