Hall of Fame Cheater, Lou Holtz

Tonight Lou Holtz was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. This article tells you Lou is the only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games and four different programs to final Top 20 rankings. What it doesn't tell you is he's also one of the few coaches to lead three consecutive programs to major NCAA infractions. Let's go to the tape:

Lou Holtz coached the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 1984 and 1985 football seasons. In 1988, the NCAA detailed major infractions involving the Minnesota football and basketball teams included the period Holtz was at Minnesota.

Lou coached the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1986 – 1996. In 1999, the NCAA issued a report detailing major infractions involving the football team from 1994 to 1998. Again, Holtz was head coach during part of that period.

Lou coached the South Carolina Gamecocks from 1999-2004. In November 2005, the NCAA issued a report detailing major infractions against the football program covering the period Holtz was at South Carolina.

Lou may have just been a victim of circumstance to happen to be the head coach when this cheating was going on. But it's an interesting coincidence, don't you think?

Nonetheless, he is deified by many. I'll admit I find him entertaining to listen to, but at least recognize the legacy. It's a similar record as Jim Harrick, or Jackie Sherril, but with more charm. And an ESPN contract.

Something we haven't done...

by HeadThief, Senior Editor-in-Charge
This reporter was amused to read Andrew Cuomo's announcement yesterday of subpoena's to several D-1 schools athletic departments and potential improper promotion of a student lending provider. This is in addition to Mr. Cuomo's previous work around student lending improprieties at USC, UT-Austin and Columbia U. I was unable to confirm if the USC Director of Financial Aid was involved in rent payments for Reggie Bush, but apparently she bought a nice baby gift for Matt Leinart and his ex-girlfriend saying, that "Surfer boy probably won't be around as a daddy anyway." I think the gent at UT-Austin has used his ill gotten gain to post bail for drunk Longhorn footballers, but that could be just a rumor.

The biggest shocker of all of this, of course, is that the the beloved Oklahoma University Athletic Department was not named in this sub poena. When asked to comment about the suit, Joe Castiglione said, "I know nothing about this operation. Is it too late to get in? Sounds like there's money to be made. You know we wouldn't pocket the money ourselves, we would use it to keep the price of football tickets down. No, really, I mean that."

New Ratings for Dirty Programs

Three or so weeks ago, Mike Freeman, a columnist on sportsline.com, rated the Sooners #3 in the nation at cheating, behind SEC powerhouses Alabama and Auburn. There were a couple of problems with this story 1) Mr. Freeman didn't exactly give much analysis as to how he got to his top 10, other than a brief narrative and; 2) Mr. Freeman is quite familiar with cheating to get ahead. I'm not sure if this means he is an authority on lying, or serves to further discredit his journalism.

Yesterday, we have Pete Halliday at AOL Fanhouse ranking the 10 dirtiest programs. In this new ranking, he actually has identified a mathematical rankings. In this scoring model, the Sooners are ranked #2, behind the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This is just another example of the officials screwing the Sooners, as I'm sure that call at the goal line in Lubbock a couple of years ago vaulted Dust University ahead of us. Seriously, if you review the scoring, Halliday actually ignores recruiting in his analysis, because you can't control "rogue boosters", but you get points in the scoring model for lacking institutional control, which is how you control rogue boosters. This makes as much sense as those computer models in the BCS system that have to ignore margin of victory.

So, who do you believe? The sportswriters who have us at #3, or the computers, who have us at #2. It's a shame we don't have a playoff so these things can be settled on the field.

For a different sort of rankings, I refer you to the fabulous folks at Everyday Should be Saturday, who have a little contest called the Fulmer Cup, in which programs get points for various criminal transgressions. Presently, Oklahoma isn't even in the Top 10 on that board. Personally, I'm disappointed the Sooners continue to have some challenges in the compliance area, but proud of the good ol' alma mater that we're staying off the police blotter, for the most part.

I'm sure we'll see someone else's rankings soon, let's hope they can get recruiting, academic fraud, text messaging, criminal activity rolled into one. A "Phil Steele wannabe" with a law degree, a computer and lots of spare time. There's got to be an unemployed lawyer out there that could help.

Surely we will get extra points for naming our athletic teams after a group of cheats.