UCF Scandal

This is too sick EVEN for our staff.

I hope you UCF people find the right vehicle for repentance.

Disgusting.

In our break from the Plancher cover-up we continue our look at shining examples of the UCF football program. This time it’s poster boy for the UCF Home Invasion Task Force, Charles Lee.

From the archives (December 6, 2007):

Former UCF Football Star Charged In Home Invasion

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — From running to the end zone to running from the law, a man considered one of the University of Central Florida’s greatest football players was arrested at his alma mater Wednesday night. Charles Lee, Jr. also played for the Orlando Predators and earned a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Lee was a standout wide receiver. Now he’s in jail accused of stealing $11,000 in a home invasion robbery.The Pegasus Landing Apartments near UCF is just one of the student apartment complexes plagued by robberies and burglaries this semester. Word that a former student and star athlete may be behind some of the crime is both a shock and a relief.There were many touchdowns during the glory days of college for Charles Lee, but Thursday a very different kind of notoriety became part of Lee’s resume. A judge denied bond to the former receiver after his arrest for a home invasion at the Pegasus Landing Apartments.Students are shocked.”To have such a resume like that. You just downgraded yourself. So I wouldn’t be surprised. I think the police did what they had to do,” said student BJ Johnson.Just a few years ago, Lee was a media star, even earning a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just four years ago.

Now, UCF police are trying to figure out how many crimes Lee is connected to.

“One guy was holding me down with his foot, gun to the back of my head. The other guy was going through my drawers and my closet and if I didn’t tell him where my valuables were he would kill me,” robbery victim Nicholas Rind told Eyewitness News in November.Now police will are trying to solve more crimes with Lee behind bars. More charges and arrests may be to come.”It’s a good thing that they caught him, definitely,” said student Mike Willey.

Before his arrest Wednesday night, things seemed to be going downhill for Lee. He’d lost his spot with the Orlando Predators in April and been convicted and sentenced for robbery in June. He also auctioned off his Super Bowl ring just three years after he earned it.Eyewitness News requested an interview with Lee on Thursday. Jail officials said he declined with some very colorful language.

View the entire story at WFTV.com

Yes, it’s been too much on the readers, I see the complaints. We need to cover more than just current scandals and controversies. While I take this Plancher situation very seriously, we can take a respite from it and look at other great moments in UCF history. Without further ado, we knock the dust off the archives and hopefully lighten the mood around here a bit:

From the archives (12/10/05):

Charges filed against former UCF quarterback Culpepper

Jeff Baenen

MINNEAPOLIS - Quarterback Daunte Culpepper and three Minnesota Vikings teammates were charged Thursday with indecent, lewd and disorderly conduct for participating in a bawdy boat party that drew national attention.

Culpepper, a former star quarterback at UCF who is currently on injured reserve, Bryant McKinnie, Fred Smoot and Moe Williams each were charged with three misdemeanors for their behavior aboard a boat on Lake Minnetonka, according to court papers.

If convicted, each player faces up to a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count.

“The night of the incident, there was no shortage of inappropriate behavior on both boats,” Hennepin County Sheriff Pat McGowan said.

Prosecutor Steve Tallen charged the players based on an investigation by McGowan’s office, which reviewed allegations of lewd and drunken behavior aboard two craft chartered for the outing on Oct. 6.

Crew members complained that some people took off their clothes and engaged in public sex acts during the cruise, according to Stephen Doyle, an attorney representing the boats’ owners, Al & Alma’s Supper Club and Charter Cruises in Mound, Minn.

…Read the entire account at the Central Florida Future.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Joe Tumpkin has abruptly departed the UCF Knights football program.

“I had been hired at Central Florida on Jan. 14 and was getting started, but right after signing day I got a call from coach Bennett,” Tumpkin said. “I wanted to at least look at the opportunity and the more I looked at it, I felt like based on my past experience with coach Bennett — I learned a lot of football from him and we get along tremendously — and what I know about Dave Wannstedt it made it [a job] I couldn’t turn down.”

While not included in the Post-Gazette story one must logically conclude that Tumpkin decided there was much more to learn and achieve with the Big East’s Pitt Panthers. Having spent just over one month with the Knights, it is unclear if Tumpkin had been fully exposed to the make-believe that is UCF football. Regardless, he chose to move on with Wannstedt as head coach rather than George O’Leary - as he openly states above. A good decision for Tumpkin.

