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Agents just part of problem plaguing college athletic integrity

Josh Luchs isn't just the messenger, though what he has to say should open eyes that have been closed to the truth for years or simply never wanted to see it.

Shoot him with your verbal judgments if you must, but realize he is just a part of the monster that has eaten away at the integrity of college athletics.

A bad part, a sleazy part, but one part all the same.

Luchs apparently just likes to talk about it more than most.

He is the former sports agent who in the Oct. 18 edition of Sports Illustrated will recount how he paid more than 30 players from 1990 to 1996.

How he gave former Washington State star quarterback Ryan Leaf more than $10,000, none of which obviously paid for lessons in common sense or proper decisions in the pocket given Leaf's actions on and off the field beyond his college days.

Luchs tells how he lined the pockets of other first-round NFL Draft picks, how the youngest agent ever certified by the NFL Players Association began at 20 handing cash and concert tickets and free meals and trips to prospective clients, not all of whom signed with him.

Some of those athletes named in the piece confirm taking gifts; others deny it. But there is enough substance to believe Luchs carried out over years what has become a common theme of agents trying to land the big fish with a hook baited in cash.

"It was against the rules," Luchs told ESPN Radio on Wednesday. "It was wrong. Do I regret doing it? Not necessarily. I didn't give guys money so they could go out and buy watches and cars.

"A lot of people around them have money and are going out and enjoying the college experience -- and a lot of these kids don't even have enough money to go out and buy groceries. I'm not trying to paint myself as Mother Teresa, but clearly, at least in my case, the money served a purpose."

So he says. So he might believe. But foolish is the man who in any way attempts to rationalize paying players as he did. Mother Teresa instead would have told the players to head off to class.

It's an interesting SI read as told by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer George Dohrmann. It's one that comes in a time when the issue of agents and their often unscrupulous pursuit of college players has become a leading story this football season, not to mention a problem at North Carolina far worse than any 3-point specialist being kicked off the basketball team, and you can imagine the stir that recently caused in the state of 100 counties.

But the monster owns many faces, some less culpable than others and yet guilty just the same.

There might not be worse characters in this sordid drama than those athletes who not only extend their hands but who often chase the money harder than they might an opposing tailback.

I'm not sure what college athletes are educated on more -- the Xs and Os of their particular sport or the risks that come with taking money and other gifts from agents. Athletes know right from wrong. They just need to be held more accountable when breaking rules.

It happened at North Carolina, where three players have been dismissed from the football team for agent-related benefits and the status of six others remains undetermined. Sometimes, the school and NCAA bring down a strong enough hammer to hopefully frighten other athletes out of accepting gifts.

Other times, a Reggie Bush breaks all sorts of rules and the only ones to pay are kids who had nothing to do with the transgressions.

Luchs said Wednesday he thinks the NFLPA, NCAA and state law enforcement agencies should work closer when trying to derail those agents who come bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh and a fat roll of $100 bills.

It's a nice thought, one that might hold water once states that own such laws against agents enforce them on a consistent basis, or at all.

You have the agents giving and the athletes taking and, yes, the coaches not keeping a firm enough grip on their programs and those agencies with a chance to crack down often wielding too soft a stick. Boosters. Administrators. No one escapes blame in one of the longest running truths within college athletics.

Josh Luchs isn't just the messenger, but he's also not the entire problem. His like never has been.

It's a team game, cheating, played by people of all shapes and sizes while protecting their interests and pursuing their agendas.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM.

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