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More dirt flies Ex-Tide signee claims Kirk offered cash for allegations
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- A former University of Alabama football signee says he was offered $25,000, a car and a chance to play college football if he would tell NCAA officials that Alabama illegally recruited him. David Paine said Milton Kirk, a former high school coach in Memphis, Tenn., approached him two weeks ago with the offer, which included the car and $25,000, according to reports in The Birmingham News and The Tuscaloosa News. Paine said Kirk tried to convince him that he was recruited improperly. Kirk was fired by Memphis school officials this week after admitting months ago that he helped craft a plan to deliver defensive lineman Albert Means to Alabama for $200,000. Paine told The Tuscaloosa News that Kirk first approached him with the offer of a car in November. Paine, a top defensive end recruit, said Kirk also said he would help him clear up eligibility problems with the NCAA and help him find a place on a college football team, possibly the University of Memphis, where Paine is currently enrolled. "I told him I don't want any part of that because I wasn't illegally recruited," said Paine, who signed with Alabama in 1999 but failed to qualify academically. "I told him like I've told everybody, my recruitment process was straight down the line." Kirk, reached by telephone at his Memphis home, declined Friday to respond to Paine's allegation. "I don't even care what he says. People, they got a right to their opinion," Kirk said. Kirk has said in past interviews that he had no specific knowledge of recruiting improprieties of other Alabama players and signees, although he had heard rumors. Kirk has been at the center of allegations in the Means case since announcing publicly earlier this year that he and former Trezevant High head coach Lynn Lang offered to steer Means to any college that paid $200,000. Kirk said Lang received the money when Means signed with Alabama last year and kept the payment for himself. After Kirk publicized his allegations, Means transferred from Alabama to the University of Memphis. Lang, who has denied the allegations, resigned from Memphis schools last month. Former Melrose High head coach Tim Thompson also was fired this week, for improper payments he received concerning of recruitment of a player to the University of Kentucky. Paine, who said he has a close relationship with Thompson, said Kirk asked him to tell NCAA investigators that Thompson "had me illegally recruited" when he played at Melrose. "I guess he's trying to brainwash me and tell me that I was," Paine said. "He's telling me that Alabama had illegally recruited me. He said I could get the same deal that Albert Means had got." Paine said Kirk told him he could help him because "he's got people in high places." Paine said he is scheduled to meet Tuesday with NCAA investigator Rich Johanningmeier, who has been working the Alabama inquiry. In an interview last month with The News, Paine said he never believed Kirk's allegations against Lang and Alabama. And he said Means, whom he called a friend, wasn't forced to go to Alabama, as Kirk has claimed. "He is a smart kid, an honor roll student," Paine said then of Means. "From a book standpoint, he's smart enough to make his own decision."
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