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Florence, Italy Summer Program

“If they didn’t match up to scholarship requirements, coaches would make them go through the gauntlet until (they went) down,” said Cindrich, a sports agent who played linebacker at Pitt and in the NFL in the early 1970s. “Why did they do that? If someone quits, they give up their scholarship.”

What was acceptable behavior decades ago has become grounds for dismissal, as the conduct of coaches has come to the forefront of college football with the firings of Mark Mangino by Kansas, Mike Leach by Texas Tech and Jim Leavitt by South Florida in the past several weeks following allegations of emotional, mental and physical abuse.

The most stunning development is that all three were prominent coaches at BCS programs. Mangino and Leach are former recipients of national coach of the year honors, while Leavitt was the only coach in the 13-year history of USF football.

Mangino was fired Dec. 3 amid allegations that he was verbally abusive and forced one player to do bear crawls on scorching artificial turf that caused third-degree burns on his hands.

Leach was let go Dec. 30 after being accused of forcing a player suffering concussion-like symptoms to stand in a shed during practice.

Leavitt was dismissed Jan. 8, not so much for striking a player at halftime of the Louisville game but trying to cover it up.

“Shoot, when I was in high school, we did bear crawls all the time,” said Bill Fralic, the former Penn Hills and Pitt All-America tackle who spent eight seasons in the NFL. “I used to get paddled all the time, too, in grade school. I don’t think you can do that anymore.

“I’m sure it was hell, because I’ve been through some of that stuff. But toughness carries you through at the end of the day. With that stuff, you can win a lot of football games with mediocre talent.

“I didn’t want to go through it, but I was forced to. I think society has gotten softer.”

Which begs this question: Where is the line drawn between motivation and humiliation, and when do college football coaches cross it?

“I just wonder how much of this has gone on over the years under the disguise of motivation and mentoring,” said Dennis Dodd, a national college football analyst for CBS Sports. “You can put a lot of false labels on this stuff. When it comes down to it, it’s still humiliation of a player and mistreatment.

“These (coaches) have all the power. I don’t see the reason to do this stuff. It’s a power trip and a character flaw.

“I think something significant is happening here, that we’ve seen three of these in (just over) a month. I wonder if any teams are going to bring in someone from the university to say: ‘This is what you can’t do.’ ”

While NCAA guidelines outline principles for institutional control, student-athlete well-being and sportsmanship and ethical conduct, the onus of responsibility is on each institution to ensure appropriate behavior.

Cindrich doesn’t expect schools to be extremely specific, in part because it takes away some of the leverage they have over coaches with lucrative long-term contracts by having a vague out-clause written into the deal.

Mangino had four years left on a $9.2 million extension. Leach had four years remaining on a $12.7 million deal. And Leavitt was in the second year of a seven-year, $12.6 million extension. Where Mangino reached a $3 million settlement with Kansas, Leach and Leavitt have filed suit against their respective universities to challenge that there was cause for firing.

“If someone is looking to run someone out of town, that is a good way of doing it,” said Cindrich, whose clientele includes college and pro coaches. “It’s too easy of a way to get rid of someone.”

That could be the case for Leach and Texas Tech, as his firing was prompted by the furor caused after he ordered sophomore receiver Adam James, the son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James, to stay in a dark room during practice after Adam complained of concussion-like symptoms.

That football-related concussions are a hot-button topic only made matters worse, but high school football coaches Terry Smith of Gateway and Bill Cherpak of Thomas Jefferson also believe the reaction to the Texas Tech case shows the sense of entitlement belonging to today’s athletes.

“(The abuse is) not near as bad as it used to be,” said Smith, who played at Gateway and Penn State. “In today’s society, not as much is tolerated. I can remember being coached and called names and pushed and shoved and kicked and grabbed by the facemask, but it was tolerated then.

“That’s part of what’s wrong in society today. Kids are growing up with no respect for authority and no fear of authority. You look at the Texas Tech incident. Craig James has some influence and used it.”

Smith recalled being stunned at a prospect camp when a college position coach berated one of Smith’s players with profane language during a drill. Surprisingly enough, the player still signed to play at that coach’s school and had a productive college career.

Even so, Smith warns his players not to choose a school if they don’t like those types of motivational tactics.

“The mental side, that’s sometimes worse than being hit,” Smith said. “You hear: ‘You’re stupid’ enough, for a young, fragile mind, that might not go over too well.

“If you know their reputation, you’ve got to tell your player: ‘Here’s their coaching style. If you can handle this, then this is an option. If you can’t handle it, you’ve got to take them off your list.’

“Don’t get there and think something is going to change.”

I was able to fool Bobby in one aspect of my contract negotiations. For years, Bobby thought it was my agent, Ralph Cindrich, who was the bad guy, holding out and needing Bobby for that extra little incentive of Bonus.

It was me the whole time. I always orchestrated it with Ralph on what I wanted, what I was and wasn’t going to do. Ralph accepted the bad-guy role. It was never, “Mark wants this or Mark wants that.” It was, “WE gotta have this, WE gotta ave that.”

Bobby used to get so ticked off at Ralph. He’d come up to me and say, “May Day, I love the way you play, and it’s great to have you around. But that SOB Cindrich is tough to deal with.”

Bobby, if you only knew.

As long as we’re on the subject of Ralph Cindrich, please allow me to make a quick plug; fully realizing it’s not popular to say nice things about agents and lawyers. Believe me, I don’t make a habit of it. I’m one of those guys who reaches for the remote when the Oscar winners start thanking their agents. But Ralph Cindrich was my first and only agent and will always be my legal representative as far as sports and entertainment are concerned.

Of much greater value, though, is the friendship I have with Ralph and his family. From day one, we’ve had a bond. Ralph, his wife, Mary, son Michael, and daughter, Christina are among my most cherished friends.

A young woman from Bridgeville becomes a national sensation on one of those so-called “reality” TV shows and she can’t believe all the doors it opens.

, 23, who grew up in Bridgeville and played volleyball and was a cheerleader at South Fayette High School, is now meeting movie stars and soap opera stars at a birthday party for Playboy patriarch Hugh Hefner at his mansion near Chicago. She can hardly catch her breath between engagements.

Now she’s appearing at a press conference at the Westin Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Executives of the Pittsburgh Brewing Company are bubbling over with excitement to announce that Jenna has joined their ranks to promote both Iron City and I.C. Light beers. Jenna is the poster-girl and billboard-girl in their new “Bring It” promotional campaign.

They’re taking on the big boys, the national beers, and they’re coming out swinging with a swinging young miss named Morasca. Her dad, Mike Morasca, who’s 55, was standing in the back of the room, positively beaming. He has taken a break from his position as supervisor of the maintenance staff at the Westin Convention Center to see his little girl in the spotlight once again.
Ralph Cindrich, the sports attorney and agent who lives in Mt. Lebanon and has offices in Carnegie, is there, too. Cindrich has represented many sports stars, especially football players, through the years and now he’s marketing Jenna Morasca as well. Ralph and Mike are
former football players and wrestlers who’ve tangled in their high school days, and have been friends ever since. Ralph’s daughter, Christina, is a friend of Jenna. So they know each other well.
“I’m excited to be doing something different like this,” said Cindrich, who grew up in Avella and starred as a linebacker at Pitt in the early ’70s and went on to play pro ball for the New England Patriots, Houston Oilers and Denver Broncos in the National Football League. Cindrich is one of the most respected sports agents in the business. “We’re comfortable having Jenna with Ralph,” said her proud father at last week’s press conference.

Jenna first gained fame last year when she won CBS-TV’s hit show, “Survivor: The Amazon.” She was competing this season on “Survivor: All Stars,” but had to drop out to be with her mother, Carla Morasca, who was battling cancer. “If there was anybody who was a survivor it was my mom,” said Jenna. “She battled cancer for 12 years. She was only 47 when she passed in November. She was the first one to light my fire.” Jenna was close to her family and drew strength and inspiration from both of her parents. “They were the best fans ever,” she said. “My dad was always very competitive and yet he had a way of keeping calm in the process. He attended all my activities and pushed me, but kept me calm at the same time. He’d say, ‘I know you can win; let’s do our best.’ It was always reassuring. “I liked all sports, and tried them all when I was young. I played softball and soccer and basketball, but was best at volleyball. I became a pretty good spiker.”

