Alabama Recruiting Scandal Trial; Logan Young

[LightningRod]

What a trial this is turning out to be. This should be on Court TV for the entertainment value alone.

Young OK'd $150,000, Lang says

'Just between me and him,' ex-coach testifies

By Gary Parrish
Contact
January 26, 2005

Lynn Lang said he walked upstairs to Logan Young's bedroom, where the two could be alone to negotiate.

Eventually, they came to a price of $150,000. But before agreeing, Lang said the longtime Alabama booster offered a warning.

"Anything that happens up here, stays up here," Lang quoted Young as saying. "He said this was just between me and him, and that it would always just be my word against his."

Lang's three hours on the stand Tuesday highlighted the first day of testimony in the criminal trial against Young, who is essentially charged with paying Lang to ensure his star recruit, Albert Means, played for the Crimson Tide.

Others also took the stand, including Means, Alabama athletic director Mal Moore and Young's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Mallory.

But the most interesting moments came from Lang, the former Trezevant High coach who meticulously detailed his story of the alleged selling of Means during the 1999-2000 school year.

Lang's testimony implicated many people and schools. Among the notable things he testified to were:

Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Michigan State and Arkansas each offered money for Means, but only the first three paid.

Lang said former Kentucky recruiting coordinator Claude Bassett gave $7,000 for work at a camp and a Means visit, and that former Georgia coach Jim Donnan gave $700 "out of his pocket" for work at a camp. - Commentary - isn't this an ESPN Analyst? Also, Donnan is 1-2 vs Tressel Lang added that Bill Harper, a Georgia booster from Memphis, sent him a $100 bill in an envelope.

While Lang was at Young's house, he overheard many phone calls from Tim Thompson. After a few, Lang said he asked Young about the former Melrose High coach, and how much he gave him in exchange for Thompson sending Kindal Moorehead to Alabama.

"At the time, I was curious how much Mr. Young paid Mr. Thompson for Mr. Moorehead," Lang testified. "He told me he paid Mr. Thompson $10,000 for Mr. Moorehead."

Asked why Thompson was repeatedly calling Young, Lang said Young told him Thompson was trying to get Young to purchase another recruit, Dewayne Robertson.

"But Mr. Young told me he was upset with Mr. Thompson because David Paine never materialized," Lang said. "He told me he wished he'd stop calling."

Paine, another Melrose player, signed with Alabama in 1999, but failed to qualify academically. Robertson eventually went to Kentucky and now plays for the New York Jets.

Even after this scandal went public in January 2001, Lang's payments from Young didn't stop.

Lang initially hired A C Wharton, now Shelby County mayor, to defend him, but it didn't come cheap. He said he needed $4,000 for compensation. So he called Young.

"I told him I needed some money to pay Mr. Wharton," Lang said. "He told me to come by."

Lang testified that Young gave him $4,000 on Jan. 26, 2001. The prosecution then presented a check from Lang to Wharton for $4,000 that was dated the same day.

After about two hours of direct examination, the prosecution passed Lang, and the defense immediately began its attempt to discredit the government's chief witness.

Lang had earlier testified that he never met with Young in the presence of another person. The defense jumped on that and brought up an alleged meeting between Lang, Young and attorney Bill Wade, which prompted a fiery exchange.

"Are you saying you never met with Mr. Young with Mr. Wade?" asked defense attorney Jim Neal.

"Never," answered Lang.

"Never?" Neal repeated.

"Never" Lang answered again.

"So if Mr. Wade says he met you in the fall of 2000, he's lying?" asked Neal.

"Totally," said Lang. "I don't know a Mr. Wade. I never talked to a Mr. Wade. So that's a negative."

Lang's cross-examination was stopped after about 20 minutes. It will continue this morning, when the trial reconvenes at 9:30 in Judge Daniel Breen's courtroom in the Federal Building Downtown.

More trial info

Article summarizing the trial's opening statements. On a side and sad and hopefully untrue note, former San Jose State head coach Fitz Hill has also been implicated in this mess.

