University of Miami football program in serious trouble

[MikeO]

Thats right, The FEDS and YAHOO made the whole thing up. 
 
They had nothing better to do

[Phishfan]

these guys go to all kinds of parties, can walk anywhere on campus or downtown have all kinds of women throwing themselves at them, walk into any club at the front of the line, and don't pay for anything.

so they now need someone to hire prostitutes for sex? doesn't make sense...

Don't think inside the box so much. Politicians, actors, athletes, rocks stars, etc have all paid for sex. They didn't need to. They just do. You may think it is irrational but it is a very common occurrence.

The old joke rings so true in cases like theirs. "You aren't paying them for the sex, you are paying them to leave afterwards."

[JVides]

Thats right, The FEDS and YAHOO made the whole thing up. 
 
They had nothing better to do

Mike, what people are trying to say is this:

Shapiro has pictures of himself with players at clubs.  That in and of itself is not a violation.  He has pictures of himself on a boat and what appears to be his house with players.  Those are not necessarily violations.  Shapiro has phone calls and text messages with players.  That is not a violation.  Shapiro has receipts from hotels, strip clubs, stores, etc...but none of these receipts prove anything other than he spent a lot of money, which the Miami New Times documented in December.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-12-16/news/nevin-shapiro-miami-s-caligula/

Shapiro does not have receipts that directly tie to payments allegedly received by players.  At this moment, you cannot look at a receipt and say "yep, that was the money he gave Vince Wilfork".

Miami looks guilty, probably is guilty, but nothing here is "dead to rights" as far as I can see, especially nothing from the last 4 years (while that may not matter much, it may still mean something to the NCAA if it can be shown Miami had its house in order during the Shannon years).

[Phishfan]

if a booster is a co-owner for a nightclub/restaurant establishment and a party is hosted there is that against the rules? if t boone pickens hosts a bbq party at his home for an okie state players event is that against the rules. it's not black and white as folks would like to see this, and its a mess because of the ncaa.

The rule is black and white. There can be no meals at commerical sites/restaurants. Infrequent, occassional meals at home are fine and can even be catered and include the entire team. The key is that it must be a special circumstance (which may lead to a grey are of definition).

[Dave Gray]

There is so much circumstantial evidence to which we're privy, not to mention whatever pictures he has that haven't been released.  It's not just a receipt or a picture.  It's having both of those on the same day.

Digital pictures have meta-data attached to them that timestamp pictures.  If those pictures on the boat also coincide with hookers, plus receipts that show that this guy flipped the bill, all on the same day, that's guilt.  That's enough to convict in court, which is a much higher standard than what's needed for punishment from the NCAA.

You'd have to sugar-coat this pretty bigtime to think that Miami isn't involved in some seriously shady shit.

[bsmooth]

The same school with a history of dozens of players illegally getting over $600,000 in benefits from the Pell Grant and other payments on top of failure to do drug testing properly.

[MikeO]

You'd have to sugar-coat this pretty bigtime to think that Miami isn't involved in some seriously shady shit.

EXACTLY!!!!

[MikeO]

lets not forget Nevin Shapiro led the team out of the tunnel TWICE at the start of games

tough to cover that up

[BigDaddyFin]

USC lost 30 schlorships and 2 years of bowls

Thats a lot!

not enough in my opinion.

[JVides]

lets not forget Nevin Shapiro led the team out of the tunnel TWICE at the start of games

tough to cover that up

Legit boosters get to do that too!  And they get sideline access, and flights on the team plane, and other benefits.  Why would Miami cover any of that up?  It's perfectly permissible, as the guy was a legit businessman (in Miami's eyes) until he wasn't.  Again, people look at the end result and say "the school should've known" and that MAY be the case, but the school compliance staff aren't going to be trolling South Beach clubs at 4 AM, aren't going to be staking out boosters' homes, aren't going to be policing what goes on off campus after their 9-5 day is over.  That's what we accountants call "inherent risk" - risk that cannot be detected by your controls because they exist outside of your control parameters.  Whatever shadiness Shapiro was engaged in on campus, sure, but short of bugging his cell phone or following him around with a PI, how would compliance know he was hanging with players off campus?  Or giving an asst coach an interest-free loan?  Heck, the main reason cited for Randy Shannon disliking the guy was what his "spies" accross town were telling him he was up to no good, and from all accounts, he pretty much severed much of this clown's access to the team (notice how all the pictures relate to guys that left before RS took over, and the allegations against current players are so meager in comparison to the older guys?) once he decided Shapiro was up to no good.

Don't get me wrong.  I know Miami is going to get crucified, but this holier than thou "you shoulda known" business is ludicrous!  Miami had less reason to investigate Shapiro than any of his defrauded investors did, the players in question quite certainly colluded to keep the higher ups in the dark.  I'm disappointed he wasn't caught, but I'm not necessarily surprised by it.  Anyone can get taken by a good enough con man.

[JVides]

And as for why Miami didn't go to the NCAA in, say, 2008 when RS tried cut Shapiro off from the team, I think the answer is simple if you think about it.  He was probably trying to get everything cleaned up (no contact with the booster, regardless of what RS knew or suspected) and get past the 4 year statute of limitations (essentially, he performed a risk analysis:  Report and get nailed to the cross or clean it up and hope enough time passes so the team is immune to future allegations).  That's my theory, anyway, not that it will make any difference now.

[Dave Gray]

JVides,

It's not a problem that Shapiro came out of the tunnel.  But what it shows is that the higher ups knew him well enough to offer than honor.  It wasn't like he was just some guy throwing these player parties independently.  He had a clear university affiliation, recognized by the team.

[JVides]

^^^Clearly, I understand this.  It's also been established that boosters that pay a certain amount are granted this benefit/honor as part of their package (I believe the threshhold is $30,000 a year).  My question is, why would the fact the University knew him mean that they would have to know what he was up to?  I know my coworkers, often spend more time with them than I do my own family, but would have no reason to know they were axe murderers (if in fact they were).

I just think the leap from "the administration knew who he was" to "the administration should've known what he was doing" is a bit much.

By the way, interesting link here.  The story's author responds to questions (some raised in this thread):

http://miami.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1254883

[Phishfan]

I just think the leap from "the administration knew who he was" to "the administration should've known what he was doing" is a bit much.

I think that term is being used to include the football & basketball staff who did know and even partook in some activities.

[Dave Gray]

Yeah, the guy is claiming that people knew, and his story is being corroborated by others, including a coach.