Her overnight fame even led to a photo spread in Playboy. Asked how he handled that, her dad said, “We talked about that and worked it out,” he recalled. “She had the right to pick what pictures they used, and there were poses she wouldn’t do. We wanted it to be tasteful. We felt it would be OK. “It’s nice to see something positive happen for your kid. We’ve been through a lot together. It’s been awful tough at times with what was going on with my wife. I was good at all sports when I was young and I tried to be positive when Jenna did try things. She always tried to do her best.”

Jenna said she is pleased to be doing something “in my hometown with a Pittsburgh product.” Joe Piccirilli, the president of Pittsburgh Brewing Company, and Tony Ferraro, the vice-president of sales, are both excited to have Jenna on their team to represent the brewery at various promotions about town. Part of this campaign will include a trip giveaway to Riveria Maya, Mexico in October for some lucky customer.
Jenna, by the way, says she has an occasional Iron City. I’m an I.C. Light man myself – from the bottle in a frosted mug, thank you – because I like to support Pittsburgh companies as well. Bring it!

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Sunday September 18, 2005
Ron Cook, columnist

The hit was made, and the big crowd gasped. The runner went one way, the ball another. In an instant, both were on the Heinz Field turf. The Steelers didn’t just recover the fumble; they took control of the game. The ball carrier picked himself up slowly and walked to his bench, head hanging, all the while wondering where the train came from.

You don’t have to guess who made the play for the Steelers.

You know it was James Farrior.

Doesn’t he always make the big play for the Steelers’ defense?

Farrior said he wants to have a better season than last year, when he was the Steelers’ Most Valuable Player and first team All Pro and played like it in the 34-7 victory against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. His defense had a rough start, allowing the Titans to take the opening drive for a touchdown. After the Steelers answered with a touchdown, the Titans were moving again when Farrior changed the course of the game.

He stood up running back Travis Henry in the hole over right guard, knocking Henry backward and the ball flying. Ike Taylor recovered for the Steelers, who turned the gift into a field goal and never looked back.

“You never know when big plays are going to happen so you have to go hard every play.” Farrior said.

The man has a gift for making them.

There wasn’t a better all around inside linebacker in the NFL last season. Farrior’s versatility showed in his statistics: a team high 119 tackles, three sacks, four interceptions, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

He made the biggest play of the season in Game 6 at Dallas, turning a sure loss into an unlikely win when he forced a late fumble by quarterback Vinny Testaverde, his second sack and third forced fumble of the day, for which he was honored as the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Who knows what would have happened the next Sunday against New England if the Steelers had lost that afternoon? As it was, they crushed the Patriots, finished 15-1 in the regular season and made it to the AFC Championship game.

Only Bill Cowher knows how the voting went for team MVP, but Farrior should have been the unanimous choice. With all due respect to Hines Ward, Alan Faneca and Ben Roethlisberger, there shouldn’t have been a close second.

“I didn’t always play great games,” Farrior said. “If you sat in the film room with the coaches, you’d see I made mistakes.”

What?

Did Farrior forget to tie his shoelaces one play?

Did he mess up a high-five with Joey Porter?

Was he in the bathroom for one of Cowher’s halftime talks?

“No player has every played the perfect game,” Farrior said. “There’s always room to improve and ways to get better. That’s what I’m working to do.”

As a Steelers captain, Farrior takes that same never-good-enough approach with the defense. It didn’t matter that the titans didn’t score after the first drive. “We gave up a couple of long runs and a couple of long passes,” he said. “If we’re going to be the type of defense we want to be, we can’t do that. We expect more out of ourselves. We’re a prideful group. Against a better team – a team that’s a little more explosive – those big plays could hurt us.”

It could happen today against the Houston Texans, but it’s not likely. The Texans managed just one touchdown, 25 passing yards and 120 total yards in a 22-7 loss at Buffalo last Sunday. Quarterback David Carr was sacked five times, continuing a horrible trend that’s had him sacked 145 times in his first three-plus seasons. The poor guy could be wearing Farrior by the time the day is done.

