LB Jared Casey chose Oregon over UofL, UK, and Wisconsin. Can't say I blame him for not staying home, given the current state of the program. Cort Denison, former UofL staffer and coach (14-17) was Casey's lead recruiter for Oregon.

https://n.rivals.com/news/4-star-kentucky-linebacker-jared-casey-commits-to-oregon

The Franchise is not playing today. Maybe a break in our favor

This was nice to see. Especially given some of the crap we're enduring this fall.

https://watchstadium.com/news/acc-c...-job-in-conference-unc-third-best-10-04-2018/


One comment bugged me, as it will you. But .. mostly, this is a nice pick me up.

Call me crazy but I think the entity in these trials and this scandal that has been shown in the worst light is clearly the NCAA... for how much they like to throw the term "lack of institutional control" around and divy out punishments accordingly, they ought to look in the mirror.

Not sure how else you describe allowing millions of dollars over the years to flow through recruits' families at what appears to be schools ALL over the country, watching as shoe companies and the AAU circuit corrupted the core of CBB. Academic fraud essentially at UNC. Sex and sexual assault scandals on the largest scale at Baylor, Michigan State.. it is clear that the NCAA only cares about violations that include transactions on which they do not profit and grant immunity to any blue blood program that is critical to their revenue.

They are a morally inept, inconsitent, greedy and hypocritical institution and if they are really looking for someone to give the death penalty to, it should be pretty clear who really deserves it.

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Orlando Early, a former N.C. State assistant basketball coach, accepted tens of thousands of dollars and helped funnel it to the family of Dennis Smith Jr. to secure the basketball player’s commitment to the Wolfpack, Thomas “T.J.” Gassnola, a former Adidas America consultant, testified in federal court in New York on Thursday.

“I gave Orlando Early $40,000 to give to the family of Dennis Smith,” Gassnola said.

Gassnola has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to testify for the federal government in its fraud case against James Gatto and Merl Code, two former Adidas employees, and Christian Dawkins, an agent runner. Gassnola told the court he flew to North Carolina in 2015 and delivered the cash to Early at the coach’s request.

“In the fall of 2015,” Gassnola testified, “Orlando Early reached out to me that there was some issues surrounding Dennis. There was a lot of minutiae around him. He was having some issues keeping the situation together.”

The Smith family, Gassnola said, was complaining to Early that it needed money.

“I offered to bring him $40,000 to calm the situation,” Gassnola said. “Just make it easier, keep people happy.”

The money, Gassnola testified, was to be passed from Early to Shawn Farmer, Dennis Smith Jr.’s personal trainer, and on to Dennis Smith Sr., the player’s father. Gassnola described Farmer in court as the “go-between” for Adidas and the Smith family.

Gassnola said he asked Gatto, a former Adidas executive, for the cash and then traveled to North Carolina on Nov. 1, 2015, to make the payment.

A receipt for his plane ticket for travel from Hartford, Conn., to Raleigh that day was entered into evidence.

Gassnola ran the New England Playaz summer-league basketball team, which was sponsored by Adidas. He said he withdrew the money from the team’s account and was subsequently reimbursed by Gatto.

Gassnola was asked in court what the withdrawal from the Playaz account was for.

“It was a payment to Dennis Smith’s family,” Gassnola said.

Gassnola said he met Early at his house in Raleigh to give him “cash in an envelope.” The transaction happened at Early’s house because “I wanted to conceal it from N.C. State,” Gassnola testified.

Gassnola also testified that he did not discuss the payment with anyone else at N.C. State, including compliance officials.

“Coaches would have been fired and Dennis would have been deemed ineligible,” Gassnola testified.

The $40,000 payment was the second one Gassnola had made to Smith, he said. The first, he testified, was made when Smith was a junior at Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville. It’s unclear how much the first payment was for.

Smith played one season at N.C. State, in 2016-17, before the Dallas Mavericks drafted him in the first round of the NBA Draft. Despite Adidas’ efforts to secure him, he signed an endorsement deal with rival shoe company Under Armor, which left Gatto disappointed.

“I felt we had done nothing but good for Dennis Smith and his family over time. Jimmy went beyond the call to sign that kid,” read a text from Gassnola that was shown in court.

N.C State compliance director Carrie Doyle testified Tuesday and Wednesday that she had no knowledge of the payments made to the Smith family, which are a violation of NCAA rules. She said had the school known of them, Smith would not have been offered a scholarship.

Smith signed his national letter of intent with N.C. State on Nov. 11, 2015. The following month, on Dec. 17, 2015, he signed the required documents to certify his eligibility that allowed him to receive funds under his scholarship agreement with the school.

