Anthony Komara not good pub so far...

[AUgrad00 7]

So Mark Komara's kid gets run from AU hoops? Not sure what is up with that. Anyone have the inside scoop. AU claims its the NCAA the NCAA denies that, Komara is pissed. That said Komara is one sleezy ass AAU coach. However not the best publicity for Auburn thought.

[dyehardaufan 0]

I've heard the rivals premium board has info on it but I dont have a membership.

[Mikey 16,604]

So Mark Komara's kid gets run from AU hoops? Not sure what is up with that. Anyone have the inside scoop. AU claims its the NCAA the NCAA denies that, Komara is pissed. That said Komara is one sleezy ass AAU coach. However not the best publicity for Auburn thought.

It would be nice if we knew what you are talking about.

[nimsjus 0]

We finally reached back out to komara after our long over self imposed ban on dealing with him. We landed Corthron and Langford with his help. We had a great shot to land some players who used to play for him this year as well (Lacey and the other guy from north Alabama), and now they have pretty much dropped us at this point. His son was a walkon on the team. Then the AU compliance department got involved and had Barbee drop the kid from the team. This is the same over zealous compliance department that dropped the ball on Corthron and tried to screw up Varez Ward transfer (even though he had no issues in Austin). I don't see Barbee hanging around long if this is how AU is going to operate. These are the same issues that hurt Lebos recruiting. We've burned a very valuable bridge today.

[AURainman 6]

For thos who like to read

Scarbinsky: Asked to leave AU basketball team, Komara wants to know why

Published: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 5:30 AM

Anthony Komara called it "a dream come true."

After going to Auburn on an academic scholarship and working with the basketball team last season as an assistant to the video coordinator, the sophomore from Huntsville was given a chance by new coach Tony Barbee to join the team as a walk-on.

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Auburn issued him a locker and a number. No. 13 turned out to be a bad omen.

Last week, Auburn told Komara to clear out his locker, that he couldn't be a walk-on, that he couldn't be a part of the program in any way.

"It's embarrassing," he said. "I've never felt so let down in my life."

What happened to crush Komara's dream? Auburn won't say. Kirk Sampson, Auburn's assistant athletic director for media relations, said Tuesday that the school declined to comment.

"From the first team meeting we had, Coach Barbee said we were family," Komara said. "I thought I was included in that."

Family is the key word here because Komara is not just another walk-on. His father, Mark, and Auburn basketball have a history together. Montgomery attorney Don Jackson, who's been retained by the Komara family, said he suspects that history is behind Auburn's decision.

"This is more of a public relations thing than anything else," Jackson said. "It's not fair to this young man to be yo-yoed around like this."

In 2004, the NCAA Committee on Infractions hit Auburn basketball with two years of probation, in part, because it labeled Mark Komara a representative of the school's athletics interests and said he steered recruits toward the Tigers by helping pay their expenses on visits to the school.

Auburn argued at the time that Komara wasn't a representative of its interests. Komara, who has sponsored amateur basketball teams in Huntsville for years, made the point that his players have gone on to play college ball at Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and other major programs.

Those arguments didn't sway the committee.

As part of the sanctions imposed by the NCAA, Auburn wasn't allowed to have any recruiting contact with Komara for two years. That two-year period ended in April of 2006.

Komara's outsider status seemed to have ended when his son Anthony started school at Auburn. Then Auburn coach Jeff Lebo allowed Anthony Komara to work with the basketball program last season as a student assistant to the video coordinator.

Auburn fired Lebo on March 12 and introduced Barbee as his replacement on March 25. Mark Komara said Barbee, whom he's known for 10 or 12 years, made a recruiting trip to Huntsville the next day and the two men visited that day.

During that March visit to Huntsville, Barbee met Anthony Komara, whom his dad said has grown into a good 6-foot-3 shooter.

Mark Komara said Barbee offered to let his son join the program as a walk-on. Komara said that he reminded Barbee of his involvement in Auburn's 2004 infractions case but that Barbee told him that wasn't a problem.

