Did the Oregon Ducks Cheat?

A	The Oregon Ducks are cheaters regardless of whether the NCAA says they broke the rules. What they did was shady and shouldn't be allowed.

B	The Oregon Ducks are not cheaters and simply played the game by the rules as they were written.

C	I am not sure. It will depend on whether the amount they paid was due to the signing of Lache Seastrunk or LaMichael James

D	The Oregon Ducks cheated and the NCAA will punish them for breaking the rules.

The NCAA is investigating the Oregon Ducks Football Program in regards to a payment made to Will Lyles in the amount of $25,000. The spokesman for the University, Dave Willford, confirmed the school made the payment to Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston. Oregon argues the payment was within the NCAA RULES. In a statement, the University said it "is something we remain confident that is within the acceptable guidelines allowed by the NCAA and occurred with the knowledge of the department's compliance office," which seems to be true.

The media alleged NCAA violation is Oregon paid Lyles to help him influence Heisman Trophy Candidate, LaMichael James, and Lache Seastrunk choose the Ducks during the recruitment process. For more details on the the exact allegations see the ESPN videos provided.

The CBS Sports article Oregon Cheated without Breaking a Rule, explains:

"there's a difference between breaking a rule -- or not breaking a rule, in Oregon's case -- and cheating. One is black-and-white. The NCAA has a massive rulebook, and if the rulebook allows for schools to subscribe to a recruiting service, then a school that subscribes to a recruiting service has broken no rules. That's Oregon.

But cheating isn't as easily defined. It resides in the gray area where the best coaches make their hay. They find a way to exploit an unwritten rule, or even a written rule in the NCAA's massive rulebook, and they use what they've discovered to gain an unethical advantage on other schools."

The NCAA will decide whether the Ducks broke any rules, but how do you perceive what the ducks have done?Is the Oregon Ducks Football Team Guilty of Cheating?

Updated 7/1/2011

In the article Scout details relationship with Oregon, Kelly, the yahoo website Rivals.com provides a pretty damning interview with Lyles. The following is a few quotes from the article:

"In a wide-ranging, multi-day interview, Lyles said Kelly scrambled in late February and asked Lyles to submit retroactive player profiles to justify the $25,000 payment to his company just days before the transaction was revealed in a March 3 Yahoo! Sports report."
"Lyles insists Oregon did not make a direct request or payment to steer recruits to Eugene. However, he now says Oregon did not pay him for his work as a traditional scout, but for his influence with top recruits and their families and his ability to usher prospects through the signing and eligibility process."
“I look back at it now and they paid for what they saw as my access and influence with recruits”
“The service I provided went beyond what a scouting service should … I made a mistake and I’m big enough of a man to admit I was wrong.”
"Lyles said Oregon’s assistant director of football operations, Josh Gibson, had direct knowledge – and played an ancillary role – in Lyles helping Temple (Texas) High School star Lache Seastrunk petition to have his grandmother, rather than his mother, sign his national letter of intent with the Ducks in February 2010. Seastrunk’s mother, who expressed opposition to her son about attending Oregon, otherwise could have blocked the signing."
“Indirectly I played a pivotal role in [Seastrunk signing with Oregon],” Lyles said
“Lache came to me and said his mother was threatening him, saying she wouldn’t sign his letter of intent unless he went to the school she told him to go to,” Lyles said. “He was worried about it because he wasn’t of age to sign the letter of intent himself. He wanted to find out how he could get his grandmother to sign the letter of intent instead of his mother, because his grandmother is the one that raised him in the first place.”
Lyles’ intimate involvement with Seastrunk’s letter of intent came just weeks after Kelly and Oregon agreed to be Complete Scouting Service’s first client. It also was after Lyles filed the founding documents of his company. That places him under the jurisdiction of the NCAA as an active recruiting service provider. Regardless of his intentions, his relationship with both Oregon and Seastrunk could be a major violation of at least one – and possibly multiple – NCAA regulations.
Lyles’ engagement of both Oregon and Seastrunk in a manner that facilitated the Ducks securing the prep star’s letter of intent could classify Lyles as a representative of the school’s athletics interests.
Lyles’ advisement in Seastrunk’s letter of intent process – along with Gibson’s involvement with Lyles’ actions – could be a major point of interest for NCAA investigators.
Lyles said he spoke again to Kelly in late January to discuss Oregon purchasing Complete Scouting Service’s national package. When trying to determine a fee, Lyles said Kelly provided a suggestion.
“He told me to go out and find out what the best paying service is,” Lyles said. “And he said he was going to have Josh Gibson look into it. But Josh never really looked in to it; but I did.”
Lyles said he began calling around to other scouting services, posing as a coach from Texas Southern (where he had attended but not graduated) who was interested in purchasing a national service. The highest fee he found was from Illinois-based LRS Sports that would cost “about $25,000.”
Lyles said he spoke to both Gibson and Kelly about the $25,000 fee and both approved.

"This is one of multiple hand-written notes Lyles said he received from members of the Oregon Ducks football staff following his Oct. 31, 2009 recruiting visit to Eugene. Lyles organized and attended that visit with recruits Dontae Williams, Trovon Reed and Matt Sherrard."

"This is another of hand-written notes Lyles said he received from members of the Oregon Ducks football staff following his Oct. 31, 2009 recruiting visit to Eugene. Lyles organized and attended that visit with recruits Dontae Williams, Trovon Reed and Matt Sherrard."

"In this email, Oregon Assistant Director of Football Operations Josh Gibson forwards Will Lyles instructions from Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance Bill Clever, detailing the steps to have a grandparent become the signing guardian on a letter of intent. According to Lyles, this email was in response to his efforts to help star recruit Lache Seastrunk empower his grandmother to be his signing guardian, rather than his mother. Lyles said it was this change that paved the way for Seastrunk’s commitment to the Ducks."

J Rose

Did the Oregon Ducks Cheat?

A. K.

Merideth Sanders

More sports polls: