[Kevin]

Attorney for ex-Bama recruiter sets sights on NCAA, Vols


MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Talk about a wonderfully entertaining legal battle. Tommy Gallion, an attorney blessed with a silver tongue, is perched at a long conference table in his office that housed the state’s governor during the Civil War, boldly threatening to take down the NCAA and, if he gets lucky, the Tennessee football program with it.

This should be great news for Alabama diehards who’ve been in the dumps. A mess of NCAA sanctions. No bowl trips. A head coach slithering off into the night.

Now, it’s time for somebody to pay. And Gallion, a fourth generation U of Alabama grad, is more than eager to extract fresh blood.

Gallion comes to the scene as attorney for Ronnie Cottrell, the former Alabama recruiting coordinator who was cited in sanctions imposed by the NCAA last year. Most of the trouble stems from some hanky panky allegedly staged by Bama boosters in the Memphis area, specifically cash payments to former Parade All-America defensive tackle Albert Means and his high school coach.

The NCAA slapped the football program with a five-year probation, including a loss of 21 scholarships and a two-year TV ban. Cottrell was only connected to four secondary violations. In one instance, he’s cited for arranging transportation for a prospect to his home to rest for several hours after receiving over-the-counter medication in the Alabama training room. In another, it’s noted he gave four Orange Bowl tickets to a player with the understanding that the player or his family would pay Cottrell at a later date, which he did.

The problem is, even though the NCAA dropped an unethical conduct finding against Cottrell, which dealt with his failure to disclose a loan provided him through a booster, Cottrell still can’t find a job in college football. Nick Saban was the last to turn him down at LSU. So he’s left to sell wireless phones -- and craft his $60 million lawsuit against the NCAA and seven other defendants, an amended version of which was filed Thursday in a Montgomery County circuit court.

“I’m cooked, nobody will touch me,’’ Cottrell says. “Schools are scared of the NCAA.’’

His suit takes dead aim at the NCAA, charging that Cottrell’s “coaching career [has been] destroyed by this cannibalistic organization that forces its subjects to submit to its . . . dictatorial power.’’ It accuses the NCAA of selective rules enforcement.

Cottrell further argues the allegations against him came largely from a secret witness whom he was never allowed to cross-examine, and that he was not allowed to bring his own witnesses to an NCAA hearing.

An NCAA spokesperson declined comment on Friday, saying legal counsel hadn't seen Cottrell's amended complaint. The organization had no response to the initial filing, either.

As he talks of his outcast status, Cottrell is hunkered down in the Governor Shorter House with his attorney, pushing a theory that would make JFK conspiracy buffs proud. The culprits in this twisted tale include everyone from the NCAA to former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer, Infractions Committee chair Tom Yeager, disgruntled former Alabama assistant coach Rip Scherer, secret witnesses used by the NCAA, even some Alabama athletic officials, and virtually anyone associated with Tennessee football -- most notably a cadre of boosters in Memphis.

If you buy into Gallion’s case, Tennessee boosters in Memphis orchestrated the payments to Means in a bid to nail Alabama. They used the legal system to get charges brought against Means's old high school coach in Memphis, Lynn Lang, and paid Lang's assistant, Milton Kirk, to help build the case against Alabama. The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA came in determined to get Alabama, using at least one secret witness with an ax to grind. And the target in all this was supposedly wealthy Alabama booster Logan Young, a close friend of the late Paul “Bear’’ Bryant.

In a letter Thursday to Alabama’s U.S. Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, Gallion wrote: “There is no doubt that Tennessee boosters and others are attempting to use the FBI, the Federal Grand Jury, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Memphis to further their cause to destroy the Alabama football program.’’

Lang, the high school coach, may set the record straight now that he’s cooperating with authorities, but, according to Gallion, the NCAA hasn’t proven that Young or anyone else tied to Alabama paid $150,000 during the recruitment of Means. “Nobody would give that kind of money to an overweight guy, who can barely pass the SAT,’’ Gallion cracks.

The NCAA is not a legal body and those brought before the Committee on Infractions, which sits as a jury, are not allowed to cross-examine witnesses. In its final report, it’s apparent the committee relied heavily on the statements of Kirk, the former assistant high school coach who pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.

Gallion quips that only two things will make his lawsuit go away: If the NCAA would immediately lift the sanctions against Alabama and offer a “national apology.’’ Or slap the death penalty on Tennessee.

Fat chance. But that’s OK with Gallion, who’s itching for a good fight.

“The NCAA needs to quit hiding behind the skirts of secret witnesses and manufactured evidence,’’ says Gallion, breaking into a familiar rant. “We’re not stopping. We’re like the Blues Brothers. We’re on a mission from God. And the mission right now is to expose these people for what they really are. To expose the NCAA for their corrupt tactics, their Mafioso tactics... And if it takes down the University of Tennessee’s football program, hallelujah.’’

The initial reaction is to cast Gallion as a headline-grabbing mudslinger. Someone destined to be old news by the time Bama kicks it off next September. Only it might be a mistake to write him off so easily.

Gallion is an Alabama blue blood. His father is a former state attorney who ran unsuccessfully against George Wallace for governor. His father in-law was mayor of Montgomery and later an Alabama Supreme Court justice. His wife’s late cousin is Lister Hill, a distinguished former U.S. Senator.

His firm -- Haskell Slaughter Young & Gallion -- is one of the larger in Alabama, with offices in Birmingham and Montgomery. Gallion himself serves as attorney for Montgomery County and also currently is representing the Retirement Systems of Alabama in a $70 million fraud case against the former officers of failed energy giant Enron.

Before Gallion agreed to take Cottrell as a client, the ex-coach had to first pass a polygraph test administered by a retired FBI specialist. Gallion says he is satisfied with the results, and is also confident that pursuing the case won’t further harm the Alabama football program.

Thursday in Montgomery, prodded by Gallion, Alabama lawmakers introduced legislation that would allow college athletic programs due process rights when investigated by the NCAA -- similar to state laws enacted previously in Florida, Nebraska, Illinois and Nevada. (The NCAA's response is that its member schools make NCAA rules and it's up to them to make any changes.)

Gallion also wrote a letter Thursday requesting the U.S. Justice Department investigate federal officials in Memphis, who convened a grand jury that continues to look into the Crimson Tide’s recruiting practices in Memphis.

“Here I am almost 60 years old and with all the things I have done in my life, I filed this complaint and I could get me elected governor tomorrow morning,’’ laughs Gallion, an Alabama classmate of Joe Namath. “I never realized how the SEC teams, other than Tennessee, hate the NCAA. And I imagine there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way.’’

Is he right? Sure. Has Alabama broken some rules? No doubt.

But this is one PR battle the NCAA can’t win -- especially on the road in Alabama.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.