5. Oklahoma
6. Texas A&M
7. Wichita State
8. Wisconsin
9. Florida State
10. Memphis
The only surprise on the list, to me, was the University of Wisconsin. I tend to think of the big school in Madison as a pretty classy place, but I did not realize how many problems the Badgers' sports teams have had over the years.
Auburn, the reigning champion of college football, made my home state "proud." But I'm still trying to figure out how our other big-time school, the University of Alabama, failed to make the list. After all, UA has a board member with documented ties to massive insurance fraud. His name is Paul W. Bryant Jr., son of the late Hall of Fame football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. One of Bryant Jr.'s companies, Alabama Reassurance, was implicated in a $15-million fraud scheme several years ago in Pennsylvania.
How many schools can claim a certified, gold-plated fraudster on their board of trustees?
Alabama probably didn't make the list because the NCAA, for years, tended to cut "mother campuses" lots of slack. In fact, former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian long has told this classic joke: "The NCAA got so mad at Kentucky for cheating that they gave Cleveland State two more years probation."
Over the past decade or so, the NCAA has started pulling back the mask a little on mother campuses. So we can look forward to the Crimson Tide joining Auburn in future top 10 lists of the most corrupt programs in college sports.
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