Welcome to the Redshirt Diaries weekend edition. Thanks for reading and supporting us as we go through this transition. This is my twice weekly column where I attack all things Pitt and Pitt related and offer my thoughts and analysis and commentary on it all. We have a lot to get to so let's get started......
* Let's start here because Pat Narduzzi has been the loudest voice about "tampering" but he isn't close to the only voice. Many coaches, athletic directors and administrator types have said publicly that there is out of control cheating going on as schools are tampering with players who aren't in the transfer portal. We all know that this goes on and it is actually kind of legal because all of these kids have agents. There is no rule that says one agent can talk to another agent. There is no real rule that prohibits someone who may be a "friend of the program" from talking to an agent. There is nothing to prohibit anyone who is not officially affiliated with a program from talking to someone else. It is not something that can be stopped to be honest. At any rate, I have challenged coaches in the past to not talk about tampering unless they are going to get specific about who it is. I mean all of these guys have no problem saying "someone is tampering" but they won't name names and the reason is they are all engaged in it on some level. It is one of those things where as long as it happens behind closed doors or in backrooms, they can all live with it to some degree. I will get to that in a minute. Well, to my surprise Friday Wisconsin decided to finally do something about it. I think that is tremendous. Wisconsin claims Miami tampered to get cornerback Xavier Lucas.
But Wisconsin didn't just talk about it, they filed a lawsuit and claimed they were entitled to unspecified damages. Here are the money graphs:
"In a first-of-its-kind and, perhaps, a precedent-setting move, Wisconsin is seeking unspecified financial damages and a declaratory judgement deeming UM’s actions as wrongful for interfering with a binding revenue-share contract between UW and Xavier Lucas, a former defensive back who left the program in January to compete at Miami. It was a groundbreaking decision in which Lucas transferred without entering the portal (it had already closed) and after signing the contract with the Badgers.
The lawsuit details what transpired in the winter among the three parties: Wisconsin, Miami and Lucas. Wisconsin claims that Miami communicated with Lucas, “knowingly inducing” him, despite knowing he had entered a contract with the school, something it terms as “intentional” interference that “was not justified or privileged” and caused Lucas to “breach” his contract."
Apparently the whistleblower in this is someone in Lucas's family. That's really what it comes down to but here is why this is such an important case: It is going to challenge the rules on tampering, it is going to set a precedent and maybe even affect the way it is done. Now, I must point out that this was filed in a state circuit court and so there is probably about two or three layers of appeals that will challenge it no matter what happens but it will be an interesting case to follow.
The key in this one and what makes it different - Now that these guys are signing contracts through revenue sharing, will tampering become easier to prove and even more frowned upon. That is what is at the heart of this case, really. Wisconsin is claiming that since Lucas was under a revenue share agreement and yet Miami continued to pursue him.
I am not sure how this will go, actually that's not true. I am going to assume a Wisconsin state court will find in Wisconsin's favor and then it will be appealed. But think about it - if the court finds against Wisconsin for any reason other than "they failed to prove their case" then it turns the Wild, Wild West into the WIlder, Wilder West. I mean we all know tampering is going to continue and probably get worse but if schools find they can do it with a legal precedent in their favor all bets are off.
* Let's start here because Pat Narduzzi has been the loudest voice about "tampering" but he isn't close to the only voice. Many coaches, athletic directors and administrator types have said publicly that there is out of control cheating going on as schools are tampering with players who aren't in the transfer portal. We all know that this goes on and it is actually kind of legal because all of these kids have agents. There is no rule that says one agent can talk to another agent. There is no real rule that prohibits someone who may be a "friend of the program" from talking to an agent. There is nothing to prohibit anyone who is not officially affiliated with a program from talking to someone else. It is not something that can be stopped to be honest. At any rate, I have challenged coaches in the past to not talk about tampering unless they are going to get specific about who it is. I mean all of these guys have no problem saying "someone is tampering" but they won't name names and the reason is they are all engaged in it on some level. It is one of those things where as long as it happens behind closed doors or in backrooms, they can all live with it to some degree. I will get to that in a minute. Well, to my surprise Friday Wisconsin decided to finally do something about it. I think that is tremendous. Wisconsin claims Miami tampered to get cornerback Xavier Lucas.
But Wisconsin didn't just talk about it, they filed a lawsuit and claimed they were entitled to unspecified damages. Here are the money graphs:
"In a first-of-its-kind and, perhaps, a precedent-setting move, Wisconsin is seeking unspecified financial damages and a declaratory judgement deeming UM’s actions as wrongful for interfering with a binding revenue-share contract between UW and Xavier Lucas, a former defensive back who left the program in January to compete at Miami. It was a groundbreaking decision in which Lucas transferred without entering the portal (it had already closed) and after signing the contract with the Badgers.
The lawsuit details what transpired in the winter among the three parties: Wisconsin, Miami and Lucas. Wisconsin claims that Miami communicated with Lucas, “knowingly inducing” him, despite knowing he had entered a contract with the school, something it terms as “intentional” interference that “was not justified or privileged” and caused Lucas to “breach” his contract."
Apparently the whistleblower in this is someone in Lucas's family. That's really what it comes down to but here is why this is such an important case: It is going to challenge the rules on tampering, it is going to set a precedent and maybe even affect the way it is done. Now, I must point out that this was filed in a state circuit court and so there is probably about two or three layers of appeals that will challenge it no matter what happens but it will be an interesting case to follow.
The key in this one and what makes it different - Now that these guys are signing contracts through revenue sharing, will tampering become easier to prove and even more frowned upon. That is what is at the heart of this case, really. Wisconsin is claiming that since Lucas was under a revenue share agreement and yet Miami continued to pursue him.
I am not sure how this will go, actually that's not true. I am going to assume a Wisconsin state court will find in Wisconsin's favor and then it will be appealed. But think about it - if the court finds against Wisconsin for any reason other than "they failed to prove their case" then it turns the Wild, Wild West into the WIlder, Wilder West. I mean we all know tampering is going to continue and probably get worse but if schools find they can do it with a legal precedent in their favor all bets are off.
