And I pointed out why it’s not.
Not really. Certainly not anymore than blathering about Bruce Pearl and Illinois from 30 years ago.
Lettuce discuss Pearl's "cheating" sins.
- At UT he had some recruits over at his house for a BBQ, which was a (probably secondary) violation. Certainly nothing huge. Had he just admitted it, it likely would have been a minor wrist slap, but he lied and encouraged the recruit to lie and got caught. Very bad and got a show cause for it.
- The other issue being talked about is from 1989 and wasn't even about Pearl cheating, but him catching someone else cheating. As an assistant at Iowa, he recorded a phone call with a recruit who admitted that Illinois boosters had offered him $80k to come play for the Illini and turned that recording into the NCAA, becoming persona non grata in D-1 basketball for several years for secretly recording that call.
Auburn hired him with 5 months remaining on the show cause and he had to abide by a long set of hard restrictions on recruiting until then.
The stuff with Chuck Person didn't even involve recruiting inducements. These were players already signed with Auburn that Person attempted to make some side money on by steering them to a particular agent who would give him kickbacks. Yes, it's still illegal, but it's not "cheating" to get better players. And there is absolutely zero evidence anyone at Auburn knew what Person was up to.
So explain to me how this shows Pearl is "scummy" and a "cheater." Especially knowing what really goes on in NCAA D-1 basketball recruiting.