NCAA SANCTIONS
Former East standout at center of violations
Will Redmond, a standout at East High School, is at the center of a case that resulted in sanctions against Miss. St.
Two summers ago, Will Redmond, a promising young two-way speedster at East High School, was contacted by a man named Denton Herring. He said he planned to start a website that would cover Mississippi State recruiting.
To Redmond, it must have been one of scores of phone calls and messages he was starting to receive — and surely would receive — in the inordinately intense world of high school football recruiting information brokerage. It would prove to be much more than that, leading to a relationship that landed Mississippi State on NCAA probation.
The NCAA handed down sanctions to MSU on Friday in the case of improper benefits like cash and the use of a car for Redmond, a story that made headlines late last summer. The sanctions were relatively minor; the NCAA was pleased with State’s proactive stance
And now the Grizzlies coaching mess involves a protest. Of course it does. Because why wouldn’t the most successful season in franchise history end like this?
With celebration giving way to controversy. With triumph giving way to a public rally in support of the head coach.
“We are going to let Grizzlies management know how we feel,” said Daniel DeWitt, 33. “We want our head coach back.”
DeWitt is the guy who came up with the idea of getting together to support Lionel Hollins. The event will take place at 3:30 Saturday at Tom Lee Park.
“We’ll make signs and sort of have a pep rally for Lionel,” said DeWitt. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
That last sentence will be on one of the signs, by the way. Maybe it will also be a chant.
and indicated it didn’t feel the violations went beyond Herring and an assistant coach, Angelo Mirando. State lost four scholarships and a small number of official visits, recruiting days and comp tickets, though most of the self-imposed penalties have already been digested. The school is on probation until the summer of 2015. And Mirando was given a oneyear “show cause” order, effectively keeping him off an NCAA staff for a year.
The Redmond saga was one of two major stories that developed in Memphis-area prep circles late last summer, once again casting the city’s recruiting scene in a poor light. The other was with former Wooddale star Jovon Robinson, who was deemed ineligible at Auburn after a school counselor acknowledged falsifying his transcript.
Redmond’s story began a year earlier with that initial contact with Herring, who lives in the Atlanta area. The events are reconstructed from the NCAA’s 18-page public infractions report that MSU does not dispute and said it will not appeal.
Herring never created a website, but he remained in contact with Redmond and had already built a relationship with Mirando. Between June 2011 and February 2012, Herring and Redmond exchanged 117 calls.
In one, a month into the relationship, Redmond said he wanted to take an unofficial visit to State but had no transportation. Herring is said to have arranged with an unspecified friend who owns a car dealership to allow him to use a vehicle.
On Oct. 15, 2011, on an early fall morning in Starkville before the Bulldogs played South Carolina, Redmond and Herring met again. Herring is said to have given him $100 for gas, which he turned over to Byron De’Vinner, a Nashville man who was Redmond’s seven-on-seven football coach and who drove him to town.
In December 2011, Herring is said to have given Redmond a $100 Visa gift card, mailed him an MSU jacket and offered him $6,000 if he didn’t take a visit to another school. In January came the significant development: Herring is alleged to have arranged for a car for Redmond at a price that’s $2,000 below its value.
Herring was also said to have arranged free lodging and food for De’Vinner on his trips to Starkville.
Herring would not comment Friday. In a July 19, 2012, letter to the NCAA referenced in the infractions report, he acknowledged the phone conversations and the jacket but denied everything else.
Redmond remains at MSU. He forfeited the 2012 season of eligibility and will sit out the first five games of 2013. He also has to repay $2,660 in connection with the impermissible benefits he was found to have received. MSU would not make him available for an interview Friday. A call to what’s believed to be his mother’s number was not answered.