TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- A Pittsburgh sports agent who is upset at the NCAA for the way it has hammered the Penn State football program took some shots at Alabama coach Nick Saban during an interview Wednesday on a Pittsburgh radio show.

Agent Ralph Cindrich essentially accused Saban of cheating but offered no concrete evidence.

"I have enough on Saban right now," Cindrich said on a KDKA show hosted by Larry Richert and John Shumway.

Cindrich was pressed for details.

"Everybody has something on Nick Saban, for God's sake," Cindrich said. "And if he has a problem with anything I say, come on after me, big guy."

[Listen to the interview here.]



Cindrich, who played in the 1970s in the NFL after playing college football for Pittsburgh, went on to talk about corruption in college football, particularly pay for play that is against NCAA rules.

The segment started with Cindrich being asked about the strong message the NCAA sent Penn State with sanctions that included a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, scholarship reductions and vacation of all victories since 1998 for allegedly covering up knowledge of a child sex scandal involving a former Penn State assistant coach.

Cindrich called NCAA president Mark Emmert "a bozo."

"When he starts talking about values and all the rest with student-athletes and college education and football, he's a hypocrite, and he knows he's a hypocrite," Cindrich said. "Coming down the way they have on Penn State, and even the statements that they're making, it's not at all about the institution. ... We should be looking at them. There's something that smells about this whole thing. It came down too quickly, in my opinion."

Cindrich was asked who is watching the NCAA.

"That's a very good question," he said. "No one's watching them. You want to know who's watching them? Nick Saban. You want to trust Nick Saban? I have enough on Saban right now - and I realize this stuff gets out, and I also realize the truth is a defense. I know what goes on in college football, so cut me a break. ..."

Cindrich went on to say there is "garbage thrown out there by Emmert and the rest of academia about college football."

"It is not pure, lily white," Cindrich said. "It is not close to that. It is a professional sport, a billion-dollar industry. Everybody knows the underside of it. If they're out there, if they're around players, around campuses, they know what goes on. It's bad."

This was where Cindrich was asked to elaborate on what he has on Saban.

"Everybody has something on Nick Saban, for God's sake," Cindrich said. "And if he has a problem with anything I say, come on after me, big guy."

One of the hosts asked Cindrich to explain why he thought Saban was behind the NCAA-Penn State story.

"I didn't say Nick Saban was behind this, or if I did, I apologize," Cindrich said. "I said, 'Like Nick Saban,' or, 'Like the other college coaches.' Let me say this: If you go to a seedy group out there - let's call them the agents out there of professional football players - and you start bringing them in and give them immunity ... you would hear things that make your hair turn gray. ...

"Like violations. Like payola. I mean, I testify in these things, guys. There's so much money - are you guys really serious? Are you that naive to think that there really isn't thousands of dollars in payola given to players to play each Saturday?"

So if everybody knows the players are being paid, Cindrich was asked, why has the NCAA never done anything about it?

"Nick Saban doesn't want to lose his $5 million, $7 million (salary) - $5 million is what we know about," Cindrich said.

Cindrich was asked directly if Alabama players are being paid.

"Oh, come on," he said.

"When you get these guys down and you get them under oath, they'll tell you that. Sure.

"The statute of limitations has probably run as far as any criminality was involved to what I was relating to Saban, but I was involved in it. I know what he tried to do. I know what he tried to cover up. If he wants to stand up and say something, I'll bring that up. If it's out of time, I'll go to the nearest agent I know, and I'll bring up about a dozen things that are in time, because that's the way he and most of the big-time schools, particularly in the SEC, operate."