Stoops led to believe all OK at dealership

NORMAN - Brad McRae led Bob Stoops to believe there was no wrongdoing at Big Red Sports and Imports. That's what the Oklahoma coach told school officials investigating NCAA rules violations at the Norman car dealership.

In an interview conducted Aug. 3, one day after the dismissals of Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn for accepting money for work they hadn't done, Stoops told OU chief legal counsel Joe Harroz and associate athletic director Keith Gill that he had spoken with McRae, who was then Big Red's general manager, in the summer of 2004 or 2005.

Stoops said he was checking up on players who were employed by Big Red.

Stoops said he asked McRae, "were they doing the right things, make sure that they're working hard and to make sure things were done right."

Stoops said McRae assured him, "he would never jeopardize his position with the university, or he had too much respect for me to not do it that way." The interview transcript was included in 528 pages of documents which were submitted Monday to the NCAA and released to The Oklahoman on Tuesday after an open-records request.

In the report, OU alleges McRae, Big Red's former general manager, "knowingly" aided Bomar and Quinn in NCAA rules violations.

McRae declined comment on Wednesday. According to the interview transcript, Stoops said he knew McRae as "a local businessman," but said he did not have a "personal relationship." Speaking of his call to McRae, Stoops said: "I had specifically asked to make sure that they're working the hours they're supposed to work, that they're getting paid as they should, that they're treating them like you would your other employees."

OU director of football operations Merv Johnson and defensive coordinator Brent Venables were also interviewed by compliance officials Aug. 3. Along with Stoops, they denied any knowledge of rules violations at the dealership.

"None of our coaches would tolerate that," Venables said. "That's not how we operate and do business, um, it's just not what we believe in." Venables said Stoops' "motto" was, "we're going to do things right." And Johnson said he routinely instructs players and prospective employers on the NCAA rules.

According to the documents, 14 football players worked at Big Red during the period from summer 2004 through April 2006 -- though not all at the same time. They were employed as lot porters (moving or refueling cars) or as detailers (washing and cleaning cars), and paid $10 an hour or, in the summers of 2004 and 2005, $70 a day (for lot porters).

Johnson, who coordinates the jobs program for players, said in the interview that jobs at car dealerships were ideal for football players because they allowed for flexible schedules and typically didn't require specialized skills.

But Johnson also said he once told McRae, "you got too many (players working) and, uh, I just as soon you let me send the ones out there to you that need the jobs." As a result of the investigation, OU athletes have been prohibited from working at Big Red; the dealership, which is under new ownership, has announced it would not employ OU athletes, either.

According to the report, Stoops prohibited football players from working at Big Red last winter, after he learned "about the initial poor and inappropriate treatment the compliance staff received" during a meeting with then-general manager Brad McRae.

In the interview with OU's compliance staff, Stoops called McRae's behavior toward Gill and assistant athletic director Melanie Roberts "a rotten almost ignorant response." Shortly afterward, according to Stoops, McRae requested a private meeting with the coach; Stoops said he rejected the idea.

"He wanted to meet with me privately and not in front of everybody and I didn't like that," Stoops said. "I thought that means that's not a situation I want to be in. Always be upfront and in the open and if it can't be, then it's not for me."