On page 11 of the NCAA’s report on Syracuse University, it states that neither “the representative” nor the student-athletes he admittedly paid could “provide clear information about the kind of work they actually performed.”

“Well I got paid through the YMCA of Oneida,” former Syracuse quarterback Perry Patterson said Monday in a Facebook message. “And I was on payroll for doing small jobs like mentoring a troubled teen, coaching and helping with basketball tournaments, like setting up the gym, coaching, etc.”

Patterson was first identified by The Post-Standard as one of the four football players who were either paid by an account run by the representative, identified by The Post-Standard as Jeff Cornish, the former sports director at the Y, or one who interned there. According to the report, Cornish admittedly paid only three football players and two men’s basketball players.

On Monday, Patterson admitted that he was indeed one of the three football players paid. Cornish paid a total of $8,335 to the former quarterback and four other student-athletes, according to the report.

In the report, it states that any work associated with the “Back on Track” or other mentoring programs at the YMCA was volunteer work.

But that’s not how it was made out to be for Patterson.

“Think we even signed like the normal tax papers you would sign when you start a new job,” Patterson said.

But Patterson didn’t realize the future implications this “job” would have in the NCAA’s investigation into an entire university.

“For me it was just a job,” he said. “No different than working for this hotel or at the car auction that some of us used to work at.”

Patterson said he remembers being interviewed by who he believes was the NCAA in 2007 or 2008, but added that he didn’t recall anything coming from the interview.

Patterson said that he liked Cornish and his son as people overall, but admitted he didn’t know what Cornish was into back then.

Published on March 9, 2015 at 8:29 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman