I have been a Gamecock fan since I became a freshman in 1962. Wanted to get that out of the way. But, I have read comments on this site about the "bagman" at the church in Clemson. So, what proof and evidence is this based on? Not judging anyone with this but just wondering out loud.
The only bagman I know exists is Brad Scott's bagman in Florida. I know of "him" for 2 reasons:
1. He used him while he was here, although at the time we were only able to get kids that FSU did not want, as it was the same setup FSU used.
2. A high school assistant coach came clean with one of our coaches in regards to the recruitment of Sammy Watkins. They bag a family member and someone on the coaching staff typically. He also said he knew that CJ Spiller was "bagged" earlier. Our coach told me a little later that Mackensie Alexander was a done deal to clemson because high school coach told him not to waste his time, they already got to him. He said that the only other real player was Dan Mullen at Miss State who also is thought to have a "bagman" in Florida. He told me this around the day Alexander decomitted from UT, long before he picked CU. Clemson was not even considered a major player for him at that time, so I have a hard time thinking he just guessed right. Even if they were a big player, how would he know 100% he was headed to CU?
and #3. Why don't our or other coaches turn teams in? Two reasons. Number one, It is not like it is just one guy walking around with a brown bag of money...It is a network that has taken decades to set-up. Wonder why they kept Brad around after he proved he could not coach? Number two, you better be damn sure that you are clean if you do it. Plus, you piss off a ton of high school coaches who make good money "guiding" kids to certain schools. Sound a bit like AAU? In other words, you will probably never coach bigtime college football again if you are found to be a whistle blower.
It is no surprise that when Auburn and Bama finally quit spending so much time turning each other in they both won championships.
Clemson's network is better than ours (better than most actually) and it is a hybrid of FSU and Bama philosophies. I am pretty certain that our new staff dabbles in the game we speak of. They are just light years behind our competition currently.
