Allegation No. 7

OK Allegation No. 7 concerns Travis Carroll obtaining an SUV.

The issue for the Committee is:

Did Jim Johnson provide a vehicle at no cost to Travis Carroll?

Alabama’s disagrees that Carroll received the vehicle at no cost.

Alabama contends that Carroll was a recipient of a spot delivery.

Behavior consistent with a dealer that sells vehicles by spot

delivery.

Johan/NCAA believes:

Carroll received the vehicle from a booster at no cost.

They rely on Carroll's credibility.

The sales arrangement.

Johnson's involvement and his inconsistencies.

The background is that Carroll told Johan that in the spring of

1999 he went to his position coach Jeff Rouzie and asked if he

could recommend a dealership where he could at least get a fair

deal on purchasing a vehicle. He suggested to Carroll to go see

Callaway. Callaway calls Jim Johnson on the speaker phone and

Carroll tells Johnson:

1) he is looking a SUV.

2) he has got a Pell Grant.

3) he has very limited financial means.

4) is looking for some type of a payment that he can afford as a

student, etc.

So Carroll gets David Barron to take him to the dealership. He

met Johnson and they went over to an office and sat down and

start talking about Alabama football. Go figure, Sorry, Anyway

How the team was doing. How is Carroll's shoulder etc. etc?

Now this is where Alabama & Johan Part ways. Johan says that

Alabama was dirty. (Big shocker) MR. POWELL states: One thing,

if I might digress, in my other life many, many years ago, I had

clients who were in the mobile home business and they generated a

lot of paper. The basic rule was sell it at cost and get the

credit life insurance and high interest on it. It is sad to note,

but if you will look at that interest rate, you will see what the

deal is here and why they are willing to do what they are doing.

At twenty-eight percent they can get somebody in the car, and

that's the trick. Get him in the car and then you will get your

money. The fact that it is shown as a cash sale is because if

you have to go to court or something that's the way you want it.

You don't want any representation there is any financing.

That is not good business, but if you are going to charge twenty

eight percent, it can get to be good business. I just simply

submit, unfortunately, that's the way of the world and that's the

way of the world of a lot of kids in college. Kids who now, I

can't believe it, have five and six and seven credit cards and

they are trading them off against one another.

Ok Johan spews on for awhile about how Carroll got the car with

no down payment, how he loved coach Rouzie but decided he hated

Dubose more & transferred to Florida, etc, etc. I will agree

that this Car deal would not have happened for a regular student

without a coach making a call for that student.

Steve Spurrier apparently raised the issue with the University.

The University did conduct an initial investigation on it.

At that time Marie Robbins talked to Johnson and he told her that

he had found a financing company for Carroll, and that Carroll

was a skip.

Johan goes on to state that the Car dealer didn’t look hard

enough for Carroll. He says Johnson went up to Tuscaloosa &

walked into the waiting room and he asked somebody if they had

seen Travis Carroll. They told him no. He said he couldn't find

anyone. Johan’s problem is, Neil Callaway is one of Johnson’s

best friends. They hunt, they fish, they go everywhere. It would

have been very easy to call Callaway and say, "Look, where is

that kid? I agree. Why Callaway never been put under this

“Spanish Inquisition?”

Johan then goes on to state how Carroll says he placed a call to

ask for the title. This is when Carroll was supposedly told that

if he was not going to be attending Alabama he would have to find

alternate financing for the vehicle.

To show you how out of touch Johan is he states that one of the

things that troubled him the most was that Callaway told him “He

became very concerned because Carroll might have overextended

himself. Carroll had gone out and purchased these expensive

wheels.” Johan goes on to say “I just can't comprehend a young

man that has very little money going out and spending a lot of

money to put those expensive wheels on. Again, this doesn't come

from Travis Carroll. This is what Neil Callaway told us about

those expensive wheels being put on that vehicle.”

Marie counters all of this BS by saying “the first occurrence of

this issue of cars for Travis Carroll comes to my attention on

the very day that Travis Carroll goes to Coach Rouzie and tells

him that his car had blown an engine.” Rouzie and Carroll march

right down to my office, which is in the same building. We had a

discussion regarding this issue. The focus was, are there any

student loans that Carroll could get to purchase another car, and

that sort of thing. That was in the spring of '99.”