I wonder if George offered to help him with his resume?

It took a little while, but the USF-obsessed UCF fan base could no longer resist comment at UCF Scandal. Granted it has little to do with the topics at hand, but the comments give us a clear insight into the deranged mind of the UCF public.

Check out the blog response here from dear “Wil” to the alleged rivalry with USF.

But that’s not all. UCF fans have even emailed their thoughts and feelings, here is a sample of what’s come in so far to scoop@ucfscandal.com. What they don’t realize is they are not providing any “scoop.” Wise up tinmen.

Here’s my favorite so far, and winner of the weekly award, from GoldenUCFKnight9 (I’ll censor the ignorant profanity - I’m not sure, but I’d guess all Knights aren’t as profane and empty):

YOUR SITE IS F****** LAME

WHERE ARE YOUR “SCANDALS?”

YOU ARE A F****** DOUCHE

STOP YOUR CRYING - THE ONLY 5 STAR RECRUITS YOU GET ARE 5-TIME FELONS!

YOUR NOT THE “U” YOU NEVER WILL BE - YOU GOT YOUR ASS KICKED BY THEM 3 YEARS AGO

STOP TRYING TO FOLLOW THE BADASS MOLD

YOUR COACH IS ON CRACK AND HE NEEDS MORE OF IT

LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!

GO KNIGHTS!

OH AND WIN YOUR F****** CONFERENCE ALREADY - BOTTOM FEEDER

And to honor the weakest of the weak, from “Ryan”:

I find the existence of this website odd since UCF is generally known for being a clean program on the up and up. Did you mean to name this site USFscandal.com? I believe you might’ve registered the wrong domain name.

Certainly both psychopaths sent their warm regards at the upstart of the blog. There is quite a bit of reading for these little guys to do, providing they’re able.

There is plenty more to come from UCF Scandal, both new and old as we continue our mission to illustrate what really happens at UCF (besides losing).

UCF Scandal exclusive

Orlando, Florida - In an inexcusable fashion, the UCF athletic administration has elected to attempt to drive season ticket sales by continuing to market a “rivalry with USF”. The UCF Athletics official site states that “next season’s six-game home slate features non-conference opponents: South Carolina State in the season-opener, followed by in-state rival South Florida…”

How desperate is that? A rival implies a rivalry. After years of begging for a series with USF, South Florida finally conceded as part of their deal to exit the soon-to-be decimated non-BCS Conference USA. Now a member of an the even weaker “C-USA”, UCF attempts to mislead others by claiming to be a rival of USF. The Bulls, a member of the BCS Big East conference, reached as high as #2 in the country last year after absolutely dismantling an outplayed and outcoached UCF team 64-12.

That was the third straight win for the Bulls who now lead the football series with UCF 3-0. The final installment will be played this year. South Florida has no interest in playing UCF again. There is very little value to a rising program like USF to play a team as poor and under equipped as UCF.

Rival?

Don’t buy it.

In a stinging indictment of the UCF football program, CSTV.com’s Adam Caparell wrote that in considering UCF for the potential Big East expansion they bring little, if anything to the table.

“The casual teams that have been thrown out as possible additions - Conference USA teams like Memphis, UCF and ECU - don’t add a whole lot“, said Caparell on the CSTV.com website.

UCF and Conference USA both partners of CSTV.com must be reeling at the thought of their partner exposing them as such lightweight players in the world of college football. Caparell goes on in his article to suggest a MAC team might be a better future Big East member than UCF.

All this amid UCF’s annual season ticket drive. As the 6th best team in the state, the timing on this cold dose of reality couldn’t have been worse.

University leaders’ plea: We need $1 billion more

University of Central Florida President John Hitt said the school “could badly use those funds.”

“This year we’re expecting a cut of between 3 and 4 percent in the base budget,” Hitt said. “It means there will be fewer class sections and more students in classes. We’re not at a crisis point there, but we’re not where we’d like to be as we’re perceived around the nation. . . . It’s not good.”

Like all Florida universities, UCF has capped freshman enrollment for the current year. But with deeper budget reductions on the horizon, Hitt said the university may be forced to reduce admissions for students who get associate’s degrees from community colleges, a historic pathway to a bachelor’s degree in Florida.

Link to story