"He brought it up to me," Komara said. "I would've never put my kid through this if I had known this would happen."

Anthony "was already in the program last year" working with the video coordinator, Jackson said. "Why would anybody think this wouldn't be OK?"

Komara was issued a locker and a number. He said the basketball office called him one morning and asked him to text in his full name to comply with FAA regulations for team flights to road games.

The first sign that there might be a problem came after fall semester began. The day after Anthony attended a team dinner was the first day of conditioning drills. During stretching, he said, three assistant coaches came and told him to leave because he hadn't been cleared yet by the NCAA Eligibility Center.

No big deal, he and his father thought at the time. Anthony wasn't a highly recruited player out of high school and hadn't had his class work submitted to the Eligibility Center.

So, while that process played out, he attended conditioning and weight-lifting sessions, but only to watch his teammates, not to participate. He worked out on his own.

Two or three weeks later, Mark Komara said, with no word, he contacted assistant coach Tony Madlock and was told that the Auburn compliance office instructed the basketball staff to hold Anthony out because "they were investigating some things."

About three or four weeks ago, Komara said, a basketball staff member asked him if Anthony would consider working with the program as a manager or video assistant rather than as a walk-on.

"I said, 'What's the difference?' " Komara said.

Anthony Komara declined that opportunity. He wanted to be a player.

Last Thursday, the day before the start of preseason practice, Mark Komara drove to Auburn and met with Barbee. He said that Barbee told him that Anthony couldn't be a part of the program in any capacity, that the Auburn compliance department had been given that advice by the NCAA.

The NCAA told The Birmingham News it had no comment on the issue.

Before Auburn's final decision, Jackson said he spoke with William King, a Birmingham attorney who's represented Auburn in NCAA compliance matters, and told him that Mark Komara would agree to a set of "reasonable guidelines" approved by the NCAA to make sure that Auburn wouldn't be committing any violations by allowing Anthony to be a walk-on.

Jackson said that King, who didn't return a phone message from The News, told him they couldn't work on guidelines until Auburn made a decision.

After Auburn made its final decision Thursday, Jackson emailed King and two NCAA enforcement officials, David Price and LuAnn Humphrey, and asked them to cite the legislation that prohibits Anthony Komara from being a walk-on. Jackson said Tuesday he hasn't received a reply from Auburn or the NCAA.

"There is no NCAA legislation that would make Anthony ineligible or that would jeopardize Auburn University," Jackson said. "Anthony worked hard for this opportunity. It's really unfathomable that it was pulled out from under him."

Mark Komara said he's "devastated because I put my kid, my wife and my family through this."

As for Anthony, he said his anger and disappointment have turned to motivation. He plans to finish the semester at Auburn, then transfer to another school to try to play basketball.

"I just love it down here," he said. "The people are awesome. But I'm done here."

Got something to say? Drop a comment below, or write Kevin at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com.

Our dissociation from Komera was mandated at two years by the NCAA. That ended in Lebo's 3rd year. AU, in order to avoid further scrutiny, self imposed a much more stringent ban of Mr. Komera. Kind of like how some Christian denomination are against dancing, not because the Bible forbids dancing, but dancing leads to kissing, which leads to ...

It seems that really hamstrung Lebo. Now, it seems AU was willing to move on and deal with Komera as an adult, but someone flagged this after-the-fact and is going back to building those walls.

The situation with Anthony Komera is probably a "tempest in a teapot," but the situation with Mark Komera is certainly going to resonate for a while.

[kingfish 73]

It will be interesting to see how this is resolved. Just when it looks like good things will be happening for AU basketball something rises to try and derail it.

[quietfan 233]

First I'm hearing of any of this, but I don't really follow basketball.

However, if this statement from the Scarb link is accurate:

He said that Barbee told him that Anthony couldn't be a part of the program in any capacity, that the Auburn compliance department had been given that advice by the NCAA.

then our hands were tied. It shouldn't be a publicity black eye if we were merely following NCAA orders. But we all know in the PR world it's perception, not fact, that matters.