Of course, the Texans will be looking for Farrior. He might have sneaked up on a few teams last season. Certainly, he didn’t get the recognition that fellow All Pro inside linebacker Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens did, even though he’s twice the player Lewis is at this stage of their careers.

But that was then.

This is now.

“It’s going to be my most challenging season,” Farrior said. “I’m no secret anymore. Teams are going to be game-planning for me, looking to take me out of the game.”

The Titans tried and failed.

Don’t be surprised if most teams fail with Farrior.

By Ralph Cindrich
Sports Agent

An NFL veteran is going into the last year of his contract – a high draft choice only now coming of age. He could sign for a big bonus if he has an exceptional season and he remains healthy, but he turns 31 before becoming a Free Agent.

Does he roll the dice for the bigger unknown contract or take the sure thing that insures his future? It’s a matter of philosophy and experience — and an agent’s advice is critical to the decision.

The fan believes that agents play a major role in all decisions — like telling a player under contract not to report. Maybe the agent is behind it — but few fans accept that it is the player’s decision to hold out because “these problems never existed before agents.”

But athletes are different today than in years past — in all ways — and they require professional assistance during and after their playing days. A large part of the agent’s job is to maximize the earnings of the athlete — the “Show me the Money” contract that we have come to know, but that’s only a part of it.

Surveys that we commissioned demonstrate that most athletes are clueless about taxes, investments, and business-related issues. The chiseled, muscular body disguises their youth and inexperience. Who knew about such things at that age?

The limited earning years for athletes require starting the search for a second career after the rookie year, even for the highly successful athlete. Dan Marino doesn’t have to work, but he entered a second career that he enjoys.

An extremely talented athlete can get away with just about anything — if only for a short time — but not so for the vast majority. Business rules must be learned to survive and those rules serve the athlete well in his second career.

Athletes need guidance in every step of the process: Physical and mental preparation, nutrition, interview preparation, setting goals, studying, analyzing strengths and weaknesses, and otherwise learning how to be a pro on and off-the-field.

These rules are not found in their playbooks.

©PSR

TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, April 14, 2002

Mary Rose Cindrich can stay. No offense, but everyone else must get out.

Mary Rose has been around her husband, Ralph Cindrich — they were college sweethearts at Pitt — long enough to know that draft day is his holy day of obligation. When the NFL conducts its 2002 draft Saturday and Sunday, he will demand peace and quiet in their Mt. Lebanon home and nothing but a television tuned to ESPN, a radio tuned to Myron Cope and his annual dinner of spaghetti, salad and a glass of wine.

“I shoo everyone out of the house,” said Cindrich, one of the most influential and successful player agents in the NFL. “My wife will be there because she doesn’t bother me. If my kids are home, out. My mother-in-law, out. People stopping over, out.”

Cindrich is totally devoted to his clients, but especially when they are among the anxious group of prospects hoping to hear their name called early in the draft-day proceedings.

He’s also a realist, and he doesn’t sugar-coat the often-agonizing process. Said Cindrich: “I’ll be letting them, many of them, know, it’s going to be a long, long day.”

ATHLETE REPRESENTING ATHLETES

Cindrich knows about agony and frustration. He was an athlete long before he started representing athletes.

At Avella High School in the 1960s, he was undefeated in dual wrestling meets as a junior and senior and was a WPIAL champion and PIAA runner-up. In football, he was captain of his team at the Big 33 Classic and went on to Pitt, where he was an All-America linebacker as a sophomore and senior.

Due to a knee injury suffered in the first football game ever played on Astroturf at Pitt Stadium in 1970, Cindrich wrestled only one year in college. Still, he was a heavyweight champion in the eastern region and ranked fourth nationally as a sophomore. He was invited to the Olympic trials, but the injury forced him to decline.

Cindrich was dedicated to the athletic lifestyle.

“This was the flower era,” he said of the late 1960s and early 1970s. “When things were wild, I was clean. I didn’t do the partying.”

He wore his hair short and vowed to avoid alcohol and tobacco.

“You lived like a monk,” he said.

After three knee operations, he was a fifth-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons in 1972 and he managed to play four seasons in the NFL (one with the New England Patriots and three with the Houston Oilers).