The second time is when Steve Spurrier sent that handwritten

note. That is January, 2000, after Travis had already left the

University to transfer down to Florida. Again at that point, we

do our compliance drill and call Jim Johnson. She points out that

“it is true that we did not go interview Travis Carroll. We had

no phone interview primarily because the very first thing that

Jim Johnson tells me on the phone is it was an attempted

purchase.”

COI member PARK says, “I'm sorry. An attempted purchase?”

Think “my Cousin Vinny” Yea An attempted purchase.

She also points out that “I firmly believe that but for Neil

Callaway's phone call to Jim Johnson in June of '99, it is very

unlikely that Travis Carroll was not purchasing the car at Heard

Chevrolet. I have no doubt about that.”

The difficulty is that Coach Callaway has not been charged with

any violation of NCAA rules. Therefore we can’t bring him in here

& grill his arse like you guys did Ronnie earlier.

Marie then points out that absent Callaway they have to rely on

just a paper trail. She points out Carroll reported to Johan:

1) that he left the dealer with the impression that he had a

free car.

2) He may very well have left there with that impression, but

the action of the dealership immediately after the June, '99,

meeting at the car dealership, the documents themselves, the

notations on the documents, that I will refer to here in a

minute, and the actions of the dealership after the spot delivery

do not support Carroll's impressions that it could have been a

free deal.

See Kash, who was the general manager of the dealership, reported

that forty percent of the dealership's business is sub-prime

financing. Being, high interest loans to very high-risk credit

individuals.

Kash also reported that information regarding Carroll's financial

status was fairly accurate. Travis Carroll would have been

required to obtain a qualified co-signer in order to obtain

financing. Kash reported that the dealership would have permitted

a spot delivery if Travis Carroll promised to obtain a qualified

co-signer.

Marie then directs the Committee's attention to Carroll’s

financial background in the main response of the University. In

the very first telephone call, Carroll himself reported that he

told Johnson on the phone that he only had a small amount of

money for a down payment and that he had funds from the Pell

Grant.

Once at the dealership I would like to direct your attention to

the Credit Bureau Report. It is timed 2:43 pm, June 16, 1999.

About two-thirds of the way down the page you will see it says

"Student Loan," reported April, '99. Further across there, under

the balance column, 675. I will note that April, '99 would have

been the spring of that semester, about the very time Jeff Rouzie

and Travis Carroll came to my office about the whole idea of

student loans. I then referred them to the student financial aid

office.

MURPHY states that I would like if I could perhaps clarify

something for the COI. What I believe that to be, is a summary

as of that time of all of Mr. Carroll's debts and obligations.

Had he had a MasterCard bill that was overdue, that would have

shown up there. I think what this means is, in fact, one

indicator of creditworthiness in that his only outstanding

obligation was a $675 balance on a student loan and he was not

required to make any payment on that. Payment was deferred,

presumably, until he finished his schooling.

As Rich accurately pointed out, this young man comes from a very

poor family, with a single mom, living in a week-to-week motel

room. I doubt that he had a clue about how one enters into an

installment sales contract on a toaster, much less an automobile.

So that he would leave the Bill Heard dealership with one

impression and Mr. Johnson would leave with another impression is

entirely consistent with his family circumstances.

YEAGER states “somewhere in these materials I read that Bill

Heard dealerships had their own finance company. So even if the

opportunity to try to lay this loan off on somebody else failed,

they obviously had the ability, because somebody else is driving

their car, to process it themselves, even though they might not

have wanted to. Is there any evidence that they did that?”

Marie responds Actually, there is evidence to the contrary. It

was specifically reported by Johnson that it is their policy with

not only the University of Alabama, but with the University of

Georgia, & Auburn University, not to dealer endorse athletes.

You can see the handwritten notes there very clearly. It says,

"No, per Ron for D/E," meaning no dealer endorsement. If, in

fact, this was a free deal, as alleged, then the easiest thing

for Jim Johnson to have done was exactly what you are saying, and

that is just send the paper to their captive finance company and

dealer endorse the vehicle, but, in fact, they did not do that.