Likewise, IF we were only following NCAA orders, we shouldn't have any culpability in any possible Komara family lawsuit, although the NCAA may have some 'splainin' to do in court.

[Mikey 16,604]

Thanks to AUrainman for posting the information.

As noted above: "Last Thursday, the day before the start of preseason practice, Mark Komara drove to Auburn and met with Barbee. He said that Barbee told him that Anthony couldn't be a part of the program in any capacity, that the Auburn compliance department had been given that advice by the NCAA."

This pretty much ties Auburn's hands.

It did become public knowledge last year that Komara's son was working with the AU BB team in processing film. There were a bunch of people that questioned at the time if this was smart or not. After all, there are student jobs available at various departments all over campus. I had three different student jobs in my time there.

Why not tell Komara's son that there was an opening in a physics lab, but with his father named "A representative of Auburn's athletic interests" the son simply shouldn't be working for the Auburn athletics department?

I had hoped that young Komara would have been moved out when we changed coaches.

No, it wasn't "fair" when we got nailed by the NCAA in the Komara deal. The NCAA was after Komara and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. HOWEVER: I'm disappointed that someone in the Auburn athletic dept. didn't look at young Mr. Komara's application for employment last year and say: "Son, they need student help in the library. That's the place to look if you need a student job."

With all that had gone on in the past you'd think anyone associated with Auburn basketball would have kept anybody even remotely associated with Mark Komara at arms length.

This is the first thing I've seen Coach Barbee do that merits criticism. Barbee should have replaced Komara's son as soon as possible and not allowed him anywhere near the AU basketball program.

There are a lot of schools that young Mr. Komara could have attended to play or work with the basketball program. Auburn isn't one of them.

[ziggyg 2]

komara is about as low down filthy trash as there is. He gives basketball a terrible name. he should be banned from every being around basketball youth as dirty as he is .

[AUgrad00 7]

Ziggy I would agree. I met him one summer at Grissom when he worked out Clifton Robinson of all people. He talked all sorts of @hit about AU. He really came off as a sleazy used car salesman to me.

komara is about as low down filthy trash as there is. He gives basketball a terrible name. he should be banned from every being around basketball youth as dirty as he is .

[ziggyg 2]

The guy has is all about the future $$$ and doesn't give a s*** abot the person. He is a piece of s*** and needs to to be banned from ever associating with amateur athletes. If yall think I an being toi hard I am in a book with a**hole with the damage he causes.

[OldNewby 27]

Due to his father's past history with Auburn University, why would Anthony Komara even want to attend school at AU? I just don't understand. Seems the Komara/AU saga is like the UnderEnding Story. A story that ends badly for Auburn over and over and over.....

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

If Barbee really gave him the "we're family" talk but the compliance office showed him the door ASAP, there's an alarming lack of communication between our compliance office and the head coach of a major sport on campus. That's textbook lack of instutional control folks and it's the sort of thing that DOES get you in trouble w/ the NCAA in a big way.

Looks like our compliance office showed it's inability to comply w/ NCAA rules of intra-institutional communication by trying to look like they're doing their job...

Scary stuff

[autigeremt 6,633]

Odd...all I can say at the moment. Hope it doesn't plant a bad seed for the Barbee program.

[Mikey 16,604]

We finally reached back out to komara after our long over self imposed ban on dealing with him. We landed Corthron and Langford with his help. We had a great shot to land some players who used to play for him this year as well (Lacey and the other guy from north Alabama), and now they have pretty much dropped us at this point. His son was a walkon on the team. Then the AU compliance department got involved and had Barbee drop the kid from the team. This is the same over zealous compliance department that dropped the ball on Corthron and tried to screw up Varez Ward transfer (even though he had no issues in Austin). I don't see Barbee hanging around long if this is how AU is going to operate. These are the same issues that hurt Lebos recruiting. We've burned a very valuable bridge today.

nimsjus, I think you are correct on all counts. I believe our compliance department is making these calls and trying to shift the blame to the NCAA.

