Tim Brando and Saban/USF on 1010

[fhemmer209]

Good letter Mike. Brando can't ignore it. Unless he is as intellectually dishonest as Saban.

[USFDan]

Good job!  One more thing, I believe the Big East doesn't allow partial or nonqualifers anymore while the SEC allows up to 2 for a football team per season.  Seems Bama has certain advantages we don't.

[Mission9]

Timmy B...

It's Mike Pepper here in Tampa, the PD of 1010 Sports, your Sporting News affiliate... I'm also the sideline reporter for USF Football, so I am very familiar with Coach Leavitt and the program

In Tampa, we record your show on days/nights we don't carry Yankees baseball or an NCAA football game or the Jim Leavitt show... I think your show, with a lot of knowledge on football in the South, makes more sense for our area than Arnie's and his Pac-10 focus...

Of the 15 hours you b'cast each week, we get anywhere from 0-9 or 10 of those hours... tonight, in your 4pm hour that aired in the 7pm here, you addressed the Saban comments on USF... from what I heard and understood, you said it was wrong of Coach Saban for him to say what he did, even though it was correct... here is where I, and Coach Leavitt, took exception... when Coach Leavitt was asked about the comments, he was adamant the information was incorrect and that USF has only 2 non-qualifiers on the team, one starter and one reserve, and both of those are on schedule to graduate... while you and I agree it was completely out of line for Saban to bring up USF, it was an even more egregious error for him to be WRONG!... unfortunately, some people will take Saban at his word and consider him speaking the "truth", albeit out of place for bringing it up

Even though we only have one hour of your show scheduled to run the rest of this week (Friday 4pm hour), I would hope you would correct the improper and incorrect statement on your airwaves... you don't have to take my word for it, please ask someone in the athletic department, 813.974.2125, the SID is Chris Freet... I am only relaying what I learned at the USF press conference on Tuesday

I know you have a relationship with Saban, but this was an uncalled for, and blatantly false, below the belt shot to the midsection of a coach and program that has done a remarkable job to achieve what they have to date...

Thank you for your time, and again, if you could, please do a little research on this subject and, if you deem it necessary, correct the misinformation coming from Tuscaloosa about the upstart program that has Nick Saban so concerned (and maybe jealous).

Mike Pepper

APD WQYK-AM 1010 Sports

Mornings 7-9am 1010 Sports

Promotions WQYK-FM 99.5

9721 Executive Center Dr #200

St Petersburg, FL 33702

O- 727.563.8949

Good job.  This information coming from you hopefully will be taken more seriously than if one of us had simply called in.  That said, I would be surprised if he brings it up again to correct himself.  

[Mission9]

Good job!  One more thing, I believe the Big East doesn't allow partial or nonqualifers anymore while the SEC allows up to 2 for a football team per season.  Seems Bama has certain advantages we don't.

Yeah, I know for a fact that they do since I saw that Forrest Gump played for them. ;D

[Triple B]

He opened the show up tonight at 7:00 talking about Saban's comments about South Florida.  He read Saban's quote about the player distribution not being equal and USF having 6 non-qualifiers on defense and that not all schools have the same qualification standards.

I assume this has been addressed somewhere but Saban never said we had 6 non-qualifiers, he said we had 6 players that UF or FSU couldn't take. Are the GPA, SAT, etc, entrance requirements different for USF than they are for UF and FSU? I have no idea .....

[deters]

He opened the show up tonight at 7:00 talking about Saban's comments about South Florida.  He read Saban's quote about the player distribution not being equal and USF having 6 non-qualifiers on defense and that not all schools have the same qualification standards.

I assume this has been addressed somewhere but Saban never said we had 6 non-qualifiers, he said we had 6 players that UF or FSU couldn't take. Are the GPA, SAT, etc, entrance requirements different for USF than they are for UF and FSU? I have no idea .....

Yes for the average student they are, but the NCAA should have the same standards all around the board for student athletes.

[BULLSHTR]

I'm pretty sure it's easier to get into FSU than USF. I'm very sure.

[Triple B]

He opened the show up tonight at 7:00 talking about Saban's comments about South Florida.  He read Saban's quote about the player distribution not being equal and USF having 6 non-qualifiers on defense and that not all schools have the same qualification standards.

I assume this has been addressed somewhere but Saban never said we had 6 non-qualifiers, he said we had 6 players that UF or FSU couldn't take. Are the GPA, SAT, etc, entrance requirements different for USF than they are for UF and FSU? I have no idea .....

Yes for the average student they are, but the NCAA should have the same standards all around the board for student athletes.

Maybe the same minimum standards but each school obviously can raise those standards for admission of student athletes, otherwise Duke, Vandy, ND, etc, wouldn't be having trouble competing on the field .... There should be somewhere to go to see what the academic requirements are for student athletes entering UF, FSU and USF.

