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Blog: The Newell Post

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By Jesse Newell

February 4, 2009

What if I told you that ESPN interviewed me last week to become a permanent member of the TV show Around the Horn? Would you think of me as a better journalist? OK, so the previous scenario did not happen. But something like it is happening in football recruiting across the country.And I'm not talking about faraway places. I'm talking about right here in the state of Kansas.KU signees Riley Spencer (from Hesston) and Huldon Tharp (from Mulvane) both were highlighted in a recruiting story in Tuesday's New York Times.Both hired Brian Butler as their recruiting adviser, a position that makes him the boys' trainer and manager (Bryce Brown, the nation's No. 1 recruit, out of Wichita, also has hired Butler).According to the article, Spencer and Tharp didn't receive much interest from Division I schools until they started working out with Butler.Shortly after, though, Butler claimed that Miami was looking at both of them. Whether that was true or not is open to interpretation, depending on whom you believe in the article.Once word spread that such a prestigious school would consider the two Kansans, their stock skyrocketed. Eventually, both chose KU, and they will be a part of the 24-man signing class announced today.It raises some questions about the whole process, though. I can't blame Tharp or Spencer for wanting to get their names out. They did what they had to do to get Division I offers. In Tuesday's Spodcasters episode, Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com said he left impressed after watching Spencer in camps.This line from the Times article stuck out to me most, though.Asked if Butler told him that he was going to tell people that he had a Miami scholarship offer that did not technically exist, Tharp said, “Yeah.”I guess it leaves a whole lot of questions to be answered.Is a boom in recruiting advisers good for college football? Or is it good for the game to have someone like Butler create buzz for a high school athlete by perhaps stretching the truth about that kid's offers?I would tell you my opinion, but I've got a phone call to take. I guess Yahoo! Sports just heard that I might be listening to offers from ESPN ...

Comments

lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...

Jesse, call it like it is. Brian Butler is a leech. End of story.

February 4, 2009 at noon ( | suggest removal )

ttoulouse (anonymous) says...

Advisers = Agents. Sounds like a fine line to me.

February 4, 2009 at 12:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Let me make this clear up front - I DO NOT know Brian Butler, or any of the players that he has trained. But how's he a leech exactly? He isn't taking anything from any of these kids. He helped both Tharp and Spencer get more offers than they had before. I'm not condoning his methods, but recruiting is built on rumors. Rumors lead to interest, which leads to competition, which landed Tharp and Spencer looks (and any teammates they had that were also talented) that they otherwise would not have gotten. Tharp had sent his tapes out, wasn't getting any interest. All of a sudden a Miami rumor is floated, and his phone starts ringing. Let's be honest about one thing - most of the high school coaches in Kansas do very little to help their top players get D-1 offers. Some schools almost never have D-1 talent, so when that once in a blue moon kid comes through, they don't know how to handle it, how to get his name out, etc. That's why a marginal player from Texas will get offers while a kid from Kansas won't. The coaches that see D-1 talent on their roster every year know how to help not only their super studs, but their solid players, land on D-1 rosters. The Kansas coach may be great at winning football games, but ill-equiped to help guide his player through big time collegiate recruitment. All Tharp's coach did was send tapes. He didn't make any contacts, didn't have any insiders, didn't do anything else to promote his star, yet was surprised that he wasn't getting more interest. wake up people! It's a small town in Kansas that has NEVER had a D-1 prospect before. You think the major schools are going to flock to Mulvane every year even though there has NEVER been a D-1 level player? NO! So once you have a D-1 quality player, you have to really push them. There are coaches all over this state, from Fort Scott to Scott City, that have no idea how to drum up recruitment interest for their players. Enter Brian Butler. He came in, dropped a rumor, got people to take a different look at these guys, and what do you know - offers come in. That's my take on it.

February 4, 2009 at 12:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

RockChalkJayBlog (anonymous) says...

It's dirty, that's why he's a leech.

February 4, 2009 at 12:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

feedback71 (anonymous) says...

They hired a recruiting adviser? How does this pass NCAA rules?

February 4, 2009 at 12:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

matt_tait (Matt Tait) says...

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the idea here.... There are enough money-hungry shady characters involved with college athletics already. I'm not sure we need more.But what's the real harm here? Nothing. If anything, it's benefitting the athletes a great deal. No different than hiring a publicist or creating a web site to get yourself recruited. The truth is stretched, sure, but that's not the fault of the athletes. And if the schools buy it, I say it's a good move. Ultimately, it's up the universities doing the recruiting to know all they want/need about a recruit that they're willing to commit money, time and resources to. Great blog, Newell.

February 4, 2009 at 1:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

patton6 (anonymous) says...

If you're hired to be on Around the Horn, I will not think of you as a journalist. I will think of you as a guy that can yell and follow a script.

February 4, 2009 at 1:08 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

steve4ku (anonymous) says...

I agree with justanotherfan as to small school coaches and thier inexpirience with the recruiting process. Another thing that happens with high school coaches and their players is the fact that if the coach has a poor record but is getting interest from college recruiters he has to defend his record. If the coach has good enough players to be getting interest at the next level, why the sub standard record? In that scenario the coach will not be much of an adovocate for the players. It happens more to the Juco thru D II kids than a D I kid. I've seen this happen numerous times. But it's pretty hard to hide a D I kid.

