No, seriously. This is actually happening.
Two weekends ago, a report surfaced that the NCAA would be issuing a Notice of Allegations to the Miami Hurricanes in connection to improper benefits involving both the football and basketball programs. That issuance was expected as early as a week ago Monday; since that report, there’s been nothing but crickets chirping as far as the ear could hear.
Today, we now know why the Notice of Allegations has been delayed, and the reasons behind the delay paint the NCAA in an even more negative light than it already has been over the past few years.
In a press release, the NCAA announced that its “national office has uncovered an issue of improper conduct within its enforcement program that occurred during the University of Miami investigation.” In other words, the NCAA violated NCAA bylaws in its investigation of an NCAA member. The genesis for the improper conduct seems to stem almost solely from documents obtained by the NCAA from bankruptcy proceedings involving Nevin Shapiro, the former UM booster who allegedly lavished millions of dollars in impermissible benefits on Hurricane football (mainly) and basketball players.
From the release:Former NCAA enforcement staff members worked with the criminal defense attorney for Nevin Shapiro to improperly obtain information for the purposes of the NCAA investigation through a bankruptcy proceeding that did not involve the NCAA.
As it does not have subpoena power, the NCAA does not have the authority to compel testimony through procedures outside of its enforcement program. Through bankruptcy proceedings, enforcement staff gained information for the investigation that would not have been accessible otherwise.
As a result of misconduct on the part of his enforcement staff -- conduct that he says “angered and saddened” him -- president Mark Emmert confirmed that the NCAA “will not move forward with a Notice of Allegations against Miami until all the facts surrounding this issue are known.”
An external review of the NCAA’s enforcement program has been commissioned by Emmert. Kenneth L. Wainstein, a partner with the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, has been retained by the NCAA and will be charged with conducting “a thorough investigation into the current issue as well as the overall enforcement environment, to ensure operation of the program is consistent with the essential principles of integrity and accountability.”
Emmert hopes that the review will be completed in a period of 7-10 days.
“Trust and credibility are essential to our regulatory tasks,” said Emmert. “My intent is to ensure our investigatory functions operate with integrity and are fair and consistent with our member schools, athletics staff and most importantly our student-athletes.”
Regardless of how long this external review takes, it’s yet another delay in an investigation that’s more than two years in the making.
Shapiro first came to the NCAA’s attention in August of 2010, with reports surfacing that the convicted felon was writing a tell-all book in which he was alleging former Hurricane players had committed major NCAA violations. In August of the next year, the NCAA’s investigation became public knowledge; a Yahoo! Sports report that same month had Shapiro claiming he spent “millions of dollars” on six dozen UM student-athletes, with the benefits ranging from “cash, prostitutes, entertainment in [Shapiro’s] multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and on one occasion, an abortion.”
In February of 2012, Shapiro, apparently agitated that nearly four dozen individuals connected to The U were lined up to testify against him in his federal trial, promised to take “that program down to Chinatown” and that the Miami story will become “an urban legend” before it’s all said and done.
Shapiro was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison for orchestrating what was in the neighborhood of a $1 billion Ponzi scheme. The damage outside the courtroom, though, had already been done.
Miami has already self-imposed a bowl ban each of the past two seasons in an attempt to soften potential NCAA sanctions, although it was holding off on self-imposing scholarship reductions and other punitive measures for the time being. How this latest revelation by the NCAA will affect a Notice of Allegations -- if there even is one -- remains to be seen.
Per the NCAA, a NOA is sent to notify a member institution that enough evidence exists that major violations have occurred and that The Association is moving forward in the process. Some have asked whether misconduct on the part of the investigative staff will result in some sort of a “mistrial” for Miami’s case.
“It’s premature to answer that question,” Emmert said on a conference call Wednesday, adding, “this is a shocking affair.”
If/when Miami receives its NOA from the NCAA -- Emmert said during the conference call that information obtained surreptitiously was a very small part of the case and would be “thrown out” -- they will have 90 days to respond. Following that response, UM will appear in front of the Committee on Infractions to answer the allegations. Typically 6-8 weeks thereafter, the NCAA will issue its findings and any sanctions will be revealed.