Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football [Hardcover]

Josh Luchs (Author), James Dale (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 27, 2012

For fifteen years, sports agent Josh Luchs made illegal deals with numerous college athletes, from top-tier, nationally recognized phenoms to late-round draft picks. Flagrantly flaunting NCAA and NFL Players Association rules, he made no-interest loans to players in exchange for the promise of representation on their lucrative pro contracts. After cleaning up his act in 2003, he moved to a new agency, only to be targeted and pushed out of the business for a new violation-one he arguably did not commit. Then, in October 2010, Luchs wrote a confessional article in Sports Illustrated, telling the truth about what he did and didn't do.

Since then he has taken on a new role: whistle-blowing, truth-telling reformer. And in telling his own story, Luchs pulls back the curtain on the real economy of college football: how agents win players legally and otherwise, the staggering sums colleges make from an unpaid workforce, the shortfalls of supposed full-ride scholarships, and the myth of a college education given to scholarship jocks. Including new information about major players and scandalized programs such as USC, Auburn, and Ohio State, this book pulls no punches. It's a stunning and necessary read for anyone who loves the game, and the first step toward fixing a broken system.

Praise for Josh Luchs' Sports Illustrated story:

"There are no innocents in all this-including Luchs. The difference now is Luchs isn't claiming to be innocent." -John Feinstein, Washington Post

"[Luchs pulls] the inner workings of an oily business out of the shadows."-Pat Forde, ESPN

"A must-read."-New York Times

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Illegal Procedure:

"Get ready for the wildest ride in sports literature. Josh Luchs takes you through two decades of what goes on behind the scenes in sports: where the money comes from, how it's handed out, where it goes, and what it means. Not only does Luchs name names, but he tells detailed stories and anecdotes. Just as the Valachi Papers helped to weaken the mob,  this story may help clean up some of the shady dealings in college football. It's a must read."—John Clayton, ESPN

"With unflinching honesty and no holds barred, Illegal Procedure would be an entertaining and enlightening read at any time. Considering the NCAA scandals of the last couple years, it's now an important one also. This is the reality college sports, not the charade presented on TV."—Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports

"Josh Luchs dared to go where few had gone before and in the process exposed some very ugly truths about the sports agent business."—Morgan Spurlock, award-winning director of Super Size Me and The Dotted Line

"Josh Luchs’ invaluable work has opened up new vistas for us as policy makers, politicians, and education and sports administrators. As we strive to protect student-athletes from exploitation, I'd like to thank Josh for doing all that he has to break this abusive cycle and to inject more integrity and honor into big-time collegiate sports."—U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush

 

"In my informed opinion, as someone who has experienced up-close and personal the backroom deals that occasionally pervade big-time college football, Josh's pronouncements are incontrovertible and provide an entertaining inspection of the world of the ‘student athlete.’" —Brian Jones, former NFL linebacker and college football analyst, CBS Sports

 

"Nobody knows better than Luchs just how crooked college football is….this should be in demand." – Library Journal

 

"[Luchs] writes (assisted by co-author Dale) with humor [and] honesty…A troubling, entertaining indictment of the hypocrisy of big-time sports." – Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

JOSH LUCHS was a sports agent from 1990-2008, before being suspended by the NFL Players' Association. He now works as in commercial real estate in Encino, CA.

JAMES DALE has collaborated on books with Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer and renowned sports agent Ron Shapiro. His book with Johns Hopkins cardiologist Dan Munoz is forthcoming this year. He is also the author of The Obvious: Everything You Need to Know About Business. Period.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (March 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1608197204
• ISBN-13: 978-1608197200
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Sports & Entertainment

More About the Author

Josh Luchs began his career as a sports agent at the tender age of nineteen. Young, driven and smart, he had already forged the connections needed to begin his career. Unfortunately in his mid-20's, Luchs lost both his parents within months of each other. The balance between dealing with personal tragedy, losing a potential big client, and catering to the superficial needs of young athletes put him in a position where he began to re-evaluate his life and career decisions. Eight years later, he was involved in a civil dispute that again put Luchs in a situation where he began to doubt his outlook on the industry. Leading up to the present, Luchs recently gave a candid interview to Sports Illustrated (SI). He was not only exposed the questionable relationships between sports agents and college football players, but also showed the world how he struggled with many difficult decisions to achieve his goals. Throughout his career, he faced many ethical dilemmas and gained invaluable life lessons from these experiences. Luchs started out as a determined businessman who would use every resource imaginable to excel. Over time, he learned that working hard to reach goals is admirable, but asks the questions "Do you need to cross the line to succeed?"