His career was cut short by the lingering effects of the knee injury, but he was ready for the rest of his life. While playing for the Oilers in 1974, he went to law school at the South Texas College of Law at Texas A&M. He received his license to practice law in Texas in 1978.

Today, Cindrich sits in his handsomely appointed office in Carnegie, and speaks on a speaker phone to many wealthy clients, including former Steelers center and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Dermontti Dawson, who make positive imprints on society.

Then, however, one of his first clients was a Manson-like cult follower, a woman who was the ringleader among three people accused in the one-at-a-time murder of two 18-year-old hitchhikers near the Astrodome in Houston. Cindrich remembers the grisly details better than he does the numbers on his richest contract.

“They tied them up like pigs, (by their) feet, with their hands behind their backs,” said Cindrich, who was ordered to defend the suspects by a Texas judge named Jimmy James. “They put a rope around the neck of one, one (suspect) got on one side and the other (suspect) on the other side, they put their foot on his shoulder blades and pulled until he died. And he took a while to die.”

The second boy watched his friend die and was killed in the same manner, Cindrich said, after the suspects went out for donuts and coffee.

Eventually, the suspects confessed to the killings. But another murder case went Cindrich’s way, even though his client shot the victim six times with a snub-nose gun.

“After the first two, he was down on the ground,” Cindrich said, “and he put another four in him.”

Cindrich won, arguing self-defense and noting that the victim — “Just a nasty character,” he said — was known to carry a hook knife in his back pocket.

“We argued it more as a benefit to society because he was a bad guy.”

Happily for Cindrich, his clients still are involved in brutal, violent acts, but it now revolves around the controlled chaos of the NFL.

VETERAN NEGOTIATOR

Cindrich has been negotiating contracts for NFL players for a quarter-century, starting with former Pitt lineman Glenn Hyde, who signed a deal in the 1970s with the long-defunct WFL’s Chicago Fire. The Fire’s general manager was Bill Polian, now the president of the Indianapolis Colts.

This year, Cindrich and Polian were back at the bargaining table, hammering out a six-year, $40 million deal, with a $10 million signing bonus, for offensive tackle Tarik Glenn, the largest contract awarded in the NFL this year.

Former Pitt offensive lineman and Outland Trophy winner Mark May was one of Cindrich’s first high-profile clients in 1981. But it was more than a cold, business relationship. The two men became friends, their families vacationed together and Cindrich was the best man at May’s wedding.

Four years later, Cindrich worked out a deal for another Pitt lineman that was and still is one of the most creative and lucrative in NFL history.

The year was 1985, and Cindrich had landed two top college players, Penn Hills’ Bill Fralic and wide receiver Al Toon, who were drafted second and 10th, respectively, in the first round.

The Fralic deal with the Falcons was unique in that it was written to yield a $150,000 annual payment long after the end of his playing career. In fact, for the rest of his life.

“Every January, when he wakes up, he has a check for $150,000 coming,” Cindrich said.

For Cindrich, his 3 percent fee was nice, but it cost him an entire bottle of Pepto Bismol to finalize the deal.

Trouble was, Falcons general manager Tom Braatz, loved to drink beer.

“The word about him was if you drink beer with him, you’ll go under,” Cindrich said. “He could drink all night long and look like a choir boy in the morning. We had three or four meetings and each time, he said, ‘Let’s have a beer.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want a beer.’ ”

Sober, the men failed to come to an agreement. One day, Cindrich invited Braatz to go fishing on an Avella pond that sat on land owned by Cindrich’s father.

“I take two cases of Iron City beer, we get hammered and do that deal, probably, within an hourn-and-a-half,” Cindrich said.

But before setting out on the water, Cindrich drank a full bottle of Pepto Bismol to coat his stomach.

“I tried to pace myself and he kept shoving them in front of me. It was the first and last time I’ve ever done that.”

RULES MUST BE BROKEN

In world of negotiating, compromise is critical. So, Cindrich compromises some of his values in order to survive — and thrive — in the business.

Two years ago, he said he never would have made arrangements for a client to purchase a car. He does now, just to keep up with rival agents.

