Tuesday, October 12, 2010

SI story mentions Wichard-Blake connection

Josh Luchs, a former agent and assistant of Gary Wichard, wrote a cover story for Sports Illustrated on the relationship between agents and college football players, titled "Confessions of a former NFL agent."

In the article, Luchs writes about Wichard and former UNC associate head coach John Blake. The excerpts from the article:

Gary used his contacts in the coaching community to help him get players. This has recently come into public view, as the NCAA and the state of North Carolina are investigating the Tar Heels football program and whether John Blake, a Carolina assistant coach since 2007, steered players to Gary and received money from him. It's no secret in the agent business that some college coaches steer players to certain agents. I laughed when I heard Gary deny in the media that John ever worked with Pro Tect.

When I was with Gary, John worked hand in hand with us, and Gary called him his "partner." John was the defensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys when they won Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX, and the head coach at Oklahoma from '96 through '98. He was one of the best recruiters I'd ever seen. He was just electric, and I leveraged him to get clients whenever I could. In '02 two of the biggest clients we got were due, in large part, to John. He went with Gary and me to meet with Fresno State defensive lineman Alan Harper, and Gary and I had John work out defensive end Kenyon Coleman from UCLA before his senior year. That was an NCAA violation, but it wasn't like paying a kid. It was helping Kenyon become a better player.

J.P. Giglio

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHEN WILL THIS STOP?!?!??! This is NOT the Carolina way!