Cal football: Tedford talks Lyles, Barbour talks NCAA

Oliver Graham

Spoke with Jeff Tedford, who is back from vacation and was happy to talk about Cals relationship with Will Lyles.

I want to make sure our fans know that weve done nothing wrong, he said.

Heres the info I have collected thus far:

The NCAA has requested information from Cal regarding dealings with Lyles, according to athletic director Sandy Barbour.

The request came in the spring, Barbour said, and Cal hasnt heard anything more.

Given that its been a while, I dont expect that they have concern about what we sent, she said, adding that she believes Cals dealings with football scouting services fully comply with the rules.

Barbour said the school has not received a notice of inquiry from the NCAA, which signals the start of an investigation.

Tedford said he has never spoken to Lyles on the phone, never text messaged with him and only met him once they were introduced during Lache Seastrunks official visit to Cal.

I wouldnt know him if he walked through that door, Tedford said.

Yes, Lyles accompanied Seastrunk on his visit to Cal.

Tedford said that Lyles paid for his own transportation, lodging and meals and that when Tedford had a private conversation with Seastrunk, it was with Lache and his mother.

(Does Lyles fit the definition of a Cal booster, given that the school paid for his services and then he accompanies a recruit on an official visit?

(I dont know, and defining Lyles role is one of the issues the NCAA must resolve in the Oregon case.

(If Cal paid Lyles $5,000 and got legitimate scouting info in return, then the program was participating in a venture available to other schools and it might become difficult to define Lyles as a Cal booster.)

Tedford said that to the best of his knowledge, assistant coach Kenwick Thompson, who recruits Texas, has never accompanied Lyles to high schools to evaluate prospects.

Cal uses numerous scouting services each year. Tedford says the Bears typically spend $25,000 $30,000 annually on the services.

Cal used Lyles former company, Elite Scouting Services, in 2009 but dropped ESS when Lyles formed Complete Scouting Services.

When asked why the Bears went with Lyles, Tedford said: He was charing half what (ESS) was charging. Why pay $10,000 when you can pay $5,000.

He said Cal used Lyles service for one year, then dropped it in favor of a more inclusive service.

In exchange for $5,000, Cal received from Lyles the 2010 National package.

The only document reviewed by the Mercury News thus far was sent from Lyles to Cal in 2009 and included contact information on prospects in the class of 2010.

Last week, Cal released (to the Merc and the Oregonian) an invoice from Lyles for $5,000, with a ship date of March 23, 2010.

Why would the 2010 National Package be shipped to Cal in March a month AFTER the 2010 signing day?

According to a Cal official, the Bears paid Lyles for two classes worth of information.

They received game film, player reports and contact info on class of 2010 prospects during the fall of 2009, and they received player reports and contact info in the spring of 2010 on players in the class of 2011.

The date on the invoice (3/23/10), according to the Cal official, represented the date Lyles shipped reports and contact info on class of 11.

What he really should have done for the ship date, the Cal official said, was include a range, from Sept 09 to March 10.

In response to a column in the Oregonian, which paraphrases Ducks coach Chip Kelly saying that one of the other schools recruiting Seastrunk may have paid for his mother to visit, Tedford said:

She was on his visit but we didnt pay for her to get here absolutely not.

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