Young trial begins with flourish

Prosecution says case will show 'selling of a young man'

By Gary Parrish
Contact
January 25, 2005

Opening statements were presented in Logan Young's criminal trial late Monday, and the prosecution didn't waste time breaking things into two, all-encompassing sentences.

"This case is about the buying and selling of a young man by men who had no right to do so," said Asst. U.S. Atty. Fred Godwin. "A high school football coach put a player on the block, and Logan Young Jr. bought him off that block."

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Anyone who thought this was going to be just another boring court proceeding was corrected Monday afternoon when USA vs. Logan Young began after six hours of jury selection.

At about 3:30 -- after the 12-person jury (seven women; five men) was completed -- both sides requested to adjourn and delay opening statements until morning.

Instead, Judge Daniel Breen instructed them to prepare for a 3:50 start. What followed was an hour of mesmerizing accusations, with the prosecution first outlining how Young, an Alabama booster, allegedly paid former Trezevant High football coach Lynn Lang $150,000 to ensure his star recruit, Albert Means, would play for the Crimson Tide.

Lang, the prosecution submitted, met Young at his home in August 1999 and struck a deal in principle. Over the next 14 months, Godwin said, Lang collected $150,000 in small payments from Young, who is charged with racketeering, bribery and structuring a financial transaction to evade reporting requirements.

Besides Lang's word, the prosecution said it will as proof present bank statements showing 64 cash withdrawals from Young's checking account in that time span totaling $291,000. This is interesting, Godwin pointed out, because in the two months prior Young did not make a single cash withdrawal from that account.

"Coincidence?" Godwin asked the jury. "As somebody said in a case a long time ago, follow the money."

Jim Neal, Young's lead attorney, addressed the jury and hammered home the burden of proving a case "beyond a reasonable doubt." He spent the next 20 minutes producing several statements Lang made long ago that will contradict his testimony this week. That, it appears, will be the defense's strategy. Neal and his co-counsel will attempt to destroy Lang's credibility by taking previous statements made to the NCAA and FBI and rebutting them with other witnesses.

For instance:

Lang told the NCAA that former University of Memphis coach Rip Scherer offered to get Lang's wife into law school at no expense in exchange for Means. Neal said Scherer will deny this.

Lang told the NCAA that former Georgia coach Jim Donnan offered either a job or money for Means. Neal said Donnan will deny this.

Lang told the NCAA that former Arkansas assistant Fitz Hill offered a job that would pay $85,000 for Means, or $150,000 for Means and high school teammate Leonard Burress. Neal said Hill will deny this.

"In order to convict Mr. Young, you've got to believe Mr. Lang," Neal said. "You have to be able to say you can believe Mr. Lang. But when we are through, you will not be able to say that."

At 4:55 Neal finished his opening statement, and the jury was excused. Then, the prosecution filed a motion that had the courtroom Downtown buzzing again.

Godwin told Breen he wanted to introduce sworn statements from several people who have said Young bragged about buying many players, not just Means.

Lisa Mallory, Young's former girlfriend, has told prosecutors she consistently heard Young refer to Lang and former Melrose High coach Tim Thompson. She added that Young would talk about Means and former Melrose lineman Kindal Moorehead by saying, "He's mine," while patting himself on the chest.

Furthermore, recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper told prosecutors Young informed him on a ride back from the 2000 Orange Bowl that he had "bought every player who had come out of Memphis and went to Alabama" in recent history. Duke Clement, one of Young's acquaintances, informed prosecutors Young told him he not only paid Thompson for Moorehead, but that he "got him cheap."

"We have statements that will show this was Mr. Young's signature crime," Godwin said. "(He told many people) they could never catch him (buying players) because he's a wealthy man, and he could say he went gambling."

-- Gary Parrish: 529-2365

Article re opening statement

[BuckeyeNation27]

[ysubuck]

Somebody please keep this stuff coming.

Now, we are going to see a huge story on this on the 6:00 Sportscenter, right?