You will note the calculation rate being the interest rate,

twenty-eight percent. As Professor Marsh has described it, that

is exactly a sub-prime loan. But if you will note the contract

date is June 21, this being a proposed contract in advance of the

call to Travis, the first payment date was not to be until

Tuesday, July 20, '99. So that would be twenty-six payments and

each payment was supposed to pay, beginning July 20, of $204. As

Johnson reported, during the course of the finance company

interview with Travis Carroll, they heard, you know, some things

that didn't sit well with them and, therefore, they may never

have secured the deal.

CHAIRMAN YEAGER: So this comes back and then this "no, per Ron"

is a notation made by someone at the Heard dealership? MS.

ROBBINS: Correct, on June 21st. CHAIRMAN YEAGER: OK. So then

what do they do?

MS. ROBBINS: Well, there is some time passage. The approximate

time of getting the car back, as best we can tell, is the end of

July or early August.

YEAGER Doesn’t give up that easy. He states I mean, if this is

the first one where they are attempting to shop the paper, it

comes back apparently on June 21st, you know, that these people

aren't buying the paper. These guys have not been paid for the

car. What do they do? You know, what is Plan B?

MS. ROBBINS: Well, as Johnson reported, they tried to shop it

around to different finance companies, but they never did the

paper. Beyond that, I don't know what happened.

CHAIRMAN YEAGER: As you said before, they could have gone as a

last resort now, gone to their own finance company, because they

are on the hook for the car anyway. Did they ever process it

through their own finance company? What part of it is their

policy with not only the University of Alabama, but with the

University of Georgia, & Auburn University, not to dealer endorse

athletes. Did you not understand you old fart. Sorry, Marie goes

on to say There is no evidence of that, no. CHAIRMAN YEAGER: So

the next kind of discussion about any kind of payment, there was

some reference that the young man called the dealership, was

quoted a new price of what it would cost, something, and that is

when the whole repossession kind of came in.

JOHAN says Carroll's story is, "I called him because I wasn't

coming back and needed the title to get the vehicle registered,"

etc.

He calls there. He asked for the title and Johnson said, "If you

are not coming back to Alabama, you can't keep the car." In fact,

Carroll even tries to blackmail him and tells him, "I'm going to

tell somebody that you gave me this," and they went back and

forth.

MS. ROBBINS: The problem is that because the deal was never

consummated, there was never any title to send.

Knowing he has been beat YEAGER says Right. So at that telephone

conversation Carroll said, "I'm not paying you $4,500," Then they

come to repossess the car. MARIE says Correct.

Trying to move it along MR. DEE says “I don't think he had the

car as long as this conversation. How long did he have the car,

about six to ten weeks? JOHAN responds Somewhere in there, yes.

MS. POTUTO not giving up asked Marie, “I was going to ask you

with regard to what Carroll said, assuming that you are correct

and it wasn't a straight-out gift. There was some sort of loan

arrangement. Do you think Carroll lied or that he just didn't

understand what the deal was?” Marie jumps on this one too.

That is a great question. I don't think he lied as regards to his

impression. I would like to point out for the Committee some very

key facts that refute his testimony, as supported by the

documents:

1) 1 issue is that Carroll reported when he arrived at the

dealership, Johnson had the paperwork completed and ready for

Carroll's signature upon his arrival at the dealership. The

documents prove him to be wrong, the retail installment credit

app., the second document. The retail installment credit app.

“please print”. That is Travis Carroll completing that document.

So, in reality, at the dealership, all the paperwork was not

ready for his signature. That is the first issue.

2) Carroll also reported in his interview with the NCAA that

the mileage on the vehicle was 77,000 miles. Again, the documents

prove him to be wrong. The very last document, the one that Ms.

Myers referred to, the retail purchase worksheet, it is very

clear that the mileage on that Jeep was 132,000 plus miles, well

above 77,000 miles.

3) Carroll reported was that when he left The car dealer.

Barron is the one who drove him to Columbus, Georgia to buy the

car. Barron substantiated that. Barron reported that he and

Carroll left the dealership and went to Barron's home in Atlanta

to see Barron's parents.

4) Barron wanted Carroll to meet his parents and they followed

each other. Carroll reported that he drove back to Tuscaloosa.