The assertion that Luke Cothron was not eligible is total BS. About 24 hours after our Compliance Dept said Cothron wasn't qualified, Cothron was signed by U-Mass. Unless you think Auburn's standards are higher than U-Mass (they aren't) then the problem was not with Cothron's grades or the NCAA. The problem was the Auburn compliance dept.

Thanks to our compliance guys, at least two nationally sought players that were leaning toward Auburn have lost all interest.

There is another story going around about the compliance dept botching the event for welcoming a bunch of basketball recruits on a recent Saturday. The result was said to be "a disaster". Having no link for that I'll wait for confirmation before I discuss it further.

Barbee has yet to sign his contract, and in light of recent events I don't expect him to sign it. Best guess is that he'll coach out this season and then move on to a place that wants a good basketball program.

[OldNewby 27]

We finally reached back out to komara after our long over self imposed ban on dealing with him. We landed Corthron and Langford with his help. We had a great shot to land some players who used to play for him this year as well (Lacey and the other guy from north Alabama), and now they have pretty much dropped us at this point. His son was a walkon on the team. Then the AU compliance department got involved and had Barbee drop the kid from the team. This is the same over zealous compliance department that dropped the ball on Corthron and tried to screw up Varez Ward transfer (even though he had no issues in Austin). I don't see Barbee hanging around long if this is how AU is going to operate. These are the same issues that hurt Lebos recruiting. We've burned a very valuable bridge today.

nimsjus, I think you are correct on all counts. I believe our compliance department is making these calls and trying to shift the blame to the NCAA.

The assertion that Luke Cothron was not eligible is total BS. About 24 hours after our Compliance Dept said Cothron wasn't qualified, Cothron was signed by U-Mass. Unless you think Auburn's standards are higher than U-Mass (they aren't) then the problem was not with Cothron's grades or the NCAA. The problem was the Auburn compliance dept.

Thanks to our compliance guys, at least two nationally sought players that were leaning toward Auburn have lost all interest.

There is another story going around about the compliance dept botching the event for welcoming a bunch of basketball recruits on a recent Saturday. The result was said to be "a disaster". Having no link for that I'll wait for confirmation before I discuss it further.

Barbee has yet to sign his contract, and in light of recent events I don't expect him to sign it. Best guess is that he'll coach out this season and then move on to a place that wants a good basketball program.

According to Phillip Marshall on AUC:

Cothron could have been admitted to school as a non-qualifier, sat out a year and played. Auburn doesn't do that, not for football, not for any sport, and that's not an athletic department policy. It's a university policy. Barbee knew it was a long shot when he signed him. What was about to get him upset was when it looked like Ward might not get in because he was too late trying to enroll. That worked out in the end.

There is constant conflict between compliance and coaches at virtually every school. Coaches want to push the envelope. The compliance department is there to make sure they don't push it too far. Essentially, the compliance director is like the NCAA's representative on campus.

The problem with Komara is this: Even though he was never a booster, he was established as one in a ridiculous NCAA decision. As such, he was disassociated. That remains. At least that's what I understand. If this kid's name was Jones instead of Komara, would you even be concerned that a walk-on who was never going to play had lost his spot on the team?

As I understand it, the NCAA said it would "advise" he not be on the team. I think the whole associating with Komara situation is similar. It was two years, but .... Could you ignore that and do it anyway? Yes. Would it be wise? Not in the least.

I hate it for the kid. I hate it for the kids who are on the team now and won't be next year, and there will be several. But big-time college athletics is what it is, and it's not recreation. As for there being something more to the story, what more could there be? There were certainly no recruiting violations involving a walk-on who had little chance to play. If he had played, do you not think a lot of eyebrows would have been raised?

