Notre Dame is defending the passer
Irish keep Quinn's eligibility safe
ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer
It is part of Mike Karwoski's job to check out every whisper, every bit of innuendo, every rumor.
So he didn't laugh uncontrollably when a report from a Web site called profootballtalk.com crossed his desk recently.
He was too annoyed to laugh. And perhaps too nauseous as well.
"Typical freaking Internet," the Notre Dame associate athletic director in charge of compliance offered. "It's a joke."
The headline read "Weis, Irish flirting with disaster," and it went on to say:
A league source with intimate knowledge of the applicable NCAA regulations tells us that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis might have rendered quarterback Brady Quinn and other incoming seniors ineligible if, as we previously have reported, Weis has directed seniors with designs on pro football to pick their agents before the start of the 2006 season.
"My sources in the NFL," Karwoski mocked. "Yeah, great, what sources? First of all your sources should be with the kid, with the agent and the university. We're the ones who know what's going on."
And perhaps the ones who would avoid a 56-word sentence and the term "incoming seniors."
In any event, what's going on is this: Weis and Karwoski have talked to Quinn, a senior who is expected to be the first pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, about narrowing down a list of potential agents this offseason, not deciding on one.
"They wanted to get rid of the riffraff, find out who the legitimate people were," Karwoski said. "I told them there is nothing in the rules that prevents you from sitting down and talking to an agent. You can also call the ones you're not interested in and tell them that, that they're not going to be part of any further discussions.
"If there's a group of four, five, 10 that pique their interest, I don't have a problem with the player saying, 'We're going to revisit this at the end of the season when my eligibility is done.' The only thing I cautioned them about was don't tell somebody, 'You're the guy.' You are prevented by NCAA rules from making a written or verbal agreement."
Players and their families are also prohibited from taking money from an agent while the player still has college eligibility.
Dave Slates, Quinn's uncle and one of the four people advising the quarterback, takes it a step further.
"We don't even allow the family to have a Coke bought for them from one of these guys," he said.
Slates, Quinn's parents (Robin and Ty) and another uncle, Scott Binder, met with 15 agents initially and narrowed the field to six. At that point, Quinn joined the process and the family has now weeded the list to "a few."
"Brady was getting text-messages, called and mailed information on a daily basis," Slates said. "I don't know how these guys get his cell number and stuff, but they do.
"What we've done is let the guys know who are still in the running that they are and let the guys who are no longer in the running who they are. And everybody knows not to contact Brady until January. And you know what? They've honored that. Now Brady can focus on football and we can move on with our lives, knowing we'll have a very abbreviated final process ahead of us."
Notre Dame does its part to button up the process by requiring agents to register with its compliance office. None of the communications are to be made to the players directly during the season, but rather to Karwoski, who passes on the information.
"Sure, there are agents who try to work around the system," Karwoski said. "But I tell our guys, 'I would question those agents and ask them why they're not working on the up and up.' "
Karwoski and his staff also hold informational meetings in the fall right before the season and in the spring before the players go home.
"I tell every kid, and I'm straight up with this, 'You know what the rules are,' " Karwoski said. " 'If I find out you did something, don't come to me to go to the NCAA to try to get your eligibility reinstated, because I won't. You know the rules, and that's it.' "
Slates, who also saw the profootballtalk.com article, credits Weis with the family knowing the rules backward and forward.
"The implication that Charlie would be unaware of the rules is just silly," Slates said. "Charlie is a very detail guy.
"In fact, our family is very thankful to Charlie for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Brady is probably in this position in large part because Charlie has arrived in South Bend. But with this agent stuff, he's gone above and beyond the call."
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/NDSports02/606270460/-1/SPORTS/CAT=NDSports02
