Ah, the Jim Donnan Ponzi scheme story. Where were we? When last we'd spoken, it was being reported that the former Georgia Bulldogs coach had (perhaps accidentally) gotten a number of fellow college football coaches involved in a shady investment plan.
Sports By Brooks claims to have obtained documents which show just how much certain coaches and players may have paid into the system, based on Donnan's own accounting. Here's that list:
1) Tommy Tuberville: $800,000
2) Frank Beamer: $175,000
3) Billy Gillispie: $3,000,000+ (one of two loan agreements unsigned)
4) Dennis Franchione: $650,000
5) Mark Gottfried: $250,000
6) Kendrell Bell (Former NFL player): $2,075,000 (two of four loan agreements unsigned)
7) Jonas Jennings (Former NFL player): $500,000 (loan agreement unsigned)Mike Gottfried (Former ESPN analyst, CFB coach): $250,000
9) Tom Luginbill (ESPN recrutiing analyst): $30,000
10) Barry Switzer: $50,000
I love that 8) automatically turned into a smily in SbB's CMS, and am just gonna leave it. Two names that really stick out there: Kendrell Bell and Jonas Jennings, both of whom played for Donnan at UGA. Not good. And step it up, Switzer.
One name that does not stick out at all, since we're talking about Ponzi schemes: Billy Gillispie's. What are you doing here? You're not even a football coach. Neither is Mark Gottfried, but his uncle Mike Gottfried was. If there's a bad investment to be made that somehow involves a sports figure, you can count on Gillispie to invest. And not just invest, but to drop a sum that dwarfs pretty much everybody else's. Billy Gillispie has an interesting financial portfolio.
Assuming this is all real, of course.
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