part II Again, fwiw.. kurt
http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Common%2FMGArticle%2FPrintVersion&c=MGArticle&cid=1031771096576&image=oan80x60.gif&oasDN=oanow.com&oasPN=%21frontpage 'He wanted someone to hear it' Professors, former AD said Bowden told them of players being paid Mitch Sneed Opelika-Auburn News Thursday, September 18, 2003 Terry Bowden talked to more than a columnist about a system Auburn University assistant coaches and boosters used to pay players even after it was placed on NCAA probation. The Opelika-Auburn News published Sunday a column detailing portions of a taped interview in April 2001 with the former Auburn head football coach. The column also included comments from former Auburn president William Muse, who said Bowden had told him of the same system for paying players. The list of people Bowden informed of the practice of paying players is much longer. A group of longtime Auburn University professors said Wednesday that they were present at an April 2001 conversation with Terry Bowden where the former Tiger football coach told about a system for playing players. A former AU athletics director said Bowden told him the same thing. Dr. Barry Burkhart, Dr. Larry Gerber and Dr. Gary Mullen all said they accompanied Dr. Wayne Flynt to a farm in Loachapoka, where Bowden told all he knew about how the system worked. Their revelations were backed up by comments by former athletics director Mike Lude, who said Bowden told him a similar story in 1999 and again in 2001. "A group of us accompanied Wayne (Flynt) to a farm in Loachapoka," Burkhart said. "I don't recall (Bowden) ever saying, 'you can't repeat this' or that it was 'off the record.' He wanted someone to hear it." Burkhart said Bowden told the group about the practice of paying players, much the same content that Bowden told Opelika-Auburn News columnist Paul Davis. "He said that when he came to Auburn that there was a system in place for paying players," Burkhart said. "He said that he moved to put a stop to it, but it continued for some time and then ended." Burkhart, a doctor of psychology at AU, has been on staff since 1974 and is a past chairman of the University Senate. He said he never talked about the conversation because he hadn't been asked and that he knew that Flynt was writing a book and didn't want to steal his thunder. "I thought after the conversation was over that if this was all untrue, then Terry was killing himself and if it was true, he was implicating himself. I think he just wanted to get it out there so if SACS or the NCAA investigated or in a court of law, that people would know that he knew. It was my impression that he just wanted to get it off his chest." Calls to Bowden Wednesday were not immediately returned, but a spokesman for Bowden earlier said Bowden had no comment and that the remarks made were off the record. On a tape of Davis' conversation with Bowden, Bowden is heard acknowledging that the interview is being recorded. Gerber acknowledged being at a meeting with professors after Davis' interview and said he didn't remember Bowden saying not to repeat the topic of the conversation. "I took no notes or have no record of what was said," Gerber said. "But I do recall that there was talk of how Bowden found that some players were being paid and how the money was collected. I have no recollection that he ever said it was off the record. There was always a certain ambiguity about what to do with the information. We all knew that Wayne was writing a book and I assumed that he wanted someone else there to verify what the coach was saying." The Opelika-Auburn News has been able to confirm that no less than five separate meetings were held by Bowden with individuals over a two-day period in April of 2001 where the topic of the conversation included alleged pay for players. Lude served as athletics director from 1992 to 1994 before retiring. Lude helped foster the athletics program through the NCAA's investigation into the Eric Ramsey taped comments and allegations that he was paid. Contacted at his home near Tuscon, Ariz., Wednesday, Lude said that Bowden first told him of claims that players were paid in a conversation held in College Station, Pa., in August 1999. "I want to start by saying that I have no concrete evidence that players were ever paid at Auburn University, I want to make that clear," Lude said. "But at the Pigskin Classic in 1999 at Penn State, Terry and I were on top of the press box and he told me that players were being paid when he came to Auburn and he worked to stop that while he was here. He gave details of how it all worked. "But I don't know that any of it was true, but that is the nature of what Terry told me. He never told me that this was off the record, but you have to understand that Terry and I had a very close relationship. "He just didn't anticipate that anyone would ever ask me about it." Officials with Auburn University declined comment on these latest statements, but did point out what they stated earlier, that Bowden certified in writing to the NCAA in October of 1993, August of 1994, August of 1995, August of 1996, August of 1997 and August of 1998, that he was unaware of any unreported violations of NCAA rules by anyone involved with the Auburn football program. Bowden's claims dealt with practices he found when he became coach at Auburn and ended early in his tenure. The program under coach Tommy Tuberville was in no way implicated in these statements. Tuberville said Wednesday that the story has not been a distraction for his football team. "I read a little bit of it Sunday, but I've got enough problems of my own," said Tuberville. "I can't worry about all that." ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
