Hmmm...the situation at Michigan, with Jamal Crawford, isn't as
straightforward as it seemed. For one, there
is a lawsuit now against Barry Henthorn, a young-ish Seattle exec, by his
former assistant, who says he forced her to co-sign loans for Crawford, so that
he could buy jewelry and a Blazer.
The key phrase from the suit: "The real purpose of the loans involving Mr. Crawford was to evade or violate NCAA rules and Washington State law regulating the practices of athlete
agents."
That, of course, puts it in a different ballpark,
as do the questions over a supposed brochure which lists nine companies
supporting Henthorn's foundation - one his own, six fictional, and two who never
heard of the whole business. Henthorn says it was a mockup.
No matter what you think, there's
a lot of weird stuff going on, including a guy from Des Moines who does a
cameo as a security guard on a pay stub - but he has no idea what it's about, he
says.
Meanwhile, Michigan
has lost six straight games. Frustration has seeped in. Here's how bad
things really are - it's not that the AD has resigned over this mess. It's not
that Crawford is ineligible. It's that Robert Traylor, who had some questions of
his own, has
turned up as the big brother/advisor.