According to documents entered into evidence, one of the documents stated, “You have reported to the director of athletics or his or her designee of your institution any violations of NCAA regulations involving you and your institution.

“You affirm that you understand that if you sign this statement falsely or erroneously, you violate NCAA legislation on ethical conduct and you will further jeopardize your eligibility.”

Doyle testified that, in the eyes of the NCAA, it didn’t matter whether Smith Jr. knew or didn’t know about the payments to his family when he signed the document attesting to his amateur status.

Gassnola testified on Wednesday that he made payments to the families of five players, including Smith, former Kansas player Billy Preston, current Kansas player Silvio De Sousa, former Louisville player Brian Bowen Jr. and former Arizona player DeAndre Ayton.

Is that we are 2-4 against a schedule that consists of:

1 G5 school
1 FCS school
4 Power5 schools

with 4 home games, one neutral site game and one true road game. The teams we have faced in the first half of the season are 18-15 (55% winning pct) on the season.

The second half of the season, we face 6 Power5 schools, 3 at home and 3 on the road, with a combined record of 27-8 (84%).

In other words, we could improve quite a bit in the second half of the season while still finishing the last six games with the exact same 2-4 record as we did in the first half of the season.

Sheesh.

= Brutal. ND, Clemson, at FSU, at Miami, at NC St. at UK, etc.

Kenny Johnson paid the Bowen Family's rent

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College Basketball Trivia: Who did Bill Self and his wife take out to dinner the night before Self went into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame?

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Please give my football Cards the energy, attitude to compete hard on Saturday & a good memory of how to play this great game of football. We both know that you gave them the athleticism & the opportunity to play it & play it well. May you also give them the confidence to execute.
In your name we pray!
Amen

The CJ just reported this data from the results of its FOI request:

Cardinal Stadium Capacity: 60,800
Average Reported Attendance First 4 Games 2018: 50,975
Average Scanned Tickets First 4 Games 2018: 34,968 (57.5% of 60,800 Capacity)
COMPARISON to Average Scanned Tickets First 4 Games 2017: 37,775

Tickets Scanned By Game 2018:

GAME 4 Georgia Tech: 35,785
GAME 3 Florida State: 38,496
GAME 2 Western Kentucky: 42,976
GAME 1 Indiana State: 22,615

Tickets Scanned by Game 2017:

GAME 6 Syracuse: 19,715
GAME 5 Virginia: 31,893
GAME 4 Boston College: 32,544
GAME 3 Murray State: 38,317
GAME 2 Kent State: 34,014
GAME 1 Clemson: 46,224

I will miss your contributions on Howie's show but it sounds like a job that you are perfect for.

Cort Dennison and staffer Stephen Field out to Oregon. Not many left from one of the best Jefferson Co. football classes in my memory.

Peace

I began following the Cards when Frank Camp was coaching and have suffered through the worst of times of Louisville football and enjoyed the good times of Louisville football. The tough years outnumber the good years. What am I saying? Number one, I'm old, Number two, the younger Cardinal fans have been spoiled by recent success on the football field. Take a look at the following won/loss records of previous Cardinal head coaches: Frank Camp 118-95-2, Lee Corso 28-11-3, T.W.Alley 9-13, Vince Gibson 25-29-2, Bob Weber 20-35, Howard Schnellenberger 54-56-2, Ron Cooper13-20, John L. Smith 41-21, Steve Kragthorpe 15-21, Charlie Strong 37-15 and the combined record of Bobby Petrino 77-31. We are currently living the dream. Enjoy the moment young fans. I personally don't not see any of our past or current coaches on the Mount Rushmore of college football coaches. So let's slow down the desire to replace Coach Petrino. He is truly one of the best coaches in the game today. Had a wise man tell me once " Great players make great coaches". So in closing let me say, quit your whining and crying and ask yourself is the Louisville coaching job a stepping stone job or is it a job that coaches around the nation covet? Our fans need to suck it up and move forward . Coach Petrino has not forgotten how to coach! He will bring us back.

Ticket window closed?

I wanna see my Cards pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get back in the fight! This time, it’s personal. Let’s go take to them Chowda eatin’ Boys up in Boston. Let’s get ready to RRRRUUUUMMMMBLE!

is we are not 0-6 and still can technically be bowl eligible. go cards!

Pitino did not know about Addidas plan to pay Bowen $100K, but believes Kenny Johnson did.

https://www.scouttrout.com/breaking...naca-hs-football-scout-trout-team-of-the-year


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