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I LOVE this comment by James on page 10:

"I loved my era," he said. "When I say that, people laugh and say, 'I bet you did.' But what SMU did was in line with what every school in the country did. That doesn't make it right, but that's the way recruiting was done. It was a real free-for-all."

And

"I can safely say there were lots of nice benefits at schools from coast to coast."

Did Craig come to SMU for the triangle......or was he a "pay for play" recruit?

yes....

His girlfriend was here at SMU, so I think he would have come regardless, of course he probably got the "perks" of the day that the top athletes got once he was here.

It's good to hear his take and honesty on the subject. What we did was really no worse or better than what any of the top 20 schools did. Unfortunately, we did it with a bit more arrogance and over inflated our importance in the NCAA landscape. Texas and Alabama would never have gotten the death penalty because of their pull and size. We proved to be the perfect scape goat, put the rope around our necks, and then took the fall for the NCAA so it could appear they were getting tough on recruiting violations, which to a degree, did work.

bagice wrote:His girlfriend was here at SMU, so I think he would have come regardless, of course he probably got the "perks" of the day that the top athletes got once he was here.

It's good to hear his take and honesty on the subject. What we did was really no worse or better than what any of the top 20 schools did. Unfortunately, we did it with a bit more arrogance and over inflated our importance in the NCAA landscape. Texas and Alabama would never have gotten the death penalty because of their pull and size. We proved to be the perfect scape goat, put the rope around our necks, and then took the fall for the NCAA so it could appear they were getting tough on recruiting violations, which to a degree, did work.

James is a tool... he will never have my respect

Craig is in a position to know what other schools were up to. He was highly recruited by many top programs. One doesn't know what or if Craig received anything from SMU. His girlfriend (now wife and mother of his children) was already at SMU. Not a minor consideration for a young kid coming out of high school. Craig is a good fellow. He is now in a difficult position of trying to be an analysis in the public eye. He therefore must appear as objective as possible. He is not paid to be a cheerleader for SMU. He is paid to attract an audience that has interest in schools other than SMU. It is not an easy position for one of the greats that played during one of the greatest periods in SMU history. The key is for SMU to win and attract interest. Then Craig doesn't appear to be too bias when he touts his old program.