Clair, I know that you were probably too young to remember Lester Earl, but I do, and he was a problem child. The high school where I taught at the time won the basketball state championship that year, so our coach was one of the East All-Star coaches. He had many stories about Lester Earl, who had to be removed from the All-Star team mid-week. As for Roy Williams, I had a co-worker who was a family friend of his (she and her parents were big-time KU alums; in fact, she now works for the athletic department up there.), and it was always hard for me to listen to her talk about how great Williams was--especially since her own brother, a standout recruit, opted to play for UConn, instead of KU.
I agree with you on Williams. I was always a believer in that Williams got Earl to say some things against LSU so that he could force LSU into giving Lester his release. Williams played a role in the whole debacle. Also, I saw Earl play in the Top 28 deal at the Assembly Center and wondered then why everyone was so high on the guy. Sure, he could jump out of the gym but couldn't shoot a lick.....Glen Oaks had a shooter who was much better on the same team who went somewhere.......think his name was Cory-something or another. Earl was certainly not a player to risk the whole program on.
Does anyone remember the facts on this case. I seem to remember some booster, maybe a Dr., being involved. It has been so long ago, I don't know, maybe we should just let it go. It is nice that he apologized though.
Here is an article rehashing the debacle. It came out in 2006 during our final four run. http://thethirdbattleofneworleans.blogspot.com/2006/03/lsu-basketball-10-years-later.html On Dale Brown's wikipedia site, it states the only thing the NCAA turned up in their investigation was money a booster gave to Earl (something like 5K and I believe it was from a physician). LSU got 5 years probation for Earl's lies. I think Brown is quite the saint to forgive him like that.
He said in his second book that they never found anything on him other than some ticky tacky stuff. Let's face it, the NCAA had it out for Dale Brown because he made them look like buffoons in public time and time again.
This is absolutely correct. You either have integrity or you don't. You live long enough and you will stand at ethical crossroads several times. As evidenced by Earl's apology, your decisions follow you for the rest of your life. And no amount of money washes away that stain.
You nailed it! The NCAA was tired of being called out by Dale Brown. They enjoyed doing whatever the hell they wanted to and expected everyone else to just live with it. I'm not saying that Dale Brown and Johnnie Jones were angels but I think the Lester Earl fiasco was all about the NCAA trying anything possible to silence Dale Brown. The real cheaters in this situation were the NCAA, the University of Kansas, and coach Roy Williams. If I recall correctly, Kansas tried to say they were a top-tiered educational university and only accepted scholars as students. Surprisingly they accepted Lester with his 0.0 grade point average with no problems. Have you ever noticed that Kansas usually gets placed in the weakest bracket and often has everything lined up for a Final Four run?...and they still choke! Compared to the Maurice Clarett (OSU), Reggie Bush (USC), and Notre Dame situations this seems like nothing yet as the NCAA has proven many times, they are very bias depending on who's involved. CHEATERS SUCK!!! o:
Dale Brown continously thumbed his nose at the ncaa and its rules for recruiting.He tiptoed along the lines of illegallity long enough that when the ncaa had anything concrete on LSU ,we were toast.Anyone remember Dale Brown recruiting Tito Horford.At one point during Horford's recruitment,when face to face visits were not allowed ,Dale Brown goes to Horford's hotel room,tells Horford to lay down on one bed ...puts the phone across the middle of the floor...and he lays down on the other bed...then says "we are talking OVER the phone ,Tito"....nice try Dale. Anyone here really believe that Gus Piazza is going to give Lester free food,and Bill Moore is going to give Lester free gasoline and DR. Redfield Bryan is going to give Lester 5000 dollars cash without Dale Brown's knowledge? Yes ,I do believe the NCAA was incredibly harsh with LSU.But , we CHEATED.A five thousand cash payment to a recruit is a MAJOR ncaa violation whether the school or coaching staff knew anything about it or not.Personally ,i think any booster ,coach or anyone else associated with LSU that commits any NCAA infractions needs to be tarred and feathered and then burned at the stake.Maybe a federal law where a booster would due some serious jail time if he gets caught giving illegal inducements to a player,instead of the school slapping them on the wrist,saying "We have disassociated ourselves from said booster"
I remember reading all the stuff on it when it happened. What I couldn't get was, why wouldn't everyone just shut up? That's what every other college does. You have a kid who says one thing......you then have people he has implicated in the matter. Those people just need to shut the F up and everything will be fine. Give Earl his release and say bye-bye.
