We’re not used to big things at Mississippi State.
Small school, small town, small state. We haven’t been relevant in football in the last decade either.
Now, the program is at the center of the biggest conversation in college sports and — with all due respect to coach Dan Mullen’s surprise No.19 7-2 squad — it’s not about anything happening on the football field. Or happening right now.
It’s about what the father of one player on another team reportedly told a businessman told an alumni told a booster told a recruiter told a coach told an athletic director told a conference told the NCAA, sometime within the last thirteen months.
But it’s becoming a first-rate American sports scandal, and Mississippi St., along with Auburn, Cam Newton, Cecil Newton, Kenny Rogers and John Bond, is a central character.
It’s fundamentally ironic in some ways: around this time twelve months ago, Newton was ringing a cowbell on the field in Starkville after the Bulldogs thrashed No. 23 Ole Miss 41-24 in the season-ending Egg Bowl. At that moment, State fans were positively giddy over beating the Rebels; those who knew were even giddier with the visible proof that Newton would wear maroon.
Then Newton, in a surprise to many, chose Auburn. Think the Bulldogs feel the tiniest bit better now about losing him? You betcha.
But that doesn’t mean the program is in the clear when it comes to Newton. Not of the story, not of the issues, not of the questions, and not even of the actual and supposed rule-breaking.
Let it be said: in a recruiting world rife with incentive and the perception of corruption, it appears Mississippi St. did the right thing and played by the rules. The Newton’s wanted money, Mississippi St. said no and reported the information to the SEC.
It’s commendable, but not that simple. The story raises many questions that Mississippi St. must answer. For clarity and transparency sake, at the least.
For starters, Rogers (representing Newton) and Bond (representing State) are both Mississippi St. graduates and former football players; neither are registered recruiters or employed by the program. What then is Bond’s role with the team? It’s not the most important issue in the Newton case, but it’s a relevant one. When asked Thursday if anyone other than coaches were registered recruiters at the school, State coach Dan Mullen responded, “No.”
And how do we characterize Rogers’s relationship with Miss. State? Mullen can’t be happy with his school being associated with an alumni who earns a paycheck by “matching football prospects with colleges” (Rogers’s company is called Elite Football Preparation). What part of that doesn’t sound like an agent to you?
There are more pertinent questions. Why did Mississippi St., which reported the incident to the SEC in January, wait until July to supply the SEC the further information it requested? This figures to be an important point of the investigation. State says it’s because it was “dealing with ongoing and time-consuming eligibility issues,” most likely concerning 6’10 freshman phenom basketball player Renardo Sidney … the same Sidney who is currently serving a nine game suspension for receiving improper benefits while a senior at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.
So the school has been down this road before. Mississippi State may be the whistle-blower in the Newton case, but it was in Auburn’s same position not twelve months ago.
And why did State blow the lid on Newton in the first place? A popular theory is that Mississippi St. only ratted him out after he chose the Plains over the Pastures…and then his team beat State 17 – 14 in September. That would explain the long delay between when State allegedly reported Newton to the SEC and when the story broke in the news. It’s logical, if cynical.
The biggest fear surrounding the story in Starkville is, of course, that Mississippi St. somehow broke NCAA rules in the course of its recruitment of Newton. Either by not reporting violations it witnessed, or, worse, participating in the Newton auction itself.
No one has asserted either. But it’s an awful lot of smoke and impending fire to be in the middle of. And it’s more than uncomfortable for us small-town folks.
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