I don't think that Carroll was lying when he said that he left

there with the impresssion that it was a free deal MS. POTUTO:

All right. Given the discrepancies, could you tell me why you

don't think he was lying?

MS. ROBBINS: I think it is exactly because of what a sub-prime

spot delivery transaction is. In such a transaction customers do

not have to put a down payment down. Knowing that there is going

to be a high interest rate later on, 28%, so he never had to pay

anything there at the dealership. I think the actions subsequent

to that, you know, don't prove him to be a liar. They just differ

from his impressions.

MS.POTUTO: What about the claim in the interview that Johnson

told him to keep it quiet, which wouldn't be necessary if it was

a legit spot purchase? MS. ROBBINS: I would then just point to

the inconsistent testimony by Carroll, as I just pointed out. I

don't know that everything that Carroll reported was accurate.

MS. POTUTO not giving up asked Marie, I thought I heard you say

that you agree that if it had been a non-student-athlete, Johnson

wouldn't have been there doing the arrangement, is that right?

MS. ROBBINS: Correct. I thank you for reminding me of that,

because both Johnson and Kash reported in their interviews that

while they are no longer front-line sales people, having been on

the front-line sales role, now in management, they typically get

customer referrals from long-time friends, colleagues, this sort

of thing. They both reported that they would assign it to a

salesperson and oversee the transaction.

MS. POTUTO: That leads to my next question. The coach called

Johnson, who wouldn't otherwise be doing this. Johnson shows up

at the dealer when he wouldn't otherwise be there. There is a

salesperson who does the deal. Are you sufficiently persuaded

that even were this to have been a spot-or whatever this thing is

called - transaction, that it what influenced by the fact that

you have the V.P. coming in and overseeing the deal that the

salesperson did?

Now Marie goes in for the kill. I don't know if I would use the

word influenced. As I stated earlier, I think most certainly but

for Callaway's call to Johnson Travis Carroll is not at that

dealership. I can't answer those questions as to, you know, why

Coach Calloway did that. I will tell you that as a result of this

event when the Spurrier letter first came we addressed with the

coaches very clearly that you, as coaches, should not be talking

about cars and referring to car dealers, if you will, with

student-athletes.

MR. PARK tries his best shot at Marie, let's look at the retail

purchase worksheet, which I think is the only thing Travis

Carroll signed. Which is dated June 11, 1999, and does have a

signature of Travis Carroll. On the right-hand side there is a

column with spaces for various entries and the first figure

that's in there is the $3,600, which is the purchase price. Is

that correct? Is that your assumption?

MS. ROBBINS: Correct. You see the same figure on the proposed

contract, which is the first item. Big whop. Anyway.

MR. PARK: Then you move down and you move into what I would call

deductions from the purchase price, I guess that would be trade-

in and then you would come up with the amount to be financed. In

this case they have equity or net allowance, $3,645, which just

happens to be the purchase price plus the $45 processing fee.

There is nothing down there on the bottom for financing, is

there? Have I misread that?

Marie does her best “Down goes Frazier” I think it is simply a

function of the person filling this document out having to make a

couple of corrections, as you will see, crossing out things that

he had written. You will notice that the dock fee is lined out

when in fact on the proposed contract there was a proposed dock

fee of $299. Then, you see the very next line down back on the

retail purchase worksheet, a figure that was written in there,

crossed out, and then subsequently, as you noticed, the $3645. I

would suggest to you that that is, in fact, the purchase price

again and transferred over to the proposed contract. In fact, the

amount ultimately that was proposed to be financed was $3960.50.

That included a service contract, dock fee, title fee.

Scrambling now Park says “where is that?“ The one that is dated

June 21st? Marie Calmly walks the Dunce through it. Where the

"no per Ron or D/E". It's a typed document at the top with Travis

Carroll. The next line, calculate rate, twenty-eight percent.

Mr. Park not giving up: But that was prepared ten days after the

car was delivered. What I am troubled about is the only thing

that is signed, which is the retail purchase worksheet, doesn't

show any balance there to be financed. If you go over the retail

installment credit application, it is not signed, but also, there

is nothing shown for the amount to be financed.

Marie now walks the 1^st grader through it again. I don't think

the retail installment credit application would, because this is

Travis Carroll filling out what is his credit history, not what

was going to be the loan for the car. Damn he isn’t going to

give up is he. Mr. Park: What I am suggesting is that the

dealer, if this was bona fide credit transaction, would have

completed this, and it was never completed.