[deters]

He opened the show up tonight at 7:00 talking about Saban's comments about South Florida.  He read Saban's quote about the player distribution not being equal and USF having 6 non-qualifiers on defense and that not all schools have the same qualification standards.

I assume this has been addressed somewhere but Saban never said we had 6 non-qualifiers, he said we had 6 players that UF or FSU couldn't take. Are the GPA, SAT, etc, entrance requirements different for USF than they are for UF and FSU? I have no idea .....

Yes for the average student they are, but the NCAA should have the same standards all around the board for student athletes.

Maybe the same minimum standards but each school obviously can raise those standards for admission of student athletes, otherwise Duke, Vandy, ND, etc, wouldn't be having trouble competing on the field .... There should be somewhere to go to see what the academic requirements are for student athletes entering UF, FSU and USF.

I remember a article about a recruit that was heading to UF for football and the guy had terrible grades. He had below a 1000 SAT and like a 2.4-2.5 GPA. And he still got in. The sad part is they have to cut someone that is 4x brighter then him from a chance at a scholarship b/c the moron plays a sport.

Also check this out on AU Board.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=6&f=1010#s=6&f=1010&t=1151430

[Triple B]

He opened the show up tonight at 7:00 talking about Saban's comments about South Florida.  He read Saban's quote about the player distribution not being equal and USF having 6 non-qualifiers on defense and that not all schools have the same qualification standards.

I assume this has been addressed somewhere but Saban never said we had 6 non-qualifiers, he said we had 6 players that UF or FSU couldn't take. Are the GPA, SAT, etc, entrance requirements different for USF than they are for UF and FSU? I have no idea .....

Yes for the average student they are, but the NCAA should have the same standards all around the board for student athletes.

Maybe the same minimum standards but each school obviously can raise those standards for admission of student athletes, otherwise Duke, Vandy, ND, etc, wouldn't be having trouble competing on the field .... There should be somewhere to go to see what the academic requirements are for student athletes entering UF, FSU and USF.

I remember a article about a recruit that was heading to UF for football and the guy had terrible grades. He had below a 1000 SAT and like a 2.4-2.5 GPA. And he still got in. The sad part is they have to cut someone that is 4x brighter then him from a chance at a scholarship b/c the moron plays a sport.

Also check this out on AU Board.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=6&f=1010#s=6&f=1010&t=1151430

For those without the FREE Scout account, here's the post:

Ray Melick admits "protecting" Saban by changing quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ray Melick admitted on B'ham radio today that he changed a quote from Nick Saban in order to "protect Nick." Melick's admission occurred on The Roundtable on WJOX radio in B'ham today. Here's the background:

Melick wrote a 10/2/07 column in the B'ham News entitled "Lower standards help some schools." Melick's article contained this purported quote by Nick Saban: "The distribution of players is not the same for everybody," said Alabama head coach Nick Saban. "There's a significant amount of players who don't qualify (at some schools) and they end up being pretty good players at some other schools. I think there are six guys starting on South Florida's defense who probably could have gone to Florida or Florida State but Florida and Florida State couldn't take them. And if you do a good job of recruiting that way ..."

Melick's article infuriated South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt, who said "Saban and Melick blew it. ... They'll hide behind the shroud of this and that. Nobody takes responsibility. If they made the comment, they need to come out and say I'm wrong." (link to article)

After Leavitt called out Melick and Saban, Paul Gattis of the Huntsville Times wrote an article about the fuss. Gattis' article contained Saban's actual language from his press conference, which included this: "I think that the distribution of players is not the same for everyone. We can't take Props (partial qualifiers) in the SEC. They can't take them in the ACC. And there's a significant amount of players who don't qualify. And they end up being pretty good players at some of these schools. I think there are six guys starting on South Florida's defense who probably could have gone to Florida or Florida State but Florida and Florida State couldn't take them. And if you do a good job of recruiting that way--now the Big East has passed a rule that they aren't going to take Props at some time in the future. I don't know if it's next year or the year after or whenever."

When Melick was asked about the ruckus on The Roundtable today, he said that $aban had actually used the term "prop 48", which is not in existence any more under current NCAA rules. So, Melick said, he changed Saban's language to delete the references to Prop 48s because he "was trying to protect Nick."

I am disgusted that Melick (a UGA grad), would change $aban's language to try to protect $aban, but I am shocked that he would admit it on the radio. The fact that he admitted it on the radio suggests to me that either his journalistic standards are so low he doesn't even consider what he did to be improper, or he thought that "trying to protect Nick" would endear him to the bammer nation, which makes up a majority of the listeners to WJOX. In either event, I think it's shoddy journalism.

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