Now the NCAA is going to investigate Tennessee, Ole Miss, Michigan State, and Arkansas, right?

[goodguy]

Originally Posted by Wingate1217

Goodguy,


Do you mean Chuck Stobart?

Yeah, that is who I meant. There's a name from the past, I forgot all about him. I think he coached at Memphis, which makes sense as to why he was recuiting Means.

[Saw31]

Originally Posted by LightningRod

and that former Georgia coach Jim Donnan gave $700 "out of his pocket" for work at a camp. - Commentary - isn't this an ESPN Analyst? Also, Donnan is 1-2 vs Tressel

LOL. I just asked the same question on the other thread. Define irony for me again....

[Jaxbuck]

Wonder how loud and long Trev and Mark will be calling for his job?

They seem to enjoy the moral high ground so much and jump so quickly on hearsay and conjecture, lets see how they deal with first hand information given under oath in a federal court.

I'm guessing they might not be quite as hard on a fellow ESPiNer as they were on JT and AG.

[censored]ing scumbags.

[LightningRod]

I looked into the eyes of the former high school coach as he was giving his testimony, and I am convinced that he is telling the truth.

[LightningRod]

I wished that Court TV would televise this trial.

Calkins: Television missing one whale of a show

By By Geoff Calkins
Contact
January 27, 2005

Defense lawyer Robert Hutton walked to the lectern and began his cross-examination of Duke Clement.

Clement had testified on direct that Logan Young bragged, over dinner at the Grove Grill, of having bought former Melrose defensive end Kindal Moorehead for Alabama.

Hutton -- sticking to the essential defense strategy -- tried to emphasize that his client was smashed at the time.

"You said that when Mr. Young was talking to you at the Grove Grill about Alabama football, he had at least 10 scotch and sodas, did you not?"

"No, sir," said Clement.

No?

Ha!

Hutton had him now. He whipped out Clement's testimony to the NCAA, where the guy had clearly said -- Hutton read this all out loud -- that Young had downed 10 scotch and waters at that dinner.

So, did you or did you not say that, Mr. Clement?

Clement looked back, deadpan.

"I thought you said scotch and sodas."

Oh.

Geez.

Never mind!

Which is when the idea hit: There really should be an ESPNCRIME.

All the action, all the laughter, all the human drama of courtroom competition.

Plus, no shortage of programming!

If professional poker can draw monster ratings, why can't this?

See the Detroit basketball fans on trial for throwing stuff at players.

See the Ole Miss football players charged with sexual assault.

See Ronnie Cottrell's suit against the NCAA, and Jackie Sherrill's suit against the NCAA, and, by all means, see the show going on right now on the 11th floor of the Clifford Davis Federal Building.

Wednesday was a slow day, but it still beat the heck out of -- actual ESPN programming this week -- live Senior Bowl practice.

Lynn Lang said that East High coach Wayne Randall talked to him because Randall "wanted to know how to get money for a football player that went to the University of Arkansas."

Oooooooh.

Lang said he nearly reneged on his deal with Young because Arkansas offered him money and a position as a defensive line coach.

Ahhhhhhh.

And then, just before court adjourned, an FBI expert testified that there were 59 phone calls between Young and Lang from June 5, 2000 through February 13, 2001.

Yowser!

You have to think this creates a problem for the defense. If Young didn't buy players from Lang, what were the two gabbing about?

The pesky mosquito problem in Chickasaw Gardens?

The pros and cons of single malt scotch?

The challenge of getting today's misguided youth to realize there's more to life than sports?

Our experts could discuss all that, along with the other breaking issues of our time.

Missouri basketball. Colorado football. All things SEC.

"It's like a soap opera," said Marv Conrad, 37, who left his printing business Wednesday to come watch the Young trial.

Conrad was joined by John Hirschman, one of his employees.

"Curiosity overwhelmed me," Hirschman said.

And would the two tune in if this stuff were on TV?

"Absolutely," said Conrad.

"I know I would," said Hirschman.

So there you go, ESPN. You can thank me with cash or check.

People love sports. People love trials