William Macy after being asked to discuss the human qualities he despises the most in an interview prior to the scandal

"Dishonesty, self-delusion, and lack of character"

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I agree. There must have been people receiving pay offs all through the admissions chain beyond what has been reported. Teams are limited in the number of recruiting slots they have and I can't see a coach throwing one away //

Not necessarily. Look, it appears some of the coaches were getting 6 figures+, and for one person!! They were not giving up scholarships, just a ghost spot on the team. Even in the real world, there would be athletes that sign, get injured, and never play or participate on a team. They could also just quit at any time. Probably other reasons for kids to plan to be in a sport, but never actually do. And I'm sure in those cases, the coach gets to replace them, they have their number they get to take into their seasons. So a kid on the track team or rowing who never shows up, really does not disrupt much, especially if they were never really planned for in the first place. Coach pockets 400k, knows that kid is pulling up lame on day 1, and then has a real kid right behind them to part of the real team...


I dont think this thing was too complicated. Only thing is how did it go on for so long with so many, and still kept secret? Took some scumbag getting busted to turn this over for getting light treatment. I would have thought this would have gotten out sooner with so many people involved. A coach getting a divorce and his ex spilling the beans on his million dollar Swiss account, all kinds of possible holes in this scheme..

Anyone think this is shifting to overkill mode/over charging by the DoJ?

I haven't been following this closely enough to comment on specifics -- I have only a vague understanding about what has happened.

But in general, I'm uncomfortable to say the least when someone is overcharged in order to pressure a plea ("we think think we can only successfully convict for x, but let's charge for x + y in order to raise the stakes for the defendant"). I'm even more uncomfortably with additional charges are added, as was done here, as a result of the defendant not having accepted the initial deal. That smacks of retaliation for someone having exercised their rights.

I get the impression that the DOJ loves the PR they're getting out of this and may be overplaying its hand. At some point, the remaining defendants are going to start looking sympathetic.