The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian Page A
Authors: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian
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Bean took notes. By the end of the session, he had a pretty good sense of what had transpired. “When it became clear there was an investigation going on, the coaches were quick to distance themselves from the students who had helped in that office,” Bean said. “It didn’t take them very long to say we didn’t have anything to do with this. As opposed to defending the hostesses, the coaches pushed them to the front and suggested that students working under their control were responsible for all of this.”
Bean was a huge Tennessee football fan. But he was hardly surprised that the coaches were letting the hostesses take the heat. “Coaches by nature are opportunistic, and I don’t think that’s a trait you can turn off,” he said.
Earps asked Bean what to do about the university’s request to see her phone records. Bean explained that neither the university nor the NCAA could compel her to surrender her phone records. But based on her story, he determined that Earps had done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. All her phone records showed was that she made lots of calls to recruits. That didn’t violate any NCAA rules. He advised her to cooperate fully with the NCAA.
Earps told Bean that her friend Dahra Johnson needed a lawyer, too. Bean agreed to represent both girls pro bono. One of his first items of business was to contact the NCAA investigator handling the Tennessee case.
Joyce Thompson had been out of law school for only three years when she joined the NCAA enforcement staff in 2002. But by the time the NCAA commenced its review of the Tennessee football program under Lane Kiffin, Thompson had become famous. In the motion picture
The Blind Side—
released in November 2009, just as the NCAA opened its inquiry into Tennessee’s program—actress Sharon Morris plays the hard-nosed NCAA investigator who looks into whether Michael Oher—the main character—violated any recruiting rules when he signed his letter of intent to attend Mississippi. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Sandra Bullock (playing Oher’s adoptive mother) isn’t allowed to sit in on an interview that Thompson conducts with Oher.
But in real life, Thompson’s reputation was that of a personable, understanding professional. “Because of my background as a litigator, I expected her to be adversarial,” Bean said. “But she wasn’t. Joyce was open and pleasant.”
Bean opened up to Thompson about the one thing about the case that angered him the most. Earps was taking a beating online. “Lacey had her picture plastered on the Internet,” Bean said. “And she was the subject ofmessage board topics being discussed in ways that no one would ever want their mother, daughter or sister described. Some of the stuff being said about her was just blatant defamation of character.”
Bean even considered taking legal action against a few Web sites. He told Thompson that none of these rumors and sexual innuendos were true. Earps was willing to submit to questioning. But he didn’t want her humiliated by inappropriate questions that dignified the lies being spread on the Internet. “I told Joyce that that issue concerned me a great deal and that I didn’t want any questions about that,” Bean said.
Thompson promised to tread lightly.
On March 16, 2010, Bean accompanied Earps and Johnson to the Andy Holt Tower on the UT campus. Before they sat down to face questioning by Joyce Thompson and Michael Glazier, outside counsel for the University of Tennessee, Bean gave his clients some simple advice: “Just answer the questions and tell the truth.”
Nervous, Earps had no interest in lying. But due to her proximity to Kiffin and his staff, she had been privy to information about recruiting practices that other hostesses—not to mention the Tennessee administration—were not aware of. The last thing she wanted to do was implicate people.
“I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Earps said. “Going in, I felt
Bean was a huge Tennessee football fan. But he was hardly surprised that the coaches were letting the hostesses take the heat. “Coaches by nature are opportunistic, and I don’t think that’s a trait you can turn off,” he said.
Earps asked Bean what to do about the university’s request to see her phone records. Bean explained that neither the university nor the NCAA could compel her to surrender her phone records. But based on her story, he determined that Earps had done nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. All her phone records showed was that she made lots of calls to recruits. That didn’t violate any NCAA rules. He advised her to cooperate fully with the NCAA.
Earps told Bean that her friend Dahra Johnson needed a lawyer, too. Bean agreed to represent both girls pro bono. One of his first items of business was to contact the NCAA investigator handling the Tennessee case.
Joyce Thompson had been out of law school for only three years when she joined the NCAA enforcement staff in 2002. But by the time the NCAA commenced its review of the Tennessee football program under Lane Kiffin, Thompson had become famous. In the motion picture
The Blind Side—
released in November 2009, just as the NCAA opened its inquiry into Tennessee’s program—actress Sharon Morris plays the hard-nosed NCAA investigator who looks into whether Michael Oher—the main character—violated any recruiting rules when he signed his letter of intent to attend Mississippi. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Sandra Bullock (playing Oher’s adoptive mother) isn’t allowed to sit in on an interview that Thompson conducts with Oher.
But in real life, Thompson’s reputation was that of a personable, understanding professional. “Because of my background as a litigator, I expected her to be adversarial,” Bean said. “But she wasn’t. Joyce was open and pleasant.”
Bean opened up to Thompson about the one thing about the case that angered him the most. Earps was taking a beating online. “Lacey had her picture plastered on the Internet,” Bean said. “And she was the subject ofmessage board topics being discussed in ways that no one would ever want their mother, daughter or sister described. Some of the stuff being said about her was just blatant defamation of character.”
Bean even considered taking legal action against a few Web sites. He told Thompson that none of these rumors and sexual innuendos were true. Earps was willing to submit to questioning. But he didn’t want her humiliated by inappropriate questions that dignified the lies being spread on the Internet. “I told Joyce that that issue concerned me a great deal and that I didn’t want any questions about that,” Bean said.
Thompson promised to tread lightly.
On March 16, 2010, Bean accompanied Earps and Johnson to the Andy Holt Tower on the UT campus. Before they sat down to face questioning by Joyce Thompson and Michael Glazier, outside counsel for the University of Tennessee, Bean gave his clients some simple advice: “Just answer the questions and tell the truth.”
Nervous, Earps had no interest in lying. But due to her proximity to Kiffin and his staff, she had been privy to information about recruiting practices that other hostesses—not to mention the Tennessee administration—were not aware of. The last thing she wanted to do was implicate people.
“I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Earps said. “Going in, I felt
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