Immediate Reactions to Yahoo's Nevin Shapiro Story

by rayrayrayrayrayrayrayray on Aug 16, 2011 7:49 PM EDT

***This post has already been updated***

Well then! This ought to be fun.

First thing to remember for Miami fans: Yahoo's investigative reporting staff is extremely talented, thorough and well respected. Their track record speaks for itself. Proceed with that in mind.
The NCAA's investigation is going to take a long time. We're not sure right now which, if any, information in Charles Robinson's story is new to the NCAA. Robinson and Yahoo's staff spoke to a lot of sources, we also don't know which of those sources have also spoken to the NCAA.
The first thing that Miami needs to do is find out the extent of Shapiro's involvement with players currently on the team. Here's the list of current players that according to Robinson had contact with Shapiro: Ray Ray Armstrong, Travis Benajmin, Dyron Dye, Marcus Forston, Jacory Harris, Aldarius Johnson, JoJo Nicolas, Adewale Ojomo, Marcus Robinson, Sean Spence, Vaughn Telemaque, and Olivier Vernon. Yahoo has yet to provide any specifics on any incidents involving these players, although Robinson does note in his story that a few of those players were "delivered" to Shapiro so he could make "recruiting pitches." That specific allegation could really entail anything, and Miami needs to get to the bottom of what exactly went on, so that it can make its own judgement on whether or not those players are eligible to play this season, if the NCAA doesn't do that first.
It seems as if the lavishness of Shapiro's gifts tailed off towards the end of the decade. My best guess here is that any involvement with current players was on the more innocuous side of things (think paid dinners) which means that they may get suspended in some fashion. The host of Ohio State players that traded memorabilia for tattoos, as well as Georgia's A.J. Green, who sold a jersey for money, were both suspended for about half of a season. In my estimation, that's what we'll be looking at with any current player.

Again, the scope of this story is still untold, as Yahoo is teasing further details. But it seems, as it pertains to any penalties from the NCAA, that a lot of the corroborating evidence beyond a reasonable doubt rests in the hands of eyewitness testimony. Photos and credit card statements leave lots of room for plausible deniability (i.e. photos of a player in a VIP room and credit card statements showing purchases from a club on that same night don't concretely prove that anything illegal went on), so the goal of the NCAA's investigation will be finding people that can eliminate that deniability. That will fall, most likely, on ex-players, especially ones with nothing to lose, such as Tyrone Moss, who is quoted in the story.

Miami will have to do everything it can to explain why it never bothered to look into Shapiro's dealings outside of over-the-table donations that he made to the university. This will obviously prove to be very difficult, but they'll need to do it anyway. In any event, the current administration (outside of President Donna Shalala), who have no ties to years when the allegations happened, will do everything they can to distance themselves from all of this. Whether that will have any effect is unknown.

The NCAA's four year statute of limitations has been bandied about quite a bit, but in Robinson's story he notes that the NCAA can expand its investigation beyond four years if, "information reveals that an individual tied to a university has engaged in 'a pattern of willful violations' over a sustained period beyond the previous four years." I know of no precedent for this rule, but if it was ever going to be cited, it would probably be now.

These allegations reach far out from Miami in a stunning fashion. 14 ex-players or coaches, all now currently at schools across the country, are implicated in the story. It will be very interesting to see which of the coaches are forced to resign.

We'll have more on this story, obviously, as it rolls out. And, well, we'll try and have as much fun as we can, given the circumstances.

UPDATES

Individual player pages are now live on Yahoo's site. As I predicted, most of the stuff involving current recruits are on the less sensational side of things. If the players cop to playing pool for cash at Shapiro's house they will get suspended, but probably not for the duration of the season.

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Comments

Bless you guys...

I feel like they should go slightly light on the penalty for sheer style points.

by bryemye on Aug 16, 2011 8:02 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I just read the whole story.

I’m not here to troll, but sweet Jesus this looks bad for Miami. This seems like classic lack of institutional control. Kudos for not going the “poor us” route like many fans.

It seems that you guys have cleaned house with your coaching staff, but that about the higher up bureaucrats in the athletic department? What about your compliance department?

Most importantly, what liquors and/or drugs are you using to get through this?

Jordan Jefferson for Heisman!

by Gregatron on Aug 16, 2011 8:13 PM EDT reply actions

well

the interesting thing is that the house wasn’t exactly “cleaned” in the sense that all of those ex-coaches were fired, randy shannon aside. the assistant coaches implicated as well as the athletic director all left on their own accord, so while the university is currently disassociated from those people, it’s not like it was their doing.

i’m still unsure as to what weight, if any, that carries w/ the ncaa. is it bad that miami doesn’t have fall guys? or is it good that all those guys are gone already? i’m not exactly sure.

by rayrayrayrayrayrayrayray on Aug 16, 2011 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

At present

we are in collective holy sh## mode. Soon we will be in “whoa, we are deep in this sh##”, quickly followed by Judas mode. After all, we never reaaally liked miami football it was just something to pass our time with. Then, I imagine in 15 years or so when we have shaken off the shackles of injustice and have risen from the death of sanctions, we will come out of hiding. At this point we shall cheer on J12’s son as he will announce his signing with the U and declare he will personally deliver us back to prominence.
*important asterik
*I hope Jacory has a son

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. -- the dude

by my friend bob sacamano on Aug 16, 2011 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions

i think it is probably bad there are no fall guys tbh

but I have always liked your swagger so I hope they just take it out on aOSU

I like orange and I am a dog person

by goldballs on Aug 16, 2011 11:40 PM EDT up reply actions

To answer your question

Lots of brown liqour

"Joaquin said dominate" - Edward Reed
"Without spirits the men cannot support the fatigues of a long campaign" - Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene
thetwitter

by TheDutchWonder on Aug 17, 2011 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I think we’re officially in deep shit.

by philiafan14364 on Aug 16, 2011 8:57 PM EDT reply actions

What is the worst case scenario?

