Headlinin': Campaign-finance probe has Fiesta Bowl felling the heat

Making the morning rounds.

• The design police have some questions about that trophy, too. Longtime Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker has been placed on paid administrative leave in response to ongoing investigations by the bowl's board of directors, the Arizona attorney general's office and possibly the IRS into charges that Junker directed illegal campaign contributions from employees. The state AG's office launched its probe last year in response to an Arizona Republic article that claimed bowl employees contributed $38,000 to various politicians between 2000 and 2009 that were later reimbursed by the Fiesta Bowl – a drop in the bucket compared to the millions the bowl spent over the same period to (legally) wine, dine and otherwise fete the same power brokers, but still a potential violation of campaign-finance laws that prohibit contributions by "non-profit" organizations.

Along the same lines, there's no word whether Junker's $592,000 annual salary or the $120,000 worth of zero-interest loans he and a then-vice president for marketing took from the bowl in the early 2000s are part of the probe(s). But it seems unlikely the bowl would also feel the need to hire a high-profile defense attorney – Nathan J. Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who once ran the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division – over $38,000. [Arizona Republic]

• All hail Coach Napoleon. Mega recruit Jadeveon Clowney, now officially a Gamecock after signing with South Carolina on Monday, opened up to Fox Sports' Thayer Evans on the spectacle of his recruitment – in particular, the day Rock Hill, SC, flipped its wig for Alabama coach Nick Saban's visit to recruit Clowney last December. Jadeveon was less impressed: “I don’t see no big deal like everybody else,” he said. "They'd say, 'He's the king of all of football.' The guy ain't nothing but 5-5. He's a short guy. Everybody’s going crazy on Nick Saban." And after the King of All Football arrived at the Clowney home? "Nick Saban's going to take over and talk," Clowney said. "He talked the whole time he was there. I was dozing off. He can talk. A lot. He talked for a whole straight hour." But at the end of the day, Mama Clowney still had to veto Alabama herself because of the distance from home. [FoxSports]

• Another Vol bites the dust. Tennessee defensive end Ben Martin, a former five-star recruit who missed all of 2010 due to a preseason Achilles injury, will undergo surgery later this week after suffering the same injury in his other leg during a Monday morning workout. Martin is the third potential defensive starter on ice in less than a week, following safeties Janzen Jackson (personal issues) and Brent Brewer, who remains suspended for allegedly "shov[ing]" and "strangling" a female in his apartment over the weekend. But coach Derek Dooley isn't so pessimistic about the rapid-fire attrition: "I've never seen Ben Martin practice one down since he's been here," Dooley said. "To sit there and say we’ve got an all-conference end coming back is a little bit absurd to me." It's absurd to all-conference voters, too, because Martin was never voted all-conference before his injury. [Knoxville News Sentinel]

• Schlichter charged (again). Former Ohio State All-American Art Schlichter is expected to surrender himself to authorities this morning after being charged with a first-degree felony on Monday, the result of an ongoing investigation into a ticket scheme that allegedly swindled millions from dozens of investors.

One of those was a Dublin, Ohio, widow who told the Columbus Dispatch last week that she nearly committed suicide when she realized Schlichter – who she said she met when he spoke at her church about turning his life around following his release from a 10-year prison sentence for repeated fraud and theft in 2006 – wasn't going to pay back the $1 million she loaned him for what she thought was an honest business deal. Schlichter has been in and out of rehab and prison and under more or less constant investigation for nearly 30 years. [Columbus Dispatch]

Quickly… Duane Akina leaves Arizona for Texas, for eligible for the draft, after all. … Keary Colbert decided he wants to give the NFL another shot, too, rather than become USC's wide receivers coach. … And Terrelle Pryor finds his valentine.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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