I think this question has been touched on here before, but I don't recall if it was discussed seriously and at length. I think it's safe to say that almost all of us believe there are schools around the country -- very likely the $EC, possibly O $U, U $C, Florida State, Clemson , to name a few -- who cheat. Specifically by offering cash, cars, coveted jobs for family members, etc. to prospective recruits. Now suppose you had a handful of college sports fans who were both wealthy and who despise cheaters ( you could find plenty who fit that description within the Alumni Associations of major universities). Suppose further that these individuals decided to pool their resources to create a fund to be used for private investigations into suspected outlaw programs. Let's throw out a number of $100 million contributed to this fund, just to make it clear that money would be no object when it comes to exhausting every potential lead and source of information within one of these investigations. In such a scenario, what tactics might be used, what avenues explored, and what outcomes might be reasonably expected? If the goal were as ambitious as to uncover evidence so damning that the NCAA would have no choice but to launch their own investigation, would such an effort stand any chance of success? If yes, has it ever been done before, or is it conceivable it could ever be done in the future? Seems as though someone would have attempted this, given the widespread frustration with the NCAA for apparently ignoring cheating at the schools deemed too big/important to fail.
