It’s… a lot. A LOT. Too much to summarize, so I’ll just quote my single favorite bit (my emphasis):
I hate the assholes at “The U,” but this story almost makes me feel bad for them (especially for the [seemingly few] athletes who weren’t dirty). I know conventional wisdom holds that no school will ever get the death penalty again, but if even 10% of this stuff is true, I could see the NCAA dusting it off.
And while the guy dishing is currently in prison for a Ponzi scheme (heh, fitting), Yahoo seems to have really done their homework (aided by federal trials for said Ponzi scheme and bankruptcy proceedings), and multiple elements have been corroborated.
I know college football is tremendously dirty, but even so, I’m amazed by the magnitude of the dirt.
I like to watch these things unfold before commenting, but I will say that once again, Yahoo Sports once again shows themselves to be the greatest investigative journalism team in sports - maybe ever.
I’m not totally clear on the NCAA rules (because they keep moving the goalposts) but if this plays out could Miami get the death penalty based on their earlier violations? Could this be another SMU?
For the NCAA to hit them with the Death Penalty one of the school’s athletic programs, doesn’t matter which, has to have committed a major violation within the last 5 years. I don’t know that the NCAA can just slap them with the Death Penalty without first meeting that condition.
That’s what did SMU in. They must have absolutely shit themselves in Dallas when they passed the Death Penalty rule in 1985 because they were meat on the table.
They violated the rules because they took improper benefits. This Shapiro guy was giving them the benefits because he was part owner of a sports agency and wanted to entice these players into signing with him, and (I’m speculating) he was a dorky little guy who wanted to hang out with jocks.
So once again, it’s largely an uproar about players getting paid. Aside from maybe the prostitution, I’m not seeing what the big deal is.
Huh? Taking benefits is against the rules. The players are suppose to be schooled on what the rules are. When you submit you eligibility application to the NCAA you are suppose to understand the rules. No big deal? Tell that to USC and OSU. What, to you, is a big deal?
I know they broke the rules. I’m saying the rules are a joke meant to support a corrupt enterprise. But that’s not going to stop ESPN’s analysts from wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth in self righteous condemnation for the next month.
Oh, I’m sure there’s academic fraud involved somewhere, to some degree. I’m sure there are a whole shitload of violations. But the main violation is going to be players getting improper benefits.
As a Miami fan, this sucks, but we’re already getting ready for the worst. The only thing that makes me feel like maybe there’s a chance it’s overblown is that there are holes in the story (based on what I read last night on a message board I can’t view at work - so, no cite), and he’s a scumbag who made his fortune out of scamming people. Now he wants to come clean? F him. And what really pisses me off if this stuff turns out to be true is that we had to deal with Coker and Shannon for 9 years (we give Ed Reed and Ken Dorsey credit for coaching the 2001 MNC team) and no bowls wins since the Smurf Bowl win in Boise on 12/31/06? The dude ran a Ponzi scheme, and his alleged investment in Miami looks to have yielded poor results, also.
Another funny thing was that a large portion of the UM fan base wanted Mike Leach to become the new coach last December, and he was practically begging for the job, but he wasn’t a good fit for Miami, apparently. Meanwhile, there’s a picture of Frank Haith (former basketball coach), Shapiro, Sebastian the Ibis, and Donna Shalala holding a nice fat check while they’re at some bowling/gladhanding event. Grrr… We’ll have to hope the NCAA doesn’t drop the hammer and we can somehow keep Al Golden as the coach through this. If we do that and he weathers the storm, we’ll be back by 2018, 2019, 2020…
The penalty probably won’t be handed down until then. It took 4 years for the NCAA to finish the USC investigation. Granted, there was some masterful stonewalling by USC, but I don’t doubt that Miami will stonewall as well.
If the allegations are true then the scandal is too big, too long lasting, and started too soon after their last scandal to not drop the bomb on Miami. I’ll hazard a guess and say the death penalty for 2017-'18, maybe 2018-'19 as well.
Missed the edit window and I wanted to add this is another indication that the current rules used by the NCAA are hopelessly flawed. These violations continue to happen and that will not stop until a fundamental change is made. Unless the NCAA is okay with the occasional cheating, in which case they need to impose the death penalty once more, just to scare everyone straight, for however short a time as it would last.
From what I read, Randy Shannon and the NCAA compliance officer (or a role similar to that) at Miami both tried to keep this guy away from the program, so that’s going back to early '07. SMU got the hammer because they had major violations within 5 years of each other. Miami’s issues with the Pell Grant scandal were over by '95. The baseball team had some issues in the past few years, but I don’t think they were major violations. Either way, Miami’s got too much to lose because of the its history with the NCAA to not be compliant with the investigators, so I can’t imagine it’ll be 4 years of a cloud hanging over Coral Gables before we hear anything.
Now, I’m always ready to believe the worst about any major college’s athletic program (including programs I LIKE, such as Notre Dame), and even readier to believe the worst of the Miami Hurricanes. So, please don’t misinterpret my question:
Why is Nevin Shapiro telling people about this NOW? Are we to believe a con artist and thief of Shapiro’s brazenness just had an attack of conscience?
I’m NOT saying he’s lying. On the contrary, I believe most of what he’s saying. I just can’t figure out what his motivation is here. Why is he telling all NOW? Did he try to call in some favors from the U. when he was first arrested for his Ponzo scheme, and find they were no longer returning his calls? Does he think the feds will cut some time off his sentence if he throws the Hurricanes under the bus?
I believe most of his claims- I just wonder, what’s his angle?
Seems to me that he has only been asked now, by an investigative journalist sniffing around. Perhaps he didnt come forward at all, just that the journalist got a whiff of a few things and decided to actually ask Shapiro, who was simply happy to answer questions.
He explicitly claims the first, as noted in the article (although it’s less the administration of the U and more the players he “helped.”) I’m sure the latter is also a huge factor; his lawyer is probably trying to paint him as the most cooperating criminal ever.
But really, I would guess that there’s a lot of “If I’m going down, I’m taking everyone else with me” at play, too.
ETA: Oh, and he’s probably trying to shift responsibility – “Someone should have stopped me!” I find it unconvincing, but there’s plenty of blame to go around!