Print |
E-mail to a friend
MARSHALL SPORTS
Chuck Landon: Ridpath story has more chapters to come
Huntington attorney Marc Williams has been keeping tabs on David Ridpath’s lawsuit against former Marshall head football coach Bobby Pruett.
Professional curiosity?
It’s more than that.
Near the beginning of this long, drawn-out controversy, Williams was involved with the case. He represented such players as Charlie Tynes and Sam Goines, who were charged with receiving improper benefits.
So, Williams obviously knows some of the inside details of the saga that might be coming to a bookstore near you soon under the title, “Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA and One Man’s Fight for Justice.”
That is the book Ridpath is planning.
But, apparently, there are a few more chapters to be added.
For example, Pruett’s camp denies Ridpath’s allegations that the former Herd coaching great directed Tynes and Goines to sign affidavits.
Those affidavits claimed the players were paid $12.50 per hour for work they performed during the year they were academically ineligible. But the players say they were paid $25 per hour.
Pruett insists he didn’t direct the players to sign the affidavits and wasn’t even present at the signing. The Pruett camp also charges that it was Ridpath (MU’s compliance director at the time), who set the $12.50 amount in the affidavits.
And guess who supports Pruett’s claims?
None other than Tynes.
Despite signing the affidavit, Tynes recanted his statements and defended Pruett.
“He never said to do that,” Tynes has been quoted. “I never even went into his office to sign any papers dealing with this whole incident.”
Allegedly, the only people present for the signing were Tynes, Goines and Ridpath, while Rich Hilliard, an attorney representing Marshall, listened via a telephone conference call.
And Williams?
“I wasn’t in the room when the affidavits were signed,” said Williams, a member of Huddleston Bolen law firm. “I didn’t get involved until after the affidavits.”
Yet, Williams also backs Pruett.
“I am confident that Bob didn’t have anything to do with that,” said Williams. “He was too smart for that.
“In fact, I never saw Bob have any interaction with players. The person who had contact with the players was Mark Gale (former Herd football assistant coach, who is now director of football operations).
“They did whatever he told them to do.”
The recent outbreak in this long-festering lawsuit occurred because Pruett’s lawyers filed for summary judgment.
That prompted Ridpath and his attorneys to fire a salvo of academic fraud allegations early this week.
Don’t be surprised if the finger-pointing continues with more controversial — and sometimes sordid — accusations.
After all, unless U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers grants the summary judgment — which I consider a long-shot — the trial isn’t even scheduled to begin until Dec. 2.
That leaves two more months for allegations to fly like footballs.
But as far as the most recent accusations go, Williams believes Pruett came away unscathed.
“By and large,” said the Huntington attorney, “Bob was right. ... because he knew it had radioactivity.
“He didn’t get any dirt on him.”
That wasn’t the case with Ridpath, however.
Just ask Tom Yeager.
The commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association chaired the NCAA Committee on Infractions during Marshall’s hearing in 2001.
And, yes, Yeager remembers Ridpath. He told the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press that he recalls Ridpath as bitter and uncooperative during the hearing.
The committee’s report quotes MU’s former compliance director as saying, “We make (rules) interpretations based upon the best interests of Marshall University and I don’t care what other (institutions) are doing.”
The harshest words in the report arguably were directed at Ridpath.
Yet, Yeager stressed there was no finding that Pruett willfully violated NCAA rules.
On the contrary, the committee’s report stated Pruett and other Marshall administrators were unaware that regulations prohibited arranging employment for academic non-qualifiers.
The 18-page infractions summary — available at NCAA.org — also noted Marshall’s jobs program had preceded Pruett’s hiring.
And as for the NCAA reopening the case and, perhaps, penalizing Pruett?
Yeager says he can’t imagine that happening.
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.