Although it is a widely unspoken notion that players often get paid and pampered to sign with agents, Luchs was the first and only agent to expose exactly how these relationships formed. His courage to speak out against these illegal interactions gives him the ability to make impressionable lectures, highlighting the struggles that made him who he is today. He aims to help current and future college athletes avoid jeopardizing amateur status by bringing to focus the tricks and methods agents have to secure these young athletes.

Despite the controversial topics he discusses, Luchs' SI interview averaged a 10:1 positive to negative sentiment ratio. His revolutionary cover story showcased his courage and drive to share the truth about the industry. His story has blown up with coverage from media such as USA Today¸ The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, and Houston Chronicle. Luch's gave an interview with Bernard Goldberg on the Emmy-winning show Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO. He was also featured in the NFL Films documentary "The Dotted Line" that was directed by Morgan Spurlock. In addition, television channels such as CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox Business channel have covered Josh's story, helping TV viewership reach well over 30 million people.

Luchs captivated his audiences with his narratives from recruiting and with his details about what occurs during the high stakes competition to land top clients. He not only helps young athletes avoid threatening situations but also encourages a change in the current system with the new generations to come.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking Sports Agent's Tell-All Is A Must-Read March 27, 2012

By The Legal Blitz

Format:Hardcover

Since reading Jim Bouton's, Ball Four there have not been many sports "tell-alls" that have excited me. Most of these books feel like a last-ditch attempt to scream, "Look at me!" to jump back into the spotlight for another five minutes. Most books in this so-called genre are told with ulterior motives and most lack any sort of story-telling flow or valuable revelations. So I was at first skeptical of Josh Luchs' new book, Illegal Procedure: A Sports Agent Comes Clean On The Dirty Business of College Football, which hit bookshelves today. But ever since the earth-shaking Sports Illustrated cover story in which Luchs first revealed just how extensively NCAA rules are flaunted in college football, Luchs has been nothing but consistent in his message, and steadfast in his desire to shine a spotlight on all of the gritty underpinnings of the sports agent industry.

Like bed bugs on a thousand-dollar mattress, Luchs exposes the skin-crawling truth under the glamorous surface of being a sports agent in a straight forward, yet entertaining manner in Illegal Procedure.

At times it is hard to believe that this naďve Jewish kid growing up in Beverly Hills, a real schmegegge at times, could do things like give an NFL star clean urine for a drug test or tap into his Bar Mitzvah money to bribe a college athlete. Yet while you want to hate the messenger, a man who admittedly flaunted almost every rule in the book, Luchs' honest and self-deprecating narration makes the reader empathize with an agent just trying to succeed in a broken system. Luchs masterfully weaves his personal life into this nonstop shocker of admissions and revelations about just how crooked the business of college football really is. He does so by dishing out the truth about hypocritical college coaches like Nick Saban, who grants his own agent unlimited access to the locker room while publicly referring to agents as "pimps," or devout Christian Jim Tressel, who rigged summer camp raffles to make sure his top recruits won prizes. Nobody is safe. NCAA Compliance Officers, NFLPA executives and even the hallowed lawyer are all exposed.

The best part about this book, though, is that it isn't just a tell-all. Luchs proposes a slew of well-designed proposals to fix the current, shattered state of big-time college athletics. There is a lot to learn from this book and it should be required reading for not only everyone in the sports industry, but everyone who cares about the well-being of college athletes, the game of football and the institutions that make up the NCAA.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great, fast read April 20, 2012

By waretare

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The perfect beach book. Fast, engrossing plot.

Unfortunatly never gets too technical, and it should have described the details of the back and forth negotiations.

Overall, the book lives ups to its promise. If you ever considered becoming a sports agent, or if you want to see the underside of college sports - this is the book for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Expose on College Sports April 20, 2012

By Schaps

Format:Hardcover

As a casual sports fan, at best, I was thoroughly entertained by and engaged in Illegal Procedure. Former sports agent Josh Luchs is a compelling character. On the surface, Luchs seems like someone you would hate, but through the book's easy style and tone, I was drawn into the stories of his life and found myself rooting for him to make the deal and land the "ungettable" players. I didn't realize there was such a dark side to college sports and before reading this I had no idea the machinations that go on behind the scenes to get players cars, funnel money to their families, or how coaches are involved in getting players to their favorite agents and what they expect in return. The amazing thing to me was that everyone in college sports is involved - from the high school coaches to the families to the university athletic departments to the agents. Luchs is just the first to come clean. But this isn't simply a story about what's wrong with college sports. James Dale and Luchs put forward suggestions on how to fix the system. For non-sports fans and rabid fans alike, Illegal Procedures is a great read.