Former OU QB gets new start at Sam Houston State
Joe Schad ESPN.com
April 5, 2007
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Rhett Bomar is standing in his bedroom, a room so small that it barely contains his bed and two dressers.
The room is all but barren.
On one wood dresser rests the most valuable player trophy he claimed while quarterbacking Oklahoma to victory at the Holiday Bowl two seasons ago. On one white wall is a plaque, featuring a picture of Bomar wearing a crimson and cream No. 7 Sooners jersey.
"I'm proud of my time there," Bomar explains. "I'm not going to throw it away or anything like that."
But Bomar isn't proud of everything that happened while he fulfilled a lifelong dream as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. When the school learned last summer that he had been overpaid more than $7,000 by a car dealership in Norman, it quickly discarded him. What's left is memories and regret.
Bomar reaches into the closet in his bedroom, as his two roommates watch "SportsCenter" in the living room. He pulls out the jersey he wore at the Holiday Bowl.
"They said we could keep this," Bomar said. "I'm glad I did. But I won't be wearing it anytime soon."
Instead, after sitting out a season for taking "extra benefits" as determined by Oklahoma and the NCAA, Bomar is hoping to resurrect his career at Sam Houston State, a member of the former Division I-AA.
"It's different," Bomar says with a grin. "We may have a few long bus trips instead of plane rides. Stuff like that."
How Bomar ended up at Sam Houston State is simple, according to him. And for the first time, he's attempted to explain it on camera, in an interview to be seen on ESPN's "Outside The Lines" on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Oklahoma ruled that Bomar and guard J.D. Quinn -- who also was dismissed and has since enrolled at Montana -- were logging time at the Big Red Sports/Imports dealership even when they weren't there. The NCAA ruled a third unnamed player was also overpaid.
Bomar says when he arrived at Oklahoma at a true freshman in the summer of 2004, a school administrator mentioned the dealership as an employment opportunity.
"When I got to Norman, a few of us went over there to see about a job," Bomar said. "Someone in the athletic department said it was an option. They basically guided us to go there."
How was the job outlined to Bomar?
"Basic duties," Bomar said. "You know, move the cars around. Do specific details with the cars. I did that a lot, you know. I worked there in the summer all the time. People might not think, but we actually did work. It was the other stuff that got us in trouble."
How often did he go to Big Red?
"There were certain times we were not there," Bomar said. "The majority of the time we were there. It started out, we went there all the time, and things like that, and then one thing leads to another, you know, and you get in trouble."
Why did this happen? Did Bomar, who was raised in suburban Dallas, the son of two schoolteachers, need the money?
"You don't have time for a job," Bomar said. "Football is basically a full-time job at big-time schools and everything like that. Things happen. And things are easy. And you do it. Ultimately, it was my decision. And I got caught up in it. My actions, you know, are there. They are clear what happened. And so, I mean, I'll take full blame."
Bomar says that it was when he was on the verge of becoming a starter, in the summer of 2005, that he was told by former Big Red manager Brad McRae not to worry about coming around anymore.
"I started out as a normal employee," Bomar said. "I did the right things the first summer. It was the second summer I just stopped going. I was paid in cash and checks. People thought it was just checks, but it was definitely both. Cash and checks."
Bomar says a former Big Red employee told him not to worry about the payments. According to Oklahoma's documents published after open-record requests, coach Bob Stoops said he once quizzed former Big Red manager Brad McRae about the employment of his players at the dealership. ESPN called McRae several times, but he could not be reached for comment.
"It wasn't our idea, but it's our fault," Bomar said, who has paid half of the more than $7,000 to the charity of his choice, the March of Dimes, as mandated by the NCAA.
On April 14, Oklahoma will meet with the NCAA's committee on infractions and attempt to explain why its self-imposed penalties -- the dismissals, the reduction of two scholarships, the removal of an assistant from the road during a recruiting period and disassociation from McRae -- should be satisfactory punishment.
The NCAA's enforcement staff says Oklahoma failed to adequately monitor the employment of the players at the dealership, a contention the school will fight.
"We didn't have a scheme," Bomar said. "We [Bomar and Quinn] were in class and in practice at the same time. The scheme was basically not to be there. And Big Red knew. Brad McRae knew about it. It was basically, 'Don't worry about coming.'"
When Bomar was dismissed by Oklahoma, Stoops did not mince words.
"In the end, players need to be accountable," Stoops said. "We cannot spend every minute with them. They're 19 and 20 years old. They're plenty old enough that they understand the rules. They know what's right and what's wrong."
Even before the car-dealership concerns became public, Bomar was cited twice for underage alcohol consumption. Although Bomar says the dealership fallout has aided his maturity, he contends a lifestyle overhaul was not necessary.
"My lifestyle? I still do the same things," said Bomar, who turned 21 a month before being dismissed. "I haven't really changed that much. I'm not going to go out and party every night and drink. I like hanging out with my friends. When football is around, I don't really do much except play football, anyway. I'm sure a lot of people have a bad opinion of me. If they knew me, they'd know I'm not a bad person."
Bomar said that quarterbacks at big-time programs should not necessarily be held to a higher standard than any other player or student.
"You should be held to a higher standard on the field," Bomar said. "But I don't know about around town. Off the field, I don't know we should be held to a higher standard. I don't know what people expected of me. I just wanted to play football."
Bomar's advice to a younger player faced with a similar job scenario?
"Don't make the same mistake I made, because it's not worth it in the end," Bomar said. "I know that for a fact. Just do what you're supposed to do and then leave. Don't get caught up with the wrong people. Don't listen. Don't let somebody tell you that this is what you can do. Just do your job and get out of there."
One of Bomar's biggest regrets was leaving Norman without personally saying goodbye to any of his teammates. Stoops informed him of the school's decision the day before fall practices began, and he needed to find a new school quickly.
"It was unexpected to say the least," Bomar said. "This had been my dream since I was a little kid. I had played as a redshirt freshman and I was going to play for four years. That's everybody's goal, you know, to go somewhere and start for four years. That's your perfect scenario. Then all of the sudden -- boom! -- you can't play there anymore. It's a big change. It's a big detour in your life."
After considering a few Division I-A schools, including Houston, Bomar settled on Sam Houston State. He hoped selecting a lower-division school would prompt the NCAA to show leniency in its ruling. Bomar hoped to return at the end of last season but was never cleared.
"I think the toughest part was probably him just having to watch our football games on Saturdays," said Brett Hicks, a Sam Houston quarterback and Bomar's roommate. "To come here and stand on the sidelines and watch our games, when he couldn't be out there."
Bomar said he couldn't bring himself to watch more than a few minutes of any Oklahoma game. The Sooners, projected by some a preseason national championship favorite with Bomar at quarterback, went on to win the Big 12 with converted wide receiver Paul Thompson calling the plays.
"I'm not going to sit here and be bitter about it and just hate everybody up there," Bomar said. "I had good relationships up there. I still have friends that I talk to. And there are good people up there. I really have no emotions at all. I just think this is a fresh start."
Bomar's fresh start is somewhat jarring. After routinely playing games before crowds of 80,000, he'll be in a home stadium that can hold 14,000 but usually seats less than 10,000. Bomar completed 14 of 15 passes with three touchdowns at Sam Houston's first scrimmage of the spring.
There were less than 50 fans in the stands.
Bearkats coach Todd Whitten notes that here, each player is given only two pairs of cleats, which should be enough, but pales in comparison to a place like Oklahoma. A bus trip for a road game at Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La. -- 358 miles -- could last as long as six hours.
But Bomar said he believes he's found a family at Sam Houston that supports him.
"People that are 18, 19 and 20 years old oftentimes will disappoint you," Whitten said. "And when they do, certainly there is going to be some form of punishment that's going to happen. But ... also I think as coaches we need to be in the business of sometimes, it's OK to have a second chance. Maybe not always, but a lot of times. Young people deserve a second chance."
Not surprisingly, Whitten said Bomar is the most talented quarterback he's ever been around. He even compared his practice intensity to that of Brett Favre. Whitten will design his entire offense around Bomar and has visited with coaches at the University of Texas to implement more designed runs for a quarterback once coveted by the Longhorns as well as Miami and Florida State.
Bomar says he doesn't think about Oklahoma now, that he let it all go the moment he walked out of that individual meeting with Stoops and phoned his parents. Still, he hasn't removed all the items that would logically provoke flashbacks.
In Bomar's drawers are crimson and cream warm-ups, fleeces, sweatshirts and sweatpants. During last semester, he was occasionally spotted on the Sam Houston campus wearing Oklahoma sweats.
"I wore them because I liked them," Bomar said. "But now, you won't see me wearing them around where a lot of people can see me. I won't support that anymore."
A long way from Norman -- in scale and in scope -- Bomar will attempt to prove that his physical abilities are still intact. He plans to play his final two seasons at Sam Houston before trying to make the NFL.
"I still have my dreams and I can still experience them," Bomar said. "I've just got to take a little different route than I expected."