“That’s so neandarthal, so prehistoric in this business that you can’t survive,” he said. “That I survived through that amazes me. Whether it’s against your good judgement or not, if you don’t do that you’re not competitive.”

Now, Cindrich said the “worst” favor he’ll do for a client is arrange for a line of credit and/or a vehicle.

“Even though, if it were my son, I wouldn’t do it, but to be competitive, I would do it,” he said.

Not that Cindrich has always been a boy scout.

His associate, Greg Diulus, remembers the time when “we out-Al Davised, Al Davis.”

It involved the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ desire to trade offensive lineman Paul Gruber to Davis’ Raiders at the NFL’s trading deadline in 1993.

Gruber didn’t want to play for the Raiders, but the Raiders called Cindrich and said, “He’s coming to us. Here’s the money. That’s it.”

When the time came for Gruber to sign the papers to finalize the contract and complete the trade, Cindrich purposely had Gruber wait in the Buccaneers’ parking lot until after the 4 o’clock trading deadline. Since the trade was officially late, the NFL Players Association voided the deal, and Gruber remained in Tampa for more money, Cindrich said.

Davis’ reaction?

“Mad is kind,” Cindrich said.

A RICH STABLE

Cindrich and his firm, Cindrich and Company, have flourished for years, but especially since the NFL ventured into the era of free agency in 1993. In the first two years alone, he negotiated more than $120 million worth of contracts, according to his records.

About 10 years ago, The Sporting News compiled a list of the 100 most powerful people in sports. Steelers president Dan Rooney was 37th. Cindrich was 49th. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was 65th.

Cindrich’s stable of clients includes some of the highest-paid players in the NFL, including Glenn and Denver Broncos quarterback Brian Griese. Two years ago, the first big-money deal of that year’s free-agency signing period went to quarterback Jeff Blake, a Cindrich client who got a four-year, $17 million contract from the New Orleans Saints. Center Jeff Christy got an average of $3.5 million from the Buccaneers. Offensive lineman Harry Swayne got a $5 million signing bonus from the Baltimore Ravens in 1998 when he was 34-years-old.

When Steelers linebacker James Farrior was a rookie with the New York Jets in 1997, Farrior fired his original agent, who couldn’t get a signing bonus included in his initial contract. Farrior hired Cindrich, who proceeded to negotiate a $4.02 million signing bonus. Five years later, Steelers officials will tell you that Cindrich’s patience while the team ebated whether to re-sign Earl Holmes helped Farrior get the job as Holmes’ replacement.

This year, Cindrich represents four of the top offensive lineman in the draft — Ohio State center LeCharles Bentley, Texas A&M center Seth McKinney and Miami guard and tackle Martin Bibla and Joaquin Gonzalez — plus Iowa running back Ladell Betts and Nevada quarterback David Neill.

Perhaps none will get drafted in the first round and Cindrich will have to soothe some hurt feelings if the wait lasts longer than anticipated.

“When they sit and they watch, and they go through the agony of seeing other people drafted, it kills them,” he said.

Somehow, Cindrich will find the right words.

Just like he did the other day while speaking to Gonzalez, who has made a good accounting of himself during his pre-draft visits with several NFL teams.

“You’re selling your (butt) off, man,” he told Gonzalez. “If you don’t make it in the football business, we’ll make you an agent.”

Trev Alberts Former NFL linebacker and CNN/SI football analyst
Kurt Angle WWF wrestler and U.S. Olympic gold medalist
Jeff Blake NFL quarterback
Jeff Christy Tampa Bay Buccaneers center Jeff Christy
Dermontti Dawson Former Steelers center
Roger Duffy Former Steelers offensive lineman
James Farrior Steelers linebacker
Tarik Glenn Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle
Brian Griese Denver Broncos quarterback
Justin Kurpeikis Steelers linebacker
Mark May CBS-TV football commentator
Tom Myslinski Former Steelers offensive lineman
Jerry Olsavsky Former Steelers linebacker
Marc “Bubba” Snider WWF wrestler and producer, WBZZ-FM
Jim Sweeney Former Steelers offensive lineman
Will Wolford Former Steelers offensive lineman