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Alabama Coach Nick Saban started throwing stones at the agents who jeopardize the eligibility of college players, and Ralph Cindrich, an agent for N.F.L. players, picked up those stones and threw them right back

Saban, who guided the Crimson Tide to the national championship last season, referred to some agents as pimps Wednesday at the annual gathering of members of the news media before the Southeastern Conference football season.

“I don’t know that I would disagree with him about some agents as pimps, but all I know is there are coaches who would also fall in that category,” said Cindrich, who represents the Jets’ D’Brickashaw Ferguson, among others. “I would never tolerate nor permit Saban or any other coach to lump me in that category.

“In terms of him throwing that out there, most agents know what goes on in college programs and what programs are clean or not. You want to find out who has the dirty programs, give immunity and go off the record with agents, and it would be like a cockfight, the last one standing wins.

“There are ways to determine the truth of allegations out there.”

Saban unloaded on agents because the N.C.A.A. and the SEC are investigating allegations that Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus received improper benefits from an agent. Dareus is projected as a first-round pick in the 2011 N.F.L. draft, but he could lose his college eligibility if the allegations prove to be true.

Saban said the N.F.L. should do a better job of policing agents. If not, he said, perhaps N.F.L. scouts and agents should be banned from campuses and be made to evaluate players some other way.

“We need to create some consequences for people who are not doing the right things here, which starts with the agent, in my opinion, who is entrapping and taking advantage of young people,” Saban said. “There’s a lot of good agents out there that don’t do this stuff.”

There has been a barrage of accusations of agents giving benefits to college players, which has resulted in N.C.A.A. investigations at North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida this week. Southern California was severely sanctioned by the N.C.A.A. because Reggie Bush received improper benefits from an agent.

The N.C.A.A. is investigating an allegation that the former Florida offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey, a first-round pick of the Steelers, received $100,000 from an agent last December before the Gators’ Sugar Bowl game against Cincinnati. Mike Pouncey, his twin brother, said here that the allegation was false.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that the N.C.A.A. is investigating whether Georgia players received improper benefits from agents.

“It’s an epidemic, and the epidemic needs to get fixed,” said Urban Meyer, the Florida coach. Meyer said the Gators have security around the team, not to keep away fans, but to keep agents and their representatives from contacting players.

Mike Slive, the commissioner of the SEC, said it was time to re-examine the N.C.A.A. rules related to agents, but he also said, “I don’t mean in a moment to excuse conduct that is inappropriate by student-athletes.”

Brad Blank, a Boston-based agent, said banning agents and N.F.L. teams from campus will only embolden those operating outside the rules.

“The solution is not to ban the N.F.L. and agents, it is to get the administration and coaches more involved in educating the players and bringing the agents into a proper forum,” Blank said. “There are programs where they have a period where agents can visit the players, but it is all done right in front of the coaches, and it gives the guys who are going to try and slip in the back of a dorm less of an advantage.”

Cindrich said improprieties involving agents and players work both ways. Many states have laws to prosecute agents who offer benefits, but the players and their families need to bear some of the responsibility for taking those gifts, he said.

“The players don’t have criminal liability for any of this improper contact, and each and every one of them is of age to face penalty,” Cindrich said. “If you look back at each landmark case on this issue, each and every one of the players knew what they were doing.”

nytimes.com