This article was published on Thursday, January 3, 2008 6:45 PM CST in Razorback Central
By Alex Abrams

FAYETTEVILLE -- Former Arkansas track and field star Mike Conley said Thursday that he believes his career as an agent has been permanently tarnished by a recent TV report claiming he helped purchase an SUV for running back Darren McFadden.

"On the national level, people associate my name with this incident and that's all they know about Mike Conley and that's all they will ever know," Conley told The Morning News on Thursday afternoon. "And if asked about Mike Conley, what are they going to say? 'I don't know, but he was involved in some shady deal somewhere.'

"That's going to be there at some level. It's going to follow me for the rest of my career."

Conley said he hasn't thought about whether to file a lawsuit against KARK-TV in Little Rock, which reported last Thursday that Conley helped purchase a Cadillac Escalade for McFadden and then had the vehicle put in the name of Mini Muhammad, Darren's mother.

KARK issued an apology last to Conley on Friday on its Web site for its "poor standards of reporting" and for "any distress he has experienced" because of the allegations.

"I haven't given (the idea of filing a lawsuit) any thought," Conley said. "I'm happy they apologized and put that out there. I'm pleased about that, and I haven't thought about that step (a lawsuit)."

Conley is one of the most decorated...