LITTLE ROCK — Texas football Coach Mack Brown so fears the evils of gambling, he pleads with his players to keep Longhorns injuries secret - even from mom and dad.
Big Brother is watching, too, as the Big 12 Conference maintains a working relationship with a Las Vegas firm that monitors betting trends.
"We tell our players, 'If you're going to talk to even your parents, don't talk about injuries. Be really, really careful, because it puts you in a tough spot, because it looks like for some reason you might be putting information out,' " Brown said.
Brown isn't so much concerned about the parents racing to lay money down with bookies. His point is you never know who's listening.
"If they tell somebody at the drug store, the grocery store, then it just grows," Brown said.
"Gambling scares you to death. It's another one of those things that is not an issue until you have it."
A 2003 report issued by the NCAA suggested it's a very real issue, with student-athletes involved in widespread gambling of some sort.
The report spurred the Big 12 to raise its awareness on gambling and its potential influence on games, leading to the hiring of Las Vegas Sports Consultants Inc., a group that also works with the NCAA, NFL, NBA and NHL.
The Big 12's alliance with LVSC, in its third year, is one phase of the league's gambling program that also includes background reviews that include court document research, as well as education of athletes and officials.
The connection with LVSC delivers an insider's view of betting lines and trends and how they might relate to Big 12 schools in football and men's basketball, the college sports where lines are set.
"They inform us if there's any kind of concern about the way the lines move or on money that comes in on the game at the last minute, stuff like that," Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said.
"So far, knock on wood, we haven't had any issues. But we decided that's a worthwhile effort."
Beebe was concerned last month when it was revealed that Texas A&M Coach Dennis Franchione was e-mailing certain donors with "insider" updates that included, among other items of interest, injury information, although no links to gambling have surfaced.
"It's unfortunate, because I think he's figured out and others that it was not the thing to do," Beebe said. "We don't want that kind of information being shared, obviously."
Elsewhere, conferences and schools haven't been so fortunate.
Just last March, the FBI alleged it had uncovered a conspiracy between a gambler and a football player at Toledo to influence the outcomes of games.
Some cases have gone further.
The NBA suffered a public relations hit when former referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges of gambling and wire fraud last August. The NHL, too, took a hit when former Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet was accusedof financing a nationwide gambling ring and pleaded guilty to gamblingrelated charges last year.
In 2001, Florida basketball player Teddy Dupay was declared ineligible for his senior season after admitting to violating team rules about bettingon sports.
Northwestern has been stung twice by noted scandals. In 2001, former football player Brain Ballarini pled guilty to gambling charges and admitted to running betting operations at Northwestern and Colorado. In a related matter, two Northwestern basketball players admitted they tried to fix games. In 1994, a Northwestern football player was suspended for gambling, but denied he fumbled intentionally at the goal line in a game against Iowa.
In 1996, then-Boston College football Coach Dan Henning heard after a 45-17 loss to Syracuse that some of his players might have bet against their own team. Eventually, 13 Boston College players were suspended and six were banned.
These and similar situations, where unsavory characters coerce college athletes to affect a game's outcome, concern coaches most.
"It's real scary to me," Oklahoma football Coach Bob Stoops said. "You've got to protect the game ... It's just educating them on just what a horrible place and position to put yourself in, the ramifications of it and just how easy it can happen."
Sports, Pages 26 on 10/26/2007