Player alleges Muschamp paid him at Auburn; Muschamp completely denies allegations

By Adam Silverstein
April 3, 2013

Current Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp has been accused of paying a player while serving as defensive coordinator of the Auburn Tigers, according to a report released Wednesday evening by Selena Roberts of Roopstigo.com.

Auburn’s Tainted Title: Victims, Violations and Vendettas for Glory is a detailed look at rampant corruption that has allegedly been occurring at Auburn. Allegations range from academic fraud and payments to players to special treatment both from local police and the university’s internal drug testers, though much of the story is uncorroborated.

Within the report, former Tigers safety Mike McNeil alleges that, following a tough practice in 2007, he was sent for by Muschamp and slipped a payment.

McNeil recalls having a difficult day at practice in 2007 and then-defensive coordinator, Will Muschamp, calling him into his office. “I had no clue what it was about because I’d never directly asked him for anything,” says McNeil. “He slid about $400 over to me. He went into a drawer and gave me money and said, ‘Is this enough? Is this good?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’” Muschamp, now the head football coach at the University of Florida, denied the payment through a spokesperson.

McNeil is currently awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery.

Muschamp served as defensive coordinator at Auburn from 2006-07 but resigned on Jan. 4, 2008 to accept the same position with Texas. He turned down a raise offered by the Tigers for the position with the Longorns, one that made him the highest paid assistant coach in the Big 12 at the time. Near the conclusion of his first season with Texas, Muschamp was anointed “coach in waiting” behind Mack Brown and had his salary doubled. He took over as head coach of the Gators in 2011.

Though Florida sent over a denial as part of Roberts’s report, the University Athletic Association may be issuing a separate statement at some point soon as this story begins to pick up steam across the college sports landscape.

Roberts previously worked at the New York Times and Sports Illustrated and was the lead writer of the 2009 report that exposed numerous MLB steroid users including prominant New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

UPDATE I – 9:45 p.m.: Since the report was published, three of the players quoted within the piece have denied that parts of the story are true. “Man this article is outrageous and isn’t true. The media will do anything for a juicy story smh #sad,” tweeted Mike Blanc, McNeil’s former roommate. “The one thing that is quoted by me is what I said, no more no less..END OF STORY,” wrote Daren Bates on his Twitter account. Neiko Thorpe was even more matter-of-fact. “While I spoke to Selena Roberts about Mike I have just read her article & not only am I misquoted but my words are very out of…context. We didn’t talk about NCAA violations or recruiting. I’m proud 2 have played at Auburn & the opportunities it gave me,” he tweeted.

UPDATE II – 11:45 p.m.: Muschamp, through a school spokesman, denied the allegation levied against him once again, this time to AL.com. No quote was provided.

UPDATE III – April 4, 1:30 p.m.: On Thursday, Muschamp issued a denial directly to The Gainesville Sun. “Totally deny it,” he said. “I don’t know where this is coming from.”

29 Comments

  1. Timmy T says:

    WTF??? That came from left field. Better be straight up BS. If not, Champs gotta go.

  2. Alex says:

    Will Muschamp paid me too

  3. Kaleb Wolfe says:

    Bull Sh*t not Muschamp he would never pull that sh*t

  4. Donnie w says:

    Champs not going anywhere over 400$ wether he paid it or not. No one will ever know the truth either way.

  5. Nick says:

    No need to worry. The guy saying this is one of the kids that got arrester for armed robbery about 2 years ago.

    Nothing this kid says can be taken as truthful.

  6. SM says:

    MAN!!!! Is NOTHING in sports honest anymore. Was Muschamp texting Tao? I mean, DAMN !!! Who was it that said ” Anything above Pop Warner is corrupt…..and I seriously doubt Pop Warner” ??????

  7. Zach says:

    Hahaha!!! What garbage! Mike McNeil… the convicted felon currently in prison. Fantastic! Try NONE of it is corroborated. And of course Muschamp did NOT coach at AU since 2007. Was Mike McNeil even in school yet? Bwhahaha!!!

  8. AU Stud says:

    Here we go again!!!!!! I don’t care what school it is was at, this type crap happens everyday in d1 football. War damn eagle!!!!!! #slapusonthewrist

  9. John says:

    I have mixed feelings on this. Because I believe that collegiate athletes should get an “allowance”, because even though most of them are on scholarships, other aspects of college life can get rather expense, and they just don’t have much time to work. But, as much as I do disagree with the rules, they are still there, and breaking them is a problem. So, I do hope these allegations aren’t true, because this could be a huge blow to the Gators moral this season if Muschamp gets suspended.

  10. David says:

    Didn’t read. Same garbage as 2010. Another asshat writer willing to make a fool of himself by writing fiction news stories. Who pays you jerks (Thamel, Evans, and now the writer of this BS) to make this stuff up?

  11. Austin says:

    Bammer fans going on a witch hunt after auburn, typical. This will never be proven. champ will be fine

  12. calgator says:

    So we are to believe that this guy was just having a bad day, so Muschamp called him into his office and gave him money? Well, that makes sense…

    • Tractorr says:

      Exactly, this story doesn’t make sense. Why would you just randomly give a college kid money? I can understand a booster giving a kid a hundred dollar handshake after they have a big game, but why on earth would an assistant coach give a kid money for no reason?

  13. V says:

    I feel like this would hold no water. Based on hearsay from a player at a rival SEC school. No proof. Not too mention I don’t understand why a coach would give a player money when he is already on the team. I would understand if it was to get him to commit but $400 for a tough practice???

  14. G8rphan19 says:

    Ain’t nobody got time for that! McNeil is a joke and is just trying to drag anyone down with him

  15. Cockey1 says:

    If this is true, at $400 that would make him the worst paid college player ever.

  16. DA says:

    What a joke! This from a guy in prison for committing a felony. LOL. Made up BS because the Manti story dried up.

  17. Brandon says:

    Playing a player?

  18. Rick says:

    They’re already trying to get into the SEC’s heads, by bringing up false, unsupported statements just so the SEC won’t win the National Championship again this year. GO GATORS!!!!

  19. Bill says:

    Lol….ok. The NCAA will get right on that. Enjoy your time in the slammer, genius. We need better parents in this country. Geez… What a clown.

  20. Mark Ramm says:

    Must-hump has always been dirty.

  21. Luke says:

    I doubt the players even scratched the surface of what happens and what goes on in major college football schools. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire and the fact that the NCAA couldn’t do anything about AU paying Cam, much less prove it, pretty well shows AU knew how to hide and had a decent system so they wouldn’t get caught.

    That being said, I don’t think Muschamp will take a hit on this. Muschamp had to have known Aubrey Hill was an “aggressive” recruiter and he and Foley gave him a pass. I think Boom gets a pass and only if he really screws up (and it comes to light) will he ever get canned.

  22. Michael Jones says:

    Funny how many responses are posted to non-sports stories. Up and coming freshmen doing well in Spring practice? Boring. How’s the Purifoy experiment at wide receiver working out? Ho hum. Who’s going to win the open competition for the safety positions? Who cares.

    But a little 6 year old dirt that by all indications never even happened? Oh yeah, baby. . they come out of the woodwork for that Jerry Springer nonsense.

    Will Muschamp is just too smart, too ethical, too ambitious in a big picture sense, and too moral and clean cut to ever do something like that. I have 100% confidence in our coach and his staff.

  23. gator says:

    Roberts, same b*tch that acused the Duke Lacross team of RAPE without any proof.get some proof before you open your mouth or get out of sports.

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