No, really. That's it. That's Spencer Hadley, senior linebacker, having what looks like a swell time in this undated photo from what looks like a club located in the dark heart of somewhere sinful. Hadley's the one in the greenish-blue shirt in the middle, holding up a bottle of what we're guessing is Dom Pérignon.
In any other part of the country, this would be a relatively innocuous moment in the life of a young man. But because Hadley plays for BYU, and because Dom Pérignon is not the sort of thing they drink over on Temple Hill, the photo—along with some accompanying allegations covering the NCAA-scandal waterfront—has become sort of a big deal. On Tuesday, BYU announced it was suspending Hadley for violating its famous honor code. Think that's weird? The folks at BYU only found out about Hadley because an official from arch-rival University of Utah forwarded them the photo. And guess which team BYU happens to be playing this week? Yep, Utah. Holy War!
Here's a timeline of how it all went down: Darren Lucy, a self-described "die hard Utah Utes fan," sent an email to Kate Charipar, the University of Utah's assistant AD for compliance, on Monday afternoon. Lucy then followed up by emailing Charipar the photo. Charipar immediately forwarded that photo to Chad Gwilliam, BYU's director of compliance. A day later, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall declared that Hadley would be suspended for five games for violating team rules. A spokeswoman later confirmed the suspension was for violating the honor code. And a source told the Salt Lake Tribune that Hadley's honor-code suspension was because he went clubbing in Vegas.
Two newspapers—the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News—made public records requests through the University of Utah for the emails sent between Lucy, Utah, and BYU. Those requests were expedited by the University of Utah's legal counsel. Yesterday, the papers both published what was said in those emails, but neither paper published the photo. We got the photo and the emails after submitting our own records request.
A Utah spokeswoman told us Charipar had passed Lucy's claims on to Gwilliam as a "professional courtesy" because it "is common practice among compliance directors—including those at Utah and BYU—to alert another of potential NCAA violations."
This is how the email chain went, starting with the email from Lucy to Charipar:
From: Darren Lucy
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 2:16 PM
To: Kate Charipar
Subject: BYU LB partying in Vegas with BoosterI am a die hard Utah Utes fan and have pictures of BYU Linebacker Spencer Hadley partying frequently in Las Vegas at an MGM Nightclub and the Spearmint Rhino Strip Club. We have pictures as recent as last night of Hadley in Vegas with BYU booster Jacob Stocking. I'm sure the NCAA will be launching an investigation in regards to trips on Stockings private jet, Cash loans paid to Hadley, the use of Stockings vehicles, staying in high priced Vegas Suites, indulging in Champagne parties with Las Vegas Cocktail Waitress's. Also reports of the use of the Drug (Molly) and Alcohol use among Hadley. We . Hadley reportedly seen trying to catch a flight back this morning out of Vegas but missed his flight therefore will be missing team meetings/practice today as he is still in Las Vegas. Sad to see young athletes fail to stay on track but BYU has had this coming to them.
Darren
I can supply pictures if your interested. I plan on contacting the Salt Lake Newspaper next
This was Charipar's response to Lucy:
From: Kate Charipar
To: Darren Lucy
Subject: RE: BYU LB partying in Vegas with Booster
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:17:28 +0000The NCAA can only investigate with evidence. If you have pictures, that would be helpful.
Kate M. Charipar
Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance
University of Utah
Lucy wrote back, presumably with the photo seen above:
From: Darren Lucy
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 2:27 PM
To: Kate Charipar
Subject: RE: BYU LB partying in Vegas with BoosterI will supply more pictures soon.
Regards
Darren
Exactly one minute later, Charipar forwarded Lucy's email to BYU's Gwilliam:
From: Kate Charipar
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 2:28 PM
To: 'Chad Gwilliam'
Subject: FW: BYU LB partying in Vegas with BoosterKate M. Charipar
Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance
University of Utah
Busted. In sum: a narc narcs to a compliance person, who narcs to another compliance person, who narcs on his own team. College football, everyone.