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Friday, September 15, 2006

AUBURN FROM THE INSIDE

'Wayne Flynt, a professor emeritus of history at Auburn University and widely recognized as the leading authority on Alabama history, has spoken in Huntsville many times over the years. But his talk Thursday night to a rapt audience in the auditorium of the Huntsville Library was a first.

Flynt has long been an outspoken critic of what he describes as widespread and systemic corruption in athletics, particularly in the football programs at both Auburn and Alabama. The best-selling author of 11 books on such issues as race, religion and politics focused solely on football in his latest visit. Those who showed up expecting verbal fireworks did not leave disappointed.

"If you do serious research about the football programs at Alabama and Auburn, you will not be nearly as infatuated as you once were,'' Flynt said. "And I say that with deep, deep regret.''

A season ticket holder at Auburn football games for 30 years and an avid basketball fan who regularly attends Auburn basketball games and the SEC tournament, Flynt holds degrees from Samford and Florida State. But "Auburn was always in my genes'' because his father and uncles were lifelong Auburn fans.

Family loyalties aside, Flynt is the forefront of those who maintain that athletics - particularly football - at the state's two major institutions has lost its way, and not just because of the various NCAA probations both schools have suffered through.

"You can love football and appreciate all its values, and I do,'' Flynt said. "But people (in Alabama) have simply got to decide. Are we going to do it right, or are we going to continue to try to win at all costs?''

Is there any wonder, he asked, that so many athletes find themselves in trouble? "What do we expect when these players have such a sense of entitlement?'' he said.

During questions and answers, Flynt touched on a variety of subjects ranging from Hoover High coach Rush Propst to controversial Auburn trustee Bobby Lowder to the recent New York Times story on directed studies in the Auburn sociology department.

Asked for his views on Propst, the hard-bitten prep coach whose team is ranked No. 1 nationally, Flynt said: "I'm glad he doesn't coach at Auburn. I'm embarrassed by that MTV series they've been showing on Hoover. I've visited at Hoover, and I can tell you a lot of the teachers at that school are embarrassed, too.

"What he does sends all the wrong messages. They may win national championships in football, but it's not worth the price.''

When someone in the audience asked how long Bobby Lowder would "control Auburn,'' Flynt replied: "Until he dies. Bobby Lowder has two goals in life - to run Auburn University and to run Colonial Bank. A lot of people have tried to get him off the board, but he is one tough hombre - and one rich hombre.''

And what should be made of The New York Times story, which caused such a furor a few weeks ago?

"What happened at Auburn is a terrible academic scandal,'' Flynt said. "But I do not think it's an athletic scandal.

"Faculty members can get caught up in that football culture just like anybody else. I do believe it diminished our reputation academically. My son in Seattle, who's an Auburn graduate, was very angry about it.''

Flynt added, however, that he believes Auburn's interim president, Ed Richardson, "handled the situation very well'' and took appropriate steps to rectify the problem.

"What's sad,'' Flynt said, "is that he had to handle such a situation in the first place.'''