George Riba Report on Justin Willis

[No Cal Pony]

smudad, you are wrong. Dale's producer at the time, John Sparks, was a ut grad. Yes, jt, maybe they didn't want to alienate Stanley, but that is pure speculation (and bs). I was there, and knew much of the situation personally. If Dale really wantee to blow the whistle, it should've been about how corrupt the SWC was at the time, a much bigger story than just ratting on SMU. Do you know the story on what really went on with Dave Stanley? I do. It wa all just so very sad for everyone, but only SMU got made the whipping boy.

Go Ponies!

[Stallion]

I think I do but why don't you confirm. The statutes of limitations have passed. But please don't try to tell us about the poor little druggie who alumni "do-gooders were just trying to help" B.S.

[No Cal Pony]

Stallion, believe me, I don't buy any story. Stanley was a bad and troubled guy, whose situation got worse while at SMU. What I know runs a lot deeper, others who were there at the time should know what I refer to.

The reality is that much of the big picture regarding all of this got swept under the table, mostly to protect ut, and the real story of the corruption that was a larger part of the SWC at the time. For now, we have to deal with what got handed to us. Yes, SMU got what we deserved, but no one else did, and that ticks me off.

For now, we should all be trying to promote in every positive sense, our school and athletics to bring up the quality we all expect.

Go Ponies!

[jtstang]

smudad, you are wrong. Dale's producer at the time, John Sparks, was a ut grad. Yes, jt, maybe they didn't want to alienate Stanley, but that is pure speculation (and bs). I was there, and knew much of the situation personally. If Dale really wantee to blow the whistle, it should've been about how corrupt the SWC was at the time, a much bigger story than just ratting on SMU. Do you know the story on what really went on with Dave Stanley? I do. It wa all just so very sad for everyone, but only SMU got made the whipping boy.

Go Ponies!

If you were there and close at the time, why didn't YOU do something to stop it.? Now I must I hold YOU personally responsible for the death penalty, or at least as much as Dale Hansen.

Please, do tell us what went on with Stanley, Mr. Insider, if you want to keep any credibility. Here's the bottom line: the lying, cheating players, coaches and administrators of the time made SMU the "whipping boy" not the media or anybody else.

[SoCal_Pony]

Here is why I despise Dale Hanson.

While other local reporters simply stated the facts, Dale presented a moral superiority tone to it that I found hypocritical and repudiating. He knew better. He had been to enough campuses, reported enough ‘recruiting war’ stories, interviewed enough players, seen enough Trans-Ams and BMWs to know what was happening at SMU was to some degree happening at every major program in this region. But you sure wouldn’t have know that from his ‘reporting’. He seemed genuinely surprised and disgusted by the whole affair. HE WAS A PHONY. Maybe to boast ratings, maybe due to deep-seeded resentment against the rich kid, I don’t know. I do know he turned off a lot of SMU supporters in a way that no other local reporters did.

[jtstang]

Here is why I despise Dale Hanson.

Excellent synopsis. Now tell us why you despise the lying, cheating, crooked players, coaches and administrators that gave Dale Hansen his material and were the true cause of SMU getting the Death Penalty. You may not like Hansen's style, but he had nothing to do with the penalty SMU got.

[Stallion]

Dale Hansen and Gerry Oher also broke the Kevin Murray/Texas A&M scandal(Remember: "oh My gosh where did that signature on that lease agreement come from" and Murray grabbed the document from Oher's hand and ripped it up), the Jim Wacker/TCU story where the Piazza man would hand out cash to TCU players and the Arkansas scandal with a well known Dallas businessman. Belo and the Dallas Times Herald broke stories on SMU(multiple), A&M(multiple), TT, UH, OSU, OU, Baylor, Arkansas, UT and TCU. Its not fair to say Belo looked to other way when they were one of the few media companies in the nation which even bothered to investigate this crap. Now I do agree one of SMU's biggest problems was that SMU was in Belo's backyard and there was a paper war going on. But guess what-the old everybody else is doing it explanation doesn't work when you get caught for the FIFTH time in about 15 years.

[jtstang]

But guess what-the old everybody else is doing it explanation doesn't work when you get caught for the FIFTH time in about 15 years.

Nailed it. That's the same reason that "selective enforcement" NCAA argument is BS. SMU cheated, and it doesn't matter whether others did or did not.

[Dooby]

More accurately: SMU cheated; got caught; was told not to do it again; cheated again; got caught; was told not to do it again; cheated again;....

At the Channel 8 website, you can watch the original report, BTW. At least you could a few months ago. It really isn't that bad a report. I'd say it was more even-handed in tone than the Channel 5 Michael Irvin junk a few years ago.

[2112]

Do you mean the 40 minute Special Report, with Hitch, Collins and Parker?

[EastStang]

I agree that after the 1983 (I think it was that year) probation, any idiot should have known that we had to take some real steps at reformation and dissassociate the boosters. They were running wild and no one seemed to know how to deal with them. I remember talking to Coach Collins at the time. Stanley was not even on the staff's top list of recruits that he and his staff were actively going after and suddenly Stanley gets a letter of intent from SMU and signs it and as Collins put it without his participation. Now you've signed what was then the equivalent of a 5 star recruit, how do you not take him. I lay a great deal of blame on Hitch at the time. The NCAA report clearly pointed the finger directly at him as the person who really abdicated authority to the boosters. The Board of Trustees should have dealt with the Board of Governors after that probation, not the Death Penalty probation.

[EastStang]

double post

[SoCal_Pony]

JT,

I will reserve comments on our administration, suffice to say I was not happy with their performance, particularly the cover-up led by our ex-Gov.

What I don’t understand is your hostility towards our players.

Here’s how I see it:

There are 4 blue chips players. All are heavily and ILLEGALLY recruited by OU, UT, A&M and SMU. In the end, player A goes to OU, player B goes to UT, player C goes to A&M and player D goes to SMU.

In your postings, you consistently single out the SMU players and are silent about the others who equally accepted graft from the other schools. You don’t call the UT players crooks nor do you ask the A&M players to return their monies. I don’t get that. Hostility towards the administration I can better understand.

Me, I was grateful player D selected SMU and enjoyed watching him compete and win on the field against players A, B and C. I would never call him a crook, I would rather buy him a beer.

[jtstang]

You apparently understand my disdain for the coaches and administration. Allow me to explain the rest. Player D is a cheater who played for SMU. SMU got the Death Penalty in 1987 and voluntarily cancelled the season in 1988 in large part because of the activities of player D. I got to watch soccer homecomings both of those years and feel that I was robbed of a large part of my college experience during my senior year(s) by the activities of player D. Player D bears equal responsibility with the others as far as I am concerned.

Player D ought to pay back every last stinking dime he put in his cheating pocket to the athletic department for reparations. Player D ought to buy me a beer.

The "crooks" who went to other schools do not concern me becuase (1) I went to SMU and (2) those crooks' teams did not get the death penalty during my undergraduate tenure there. But if it helps you, I think they should pay all their money back to their schools' athletic funds too. And in my rantings I apparently have left out my disdain for the cheating and lying boosters who also caused the death penalty. Please consider this an appendix to the rest.

[ponyboy]

I agree in large part with you jt. The only problem is that if you don't cheat and get Player D to come to your school, you end up with our record post DP.