Honestly, the difference in this case and others is that most people wouldn't call a newspaper reporter because their walk-on son lost his spot on a college basketball team. If they did, there would be lots of such stories about lots of schools.

and.......

Yes, Cothron got into UMass - as a nonqualifier. Here's a portion of the story:

***

Because Southeastern Conference schools do not accept so-called "Prop-48'' cases, Cothron did not go to Auburn. But UMass and the Atlantic 10 accepts ineligible freshman players as non-scholarship students; if they maintain a 2.0 grade-point average as a freshman, they would become eligible the following year with scholarship eligibility.

Cothron will join highly regarded forward Cady Lalanne of Orlando, Fla., who was to attend Georgia but wound up at UMass under similar conditions. Both players will sit out this season with an eye on next year.

[Mikey 16,604]

Ok, Newby. Thanks. That does put more light on the subject and I trust P. Marshall's reporting. I just wish the Komara kid had gone to college elsewhere and if he felt compelled to attend Auburn, he shouldn't have been given a job in the athletic dept. Something is just not right about this situation.

[OldNewby 27]

Ok, Newby. Thanks. That does put more light on the subject and I trust P. Marshall's reporting. I just wish the Komara kid had gone to college elsewhere and if he felt compelled to attend Auburn, he shouldn't have been given a job in the athletic dept. Something is just not right about this situation.

I agree, Mikey. I've expressed similar sentiments. Something is just not adding up.

[eagle76 1]

Don't know how many of you visit HABOTN but there are some VERY disturbing insinuations and conjectures there. Will not repeat here but you can read and make your own determination.

[Mikey 16,604]

Don't know how many of you visit HABOTN but there are some VERY disturbing insinuations and conjectures there. Will not repeat here but you can read and make your own determination.

I don't know my way around that site. Would you mind providing a link to the pages/comments about basketball? All I found was football discussions concerning the LSU game.

[eagle76 1]

Don't know how many of you visit HABOTN but there are some VERY disturbing insinuations and conjectures there. Will not repeat here but you can read and make your own determination.

I don't know my way around that site. Would you mind providing a link to the pages/comments about basketball? All I found was football discussions concerning the LSU game.

Go to the basketball forum around pg 2 of topic relating to Komara

http://madvertiserblogs.com/habotnforum/

[Mikey 16,604]

Found it, thanks. That's pretty much what we've been hearing around the coffee shop in town.

This is all very disappointing. I was getting all hyped up about BB finally coming out of the doldrums. Then the injuries, now this. The only bright side I see is that seats will be plentiful in the new arena. If out of town visitors are coming, no need to worry, just walk up to the window and buy your tickets ten minutes before tip-off.

[ziggyg 2]

The two biggest things mentioned in this thread are Komara and Cothron. Everyone knew Cothron was a risk grade wise and just because the NCAA clearing house clears doesnt mean you are eligible. he went to umass because that conference will allow partial qualifiers called prop 48 to put in football terms the reason South Florida gets the left over bones in football they allow this also. As for komara, Barbee should never had made a play to make this kid a walk on. With all the baggage everyone in basketball circles knows he brings he should have been smarter.

[Mikey 16,604]

The two biggest things mentioned in this thread are Komara and Cothron. Everyone knew Cothron was a risk grade wise and just because the NCAA clearing house clears doesnt mean you are eligible. he went to umass because that conference will allow partial qualifiers called prop 48 to put in football terms the reason South Florida gets the left over bones in football they allow this also. As for komara, Barbee should never had made a play to make this kid a walk on. With all the baggage everyone in basketball circles knows he brings he should have been smarter.

This is painfully true. It's not like Barbee could have been around the AU basketball program for one full hour without hearing about all the previous mess with Komara. He should have recommended Komara's son to the coach at North Alabama.

Also, what the devil was Lebo thinking? He couldn't/wouldn't recruit Komara's players because of possible NCAA problems and then he turns right around and lets Komara's son work for the basketball program? That's way past crazy!