Marie tells him he is finally getting it. That is correct. It

coincides with the handwritten note that you see in part on the

retail installment credit application that they did during the

phone interview, which was also June 21st. I understand your

point that the $3,645 figure is not in the right block, but I

think it is clear that that was the purchase price of the

vehicle.

Mr. Park: Let me ask a question about the credit report. It is

dated June 16th and you referred down there to the student loan.

I am not sure that I am following you and that I understand what

the point is. So, let me interpret what I see here and then you

tell me what I've missed and what the point is. It indicates that

the loan was reported apparently in April of '99, that it was

opened in July of '98, and that it had a balance of $675 owed by

Travis Carroll to the University on the loan. How does that help

somebody decide to loan money to Travis Carroll?

Ms. Robbins: My interpretation was that it was the source of

money at the very same time, the spring '99, that he was at the

dealership. My point initially in bringing that was to say that

I think there was more discussion regarding Travis Carroll's

ability to make a payment than is referenced in the case summary.

I think there was in the initial discussion on the telephone, and

then a more lengthy discussion during the actual meeting at the

dealership. The fact that they had information that he was going

to be on a Pell Grant, and what have you.

We asked if we could place a call down to our colleagues at the

University of Florida to follow up on a little bit of information

that goes to the un-creditworthiness of Travis Carroll, and that

this is a deal that he would never have been able to get. The

enforcement staff agreed that we could phone down to the

University of Florida, specifically Janie McCloskey. In fact, it

was Gene who called Janie McCloskey to review kind of what Travis

Carroll's current state was. So, our point in following up with

Janie was, one, not to further disturb Travis in this sort of

thing. We had at one point planned to go to down there after the

receipt of the O.I, but decided not to.

But, as the summary memo from Gene to the enforcement staff

regarding the conversation he had with Janie McCloskey, Janie

confirmed that Travis is still receiving a full Pell Grant, that

he was driving a '95 Jeep Cherokee, with far less than 132,000

miles on the one in this allegation, and that Carroll is

currently living in a relatively nice off-campus apartment with

his starting quarterback.

Johan knowing Marie has just wiped the floor with his arse states

We just want the Committee to understand that it is not our

position that the young man could not afford the vehicle.

STOP. Un Freaking Believable. I have broke down over 100 pages

of this crap, hearing constantly how there is no way in Hell

Carroll could have afforded this vehicle and now you tell me all

of that was BS! You are one piece of Crap Johan!

It is our position that the young man went down there without any

idea that he was going to get a vehicle at no cost. You know, we

have no problems that he may have very well been able to afford

the vehicle from the Bill Heard dealership. So, from that

standpoint we don't take issue with that. It's just that Carroll

told us, you know, when he went in there, he was shocked that he

came out with a free vehicle.

OK Allegation #7 is done. I know I have been doing a summary on

all of them but I swear this one beats them all. Remember

Johan/NCAA stated that Carroll received the vehicle from a

booster at no cost.

They relied on Carroll's credibility. The sales arrangement. And

Johnson's involvement and his inconsistencies. I did not find

anything that would make me think Carroll received the vehicle

from a booster at no cost. Carroll’s credibility, give me a

break. Marie waxed your arse on all of the arrangements of the

sale and I did not see any inconsistency in Johnson’s Testimony.

I would have loved to see Rouzie or Callaway in here with Marie

on there arse as well.

What really pisses me off is Marie was like a Pit Bull on this

one. She sat there for most of the day while Alabama was going

down in flames and did nothing. In her defense she could do

nothing now. The Compliance staff had already made a decision to

throw Ronnie, Ivy, Keller, and Logan under the bus. They had

been in bed with Johan so much in previously that they could not

defend themselves or the actions of anybody on Alabama’s Side.

Here in #7 however it shows that they had “their ducks in a row”

so to speak and no matter how hard Johan & the COI tried there

was no way they could sit here and accuse the Alabama staff of

not doing their job. It is obvious to me that had we taken this

approach throughout the case Marie would have slammed Johan to

the mat KO in round 1.

Truly SAD.