February 4, 2009 at 1:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

HowMuchRice (anonymous) says...

Butler isn't a leech for publicizing inaccurate recruiting information--the media is fed B.S. all the time for selfish reasons. That's nothing new.It's everything else Butler does, including charging people $9.99 a month to get recruiting updates on Bryce Brown, that reeks. Preying on teenagers with bright futures ahead of them makes you scum.

February 4, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...

feedback71 - Here is some more information on Brian Butler, and why this is kinda legal.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/sports/ncaafootball/04recruit.html?_r=1&ref=sports

February 4, 2009 at 2:09 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

BigGuyDon (anonymous) says...

Not to mention this creates a whole new layer of people open to corruption and influence peddling. No doubt some of these guys will have their hands out, ready to "deliver" a kid to a particular school. It's hard enough for the NCAA to keep track of the athletes themselves, much less the street agents.It's far better if you just hire their unqualified buddies to be coaches and pay them exorbitant salaries (Dalonte Hill). Basketball knows how to do it right.

February 4, 2009 at 2:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

vmwskywalk (anonymous) says...

There is nothing at all wrong with hiring a recruiting advisor. Obviously there can be an ethics issue tied to the advisor himself and how he operates. But even then, it's still the job of the college coach to scout and evaluate talent. I would think that it would be in the best interest of college football coaches to form relationships with some of these guys to find talent that is off the radar. In my eyes it's no different than hiring a fitness trainer.

February 4, 2009 at 2:12 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

stupidmichael (anonymous) says...

The Chicago Bulls just offered me a contract!!!!!.......................................didn't work.

February 4, 2009 at 2:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

A kid out of Nevada last year held a press conference announcing that he was going to Cal. Truth is, he didn't even have the grades to go D-1. But he had everyone - parents, coaches, teachers, media - convinced that he was going D-1.Here's the link to the ESPN story. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticke...

February 4, 2009 at 2:58 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

rohdek (Kyle Rohde) says...

Helping a kid get publicity is not wrong. Charging to get updates on their recruiting is - that essentially makes you their agent and high school kids aren't supposed to have agents. If you read the quotes in the Times article from Coach Byers, you'll see the real problem with Butler - he's influenced Bryce and Arthur to the point that they didn't care about the team anymore. That's not right.

February 4, 2009 at 4:01 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KU (anonymous) says...

Whether I agree with influence peddlers aside. What's different about this than the AAU basketball circuit? Football players have less exposure because there is no AAU football circuit.

February 4, 2009 at 4:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

HowMuchRice (anonymous) says...

It's not different from the AAU basketball circuit. AAU basketball is filled with scum, too. Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur are two examples of players with AAU leeches hanging around.

February 4, 2009 at 4:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pleiker (anonymous) says...

Maybe Spencer was already being recruited by Bill Young while he was at KU and then when he left for Miami, that is where the interest from that school came from?...

February 4, 2009 at 5:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ohioburg (anonymous) says...

It reeks of corruption. Anyone doubt that the "advisors" have their hands out to coaches so they don't give bad info to the players?

February 4, 2009 at 8:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

njjayhawk (anonymous) says...

Who cares? I don't. Must be a lazy news day for the media. The true test will when these players take the field. I suggest Mangino knows what he is doing.

February 4, 2009 at 9:13 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mdfraz (anonymous) says...

I would suggest that anyone that hasn't read the article in the Times should do so. Butler is a con man looking to make money off a talented, probably self involved, teenager. If a guy wants to help kids get their names out, ok, that's probably a niche that can/should be filled, esp. in schools where there isn't D-I talent on a regular basis. But, Butler charges these kids to work out with him, charges people to get inside information on their progress/recruiting, and then apparently makes up material misrepresentations about what schools are looking at/offering scholarships to certain players. The best part is, Butler has said that it's kind of a religious mission to help these kids. I don't remember an exact quote so I won't try, but it was something along the lines of God wants them to be successful/rich, and I'm helping them. Again, not a direct quote, but the impression I got. Is it an NCAA violation? Given that they need to have their hands in everything involving college athletics (see the Bill Self greeting fiasco), I wouldn't be surprised at all. I can't say that it is a violation or that it's illegal, but it seems to me to be immoral. And that's not me being on my high horse; he's taking advantage of young kids who trust him. Just as complicit are the parents probably. No matter how talented the Brown brothers are, I think KU has been wise to steer clear of them and Butler as much as possible. I didn't realize until yesterday that Tharp and Spencer dealt with Butler. That's a bit troubling, but if MM is ok with it, well, he knows better than me. Butler just seems like a headache we don't need.

February 5, 2009 at 9:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KoolKeithFreeze (anonymous) says...

Above post is on the money. Read the times article for a better perspective. This guy Butler is obviously a bullsh*t artist...

February 5, 2009 at 10:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Hawkish4bigM (anonymous) says...

To me what seems to be a void in Kansas high school athletics is advanced training, placement counseling, and so forth. Kansas high school athletics needs to change with the times. Kids need to be able to work out longer, practice and play a longer season. There needs to be a resource for these kids. Until then, guys like Butler will show up to fill the void.

February 8, 2009 at 12:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )