BOMAR-ED!!!

Inquiring Minds
Vs.
Big Red Sports and Imports;
Jeff Atkins;
Bob Stoops; and
Oklahoma Football

In December of 2005, Adrian Peterson was allowed to drive a Lexus in excess of 3 weeks while waiting on financing to be secured. Upon the denial of his financing, he promptly returned the car. This investigation took place in April of 2006 and was summarily closed by the University of Oklahoma. Despite popular opinion, the NCAA investigation into this matter has not been declared closed. Only the basketball and gymnastics program investigations have been satisfied with self-imposed sanctions.

Rhett Bomar and JD Quinn were over-compensated for working 5 hours a week. The Oklahoma program imposed sanctions on these two men by dismissing them from the team. Unfortunately for the NCAA, no work records of any former, or current, Oklahoma players are available because the ownership of the dealership was transferred in March of 2006. (According to an AP report: The dismissed players apparently worked for a Norman-based car dealership, although Jeff Atkins, an attorney for that dealership's current owner, David Hudiburg, said that it was not possible to confirm whether Bomar or Quinn worked at the dealership without previous company records, which Hudiburg -- who took over management of the dealership in April -- does not own.)

Big Red is the official automobile provider to the Sooner Schooner Network. The SSN is an organization that provides these automobiles to the Oklahoma athletic staff.


5 questions that the facts don’t support:

1. Atkins claims that the ownership of the dealership changed in March and the above occurred before the shift in ownership. If this is true, how could the dealership produce finance papers on a car NOT purchased by Peterson from December of 2005 but not work records of Bomar, Quinn or any other Oklahoma players that were potentially employed there? I thought that Atkins expressed there were NO records of paperwork. Is a failed finance agreement really more significant than employment records? Yet, the proof shown to the University on Peterson was apparently satisfactory enough for them to close the internal investigation

2. Atkins released a statement that said "Big Red Sports and Imports has not employed any athletes from the University of Oklahoma. All the current allegations involve conduct under the previous ownership and management." Atkins goes on to say "We do believe they probably did (work at the dealership). We have people who tell us they did." If no records exist on Bomar’s employment, other than eye-witnesses, how did Bomar receive a tax form where he claimed $18,000 in earned wages? You don’t receive a tax form to submit if your wages aren’t filed with the IRS thereby leaving a paper trail. Said trail is legally transferred when an ownership changes in the event that a lawsuit ensues. (Wages weren’t paid, sexual harassment, etc.) What happened to the business' accounting books? Further, why can't the dealership request a copy of their records of taxes paid last year to see who was employed? Perhaps some people benefited from "off the books" payment which can't be directly traced.

3. How come it takes a dealership in excess of 3 weeks to unsuccessfully secure financing for Peterson when it takes the lay man a little over an hour to get an answer? (Weekend to 3 days tops) An unpaid college football player, who does not come from a wealthy family nor has secured a job, should be an easy case to decide. I understand that Peterson will probably be making millions in the NFL at some point…but that is AT LEAST another year away. What was going to happen to Peterson for not being able to “make his payments” if he was “approved”? Would he get his car repossessed like the rest of us or would they let it slide…as an improper benefit? If a car depreciates after it has been driven, why would a dealership adopt a bad business practice of letting consumers drive a car for an extended period of time without purchasing it or leaving a deposit to cover said depreciation? According to statistics, an average driver will put over 1000 miles on a car per month. (12,000 - 14,000 miles per year)

4. If Stoops is such a model coach why was Dvorchek let back on the team after beating up his childhood friend, Peterson allowed to play after never showing up to class and Bomar allowed back on the team after two separate alcohol related incidents? Could it be that Bomar’s latest mishap was punishable for the program and the NCAA would have found out anyway due to the investigation of Peterson? (And the basketball/gymnastics debacle) Further, would Stoops had done the same thing if it was Peterson who was on the chopping block? Either Stoops was too dumb to know what his players were doing or he knew all along, saw that the NCAA was investigating and fessed up to potentially avoid a stiffer penalty. I find it hard to believe that a big time program wouldn't know what their "star" QB was doing at all times.

5. Why has Oklahoma not acknowledged that Peterson, Rufus Alexander and Garrett Hartley were also, at one time, employed by the dealership? Will any investigations of their employment commence? Also, when do we get to hear that the former part-owner and GM, Brad McRae, was fired from the dealership because several cars were missing from the inventory. He later acknowledged that he had "loaned" these cars to unknown sources. Who were these "unknown sources"?

I find it very fishy that the dealership was sold almost a full month before ou's investigation into these matters concluded.