Allegations leveled at the University of Colorado football program over sex parties for recruits have resulted in more than one thousand transfers to the school, including some of the nation’s premier players.
“When the sex party charges went public I was a little bit worried that it could destroy our program,” said Buffaloes head coach Gary Barnett, “but it now it seems to be the greatest thing that could have possibly happened.”
Like all NCAA Division I programs, Colorado has 85 football scholarships, but just a handful of those are available to the 1,248 football players who have transferred to the school since the sex story broke two weeks ago.
“We will hold open tryouts during Spring practice to determine which transfers will get the remaining scholarships,” said Barnett. “But all of our transfers say they plan to stay here and join the team as walk-ons even if they are not under scholarship just so they can be at Colorado and experience the sex parties.”
Several coaches at schools across the country say they feel Barnett leaked the rumors of sex parties at Colorado, where recruits are plied with strippers and access to girls willing to sleep with them, in order to create a buzz around his program among recruits.
“What Gary did was ingenious, to be honest,” said a coach from a prominent Big Ten school who wished to remain unnamed. “A lot of schools push academics or location or tradition or an NFL pipeline, but what Gary did was be completely honest about what the vast majority of kids who play major college football want – easy access to free sex.”
But Barnett’s inspired move has been copied in the past week by other programs, including BYU, Miami, Minnesota and Oregon, who have floated rumors of their own sex parties for recruits.
“No school wants to get left behind in the sex party battle,” said ESPN’s Lee Corso. “Those who act too late and don’t promote their sex parties are sure to see their programs decline.”
Next year’s class of high school recruits is already taking notice. Carson Lolich, the top-ranked high school junior quarterback, said he has narrowed his choices to Colorado, BYU, Miami, Minnesota and Oregon after months of claiming Florida, Michigan and Penn State were his favorites. “These schools just have more of the total package that I’m looking for,” said Lolich.
Colorado’s Barnett said he has already seen the sex party competition affecting his recruiting process. “In the days after the story broke, when we were still the only program with this to offer, I was getting 80, 90 transfers a day – including some from schools like Miami and Oregon,” he said. “Now we’re only getting five or six each day.”
And the recent allegations of a former female player getting raped have also cut into Colorado’s recent surge of popularity. “A lot of players think it would be great to have access to a hot, young female right in the locker room,” said Corso, “but no one wants to get charged with a felony. If floating a rape story was Barnett’s idea, he may have gone too far this time.”
Barnett expects to see the fruits of the school’s sex parties begin to pay dividends in the 2005 when the 1,200-plus transfers regain their eligibility after sitting out this season.
“I don’t care if I never play a down for Colorado,” said Thomas Lawton, a linebacker who transferred from Ohio State. “I just want to get myself to some sex parties.”
