Proving that even the smartest, wealthiest CEOs can lose their minds when it comes to college sports, please say hello to FedEx Express President and CEO Dave Bronczek. Mr. Bronczek is also a major booster of for the Memphis Tigers, an original "ambassador" level donor. Oseye Gaddy is an 11-year employee of FedEx. She is a customer service rep based in Tacoma, Washington. Oh, and her son Abdul Gaddy is considered the 2d best point guard in the country for the 2009 class, and being recruited by schools such as Washington, Kansas, Arizona, UCLA and Memphis.
So Mr. Bronczek decided to place a call to one of his loyal employees just to congratulate her on her son's achievements. Just a short 10 minute conversation.
When the secretary notified Gaddy that Bronczek was on the phone, Gaddy said she "was a little nervous."That's a big no-no.
Recalling the conversation while watching her son play in a tournament in Las Vegas last week, Oseye Gaddy told FOXSports.com, "I was like, 'Why would he want to talk to me?' But the whole time he talked to me, he talked about my son.
"He was just talking to me a little bit about (John) Calipari and the program and then he was telling me about The FedEx Forum and how he goes to a lot of games and sits on the floor," she added. "How Calipari is a really nice guy."
Goodman contacted the NCAA about this -- whether to report it, find out what they knew about it or to get a comment is unclear (though, Memphis fans seem pretty sure about the intent). Memphis found out that the NCAA found out and have set about the self-report on the episode -- treating it like a minor incident.
"I think in this case, he was talking to an employee, who is a longtime employee," Calipari said. "I don't think he did it with any intention of anything except to say, 'Hey, I'm excited about you and your son.' There was no intention of anything else, from what Dave said to me, so I think it was an innocent thing. If you want to take a shot at me, or our program, you make a huge deal out of it. But in reality you're talking about an innocent call from a boss to an employee."
Sure, because customers service reps at FedEx often get the random phone call from the CEO just to see how things are going. That's just how they roll. Nope, nothing to see here.
At least that's how Coach John Calipari hopes the NCAA will treat it. One of the penalties for this kind of impermissible contact would be for Gaddy to be ineligible to play for Memphis (PDF, pg. 77).
13.01.1 Eligibility Effects of Recruiting Violation. The recruitment of a student-athlete by a member institution or any representative of its athletics interests in violation of the Association's legislation, as acknowledged by the institution or established through the Association's enforcement procedures, shall result in the student-athlete becoming ineligible to represent that institution in intercollegiate athletics.
The good news for the the Gaddy family is that Oseye is probably very safe in her job status regardless. There's no way FedEx even considers laying her off for the foreseeable future.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
who is goodman?
I shouldn't have to go to an article to find out who Goodman is. WHY DO YOU MAKE ME WORK?
Yeah, I re-read the article twice; who the hell is Goodman? I'm going back to bed, as now I have a headache...
Yep, a distinguishing trait of Fanhouse: augment/parse a pre-existing article, omit important detail, amend if convenient. Microwave journalism at its finest.
um. interesting enough, but.....man.....you can't just drop a name into an article without any background. lame. amend, edit or just erase this one.
This is turning into a EVEN BIGGER story.
The corporation relationship between Fed Ex and the NCAA is rather "healthy one".
So, with this nice $$$ relationship, the NCAA has NO option but, to have some heavy set sanctions on Memphis Scumbag U. Anything else would suggest some corporate partnership.
There is NO WAY in this world anything like this should of happened and should NEVER happen again. Thus, deter the possiblility by heavy sanctions.
We are also interested in the Fed Ex actions.
What actions are Fed Ex taking.
There CEO has clearly and admittedly violated its Code of Conduct. The CEO is on the record as talking about the employees son and that was the sole reason for the call. Major Fed Ex violations by the CEO. Should he resign? He is surely considering it and it has been suggested by Fed Ex internal personnel.
The Fed Ex ethical board should also review the "other Memphis Fed Ex" boosters. They will discover more irregular conduct, to say the least.
The NCAA needs to issue its penalities IMMEDIATELY.
Due to special circumstances,(corporate contract with Fed Ex), Memphis Scumbag U is expected some severe penalites. And rightfully so. Do the Right thing NCAA!
Moronic and jealous commentary from cretinous intellectual lightweights....don't obscure the facts; facts include (1) Memphis has had no actionable violations in over 10 years, (2) Memphis has graduated 14 of the last 17 players that did NOT go to the NBA, and (3) lots of players have gone to the NBA while achieving 3 consecutive Elite 8s..along with a Final Four and title runnerup.
This is turning into a EVEN BIGGER story.
The corporation relationship between Fed Ex and the NCAA is rather "healthy one".
So, with this nice $$$ relationship, the NCAA has NO option but, to have some heavy set sanctions on Memphis Scumbag U. Anything else would suggest some corporate partnership.
There is NO WAY in this world anything like this should of happened and should NEVER happen again. Thus, deter the possiblility by heavy sanctions.
We are also interested in the Fed Ex actions.
What actions are Fed Ex taking.
There CEO has clearly and admittedly violated its Code of Conduct. The CEO is on the record as talking about the employees son and that was the sole reason for the call. Major Fed Ex violations by the CEO. Should he resign? He is surely considering it and it has been suggested by Fed Ex internal personnel.
The Fed Ex ethical board should also review the "other Memphis Fed Ex" boosters. They will discover more irregular conduct, to say the least.
The NCAA needs to issue its penalities IMMEDIATELY.
Due to special circumstances,(corporate contract with Fed Ex), Memphis Scumbag U is expected some severe penalites. And rightfully so. Do the Right thing NCAA!
Yo, *Scumbag U*, are ya hearing the crickets chirping?
Get your "Vol" loving, no basis having, no hoops chance in Hell winning, whiny butt back to Knox County.
The football team needs help picking up roadside trash.
And I'm not referring to the cheerleading squad. Roadside trash rates higher than them.
God luck with Bruce Pearl and his record. Sanctions follow him wherever he goes.