A fan of everything Royals and Jaguars....................Chris Getz forever

by tiquanunderwear on Aug 16, 2011 10:26 PM EDT reply actions

a decade of mediocrity

oh wait

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. -- the dude

by my friend bob sacamano on Aug 16, 2011 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions 5 recs

yes sirreeee bob

by CGNC on Aug 17, 2011 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Nas said it best:

“Life’s a bitch & then ya die”

Best sums up how I feel rght now

Randy Shannon owes me a Liver.

by SSFDballer on Aug 16, 2011 11:33 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

This... not to be overly dramatic, but

I feel like my girlfriend of many years just broke up with me in the worst, most heart-wrenching way. This is going to take a bit of time to get over. Sucks because I had built up so much excitement for this season.

"Joaquin said dominate" - Edward Reed
"Without spirits the men cannot support the fatigues of a long campaign" - Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene
thetwitter

by TheDutchWonder on Aug 17, 2011 9:08 AM EDT up reply actions

really? you are quite the optimist! I have been in wait and see mode. Now we know where Jacory got the sweater vest outfit. (j-k, I have no idea)

by CGNC on Aug 17, 2011 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Hahaha

That’s probably the better approach, and +1 for Jacory joke. Also it looks like Stephen Morris is our guy

"Joaquin said dominate" - Edward Reed
"Without spirits the men cannot support the fatigues of a long campaign" - Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene
thetwitter

by TheDutchWonder on Aug 17, 2011 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Question on current players: Didn’t it say that when recruits were delivered for “pitches,” it was to his house or yacht? Is not a recruit on a booster and agents yacht receiving any kind of inducement a lot worse than some slipping him some cash on campus or selling a jersey under the rules and subject to much more than a 4 or 5 game suspension?

"Be polite to everyone you meet, but be prepared to kill anyone"-tc16cav

by otisnixon'sparty on Aug 17, 2011 2:27 AM EDT reply actions

i don’t remember reading anything about current players being on yachts. i’m pretty sure that the yacht business had ended by that point. for one, they’ll have to separate violations involving current players that occurred during recruitment and ones that occurred while they were officially on the team. ones that had significant improper contact (ray ray & dye come to mind) as recruits may face harsher penalties, yeah. as for the others that were at his place a few times (and enjoyed “food & drinks”) or played pool for cash or were treated dinners (jacory, spence, ojomo, telemaque etc), i don’t see how any of that is worse than the OSU’s or aj green’s situations. the only reason why i could see those guys getting harsher punishment (assuming that yahoo didn’t gloss over improper recruiting contact) is because they’re part of a much larger scandal. but, tit for tat, i don’t see much of a difference.

by rayrayrayrayrayrayrayray on Aug 17, 2011 7:03 AM EDT up reply actions

I was just talking about the recruits, so yeah I guess I am on the right page.

"Be polite to everyone you meet, but be prepared to kill anyone"-tc16cav

by otisnixon'sparty on Aug 17, 2011 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Remember those 24+ solid verbal commits?

…not for long.

"Joaquin said dominate" - Edward Reed
"Without spirits the men cannot support the fatigues of a long campaign" - Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene
thetwitter

by TheDutchWonder on Aug 17, 2011 9:16 AM EDT reply actions

An Alabama fan on the NCAA Statute of Limitations

Sorry to be the one to tell you but there is precedent here. Go look at the UA/Albert means case from 10 years ago. The NCAA went back to the mid 90’s on us to establish a “pattern of willful violations”. The Statute itself is 4 years unless there is a pattern. Same booster doing the same thing since 2001 and the NCAA has Receipts, Photo’s, Corroboration from multiple sources? I hope you escape it, I really do but as an outsider I don’t see that happening.

oh and btw thanks for Pannunzio and Stoutland but I expect they will be available for work again soon

by Karenia brevis on Aug 17, 2011 9:37 AM EDT reply actions

LOL Pannunzio will be no great loss to you

by CGNC on Aug 17, 2011 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Ditto Stoutland

/we are effed.

"Joaquin said dominate" - Edward Reed
"Without spirits the men cannot support the fatigues of a long campaign" - Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene
thetwitter

by TheDutchWonder on Aug 17, 2011 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Shapiro – what a whiny little b**ch. Really. Things didn’t pan out for your thieving self and this is what you do? As far as adm goes, how much can you hold the higher ups accountable? Unless they follow players around 24\7 how do you know everything they do? And how can it be an infraction if someone invites you to a dinner or bbq? Or if you sell something that was yours to begin with? This is nowhere in the same league as Auburn paying for Cam Newton. Just venting…….

by CGNC on Aug 17, 2011 9:40 AM EDT reply actions

If the allegations are true, the AD and complaince officer would have to be wearing one these at all times to not notice.

http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/Sensory_Deprivator_5000

As a SMU alumna I know how it feels.

ATX

by Atownatx on Aug 17, 2011 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually

Theres allegations that he (Shapiro) played a monetary hand in recruiting. So that element is there too :-(. Miami is everything from the past scandal ridden year in college football wrapped into a ball.

by KKharisma on Aug 17, 2011 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Network Bar

The 7th Floor -

Perpetually cringing at forward passes