Cal jimmy
Sophomore
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2012
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Nocera writes for the New York Times and he had another piece a few weeks ago that I posted. He is an ardent critic of the NCAA who is both articulate and, I believe, influential. He offers high praise for President Shalala.
February 20, 2013, 12:23 pm9 Comments
The Miami Mess, Unraveled
Wikimedia Commons
University of Miami president Donna Shalala.
I don’t do this very often – and certainly not as often as I should – but this blog post, by Vishnu Parasuraman, who writes for a University of Miami fan site called Sebastian’s Pub, is worth a read. It is a devastating analysis of the N.C.A.A.’s bogus investigation into its own unethical behavior in conducting its investigation of the University of Miami’s basketball and football programs. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
And while we’re on the subject…Yesterday the N.C.A.A. sent its “notice of allegations” to the University and to the various parties who had been accused of wrongdoing by embittered former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, who is now in jail for running a Ponzi scheme. Although the N.C.A.A. allegations have not been made public, the Associated Press reported that they include that most dreaded of accusations, “lack of institutional control.” The technical term for this is “the pot calling the kettle black.”
For the second day in a row, Donna Shalala, the university president, has done something I have never seen before from a university president dealing with the N.C.A.A.: she has pushed back hard, publicly accusing the N.C.A.A. of running a rogue investigation, and making it plain that Miami will not roll over and play dead, the way most schools do when facing even the most absurd N.C.A.A. allegations. If other presidents are willing to join her in speaking up, they might finally do what they should have done years ago: retake control of an organization they ostensibly run, but which has long since run off the rails.
Check out her statement below:
STATEMENT FROM UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PRESIDENT DONNA E. SHALALA ON N.C.A.A. NOTICE OF ALLEGATIONS
The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those N.C.A.A. violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.
Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the N.C.A.A. enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the N.C.A.A. interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the N.C.A.A. acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated.
Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:
* Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The N.C.A.A. enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation “corroborated”—an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice.
* Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro’s claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations. Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the N.C.A.A. enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well—the facts did not.
* The N.C.A.A. enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred. How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics?
* Finally, we believe the N.C.A.A. was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation.
Let me be clear again: for any rule violation—substantiated and proven with facts—that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable. We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions.
We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.
The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period.
We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process.
February 20, 2013, 12:23 pm9 Comments
The Miami Mess, Unraveled
Wikimedia Commons
University of Miami president Donna Shalala.
I don’t do this very often – and certainly not as often as I should – but this blog post, by Vishnu Parasuraman, who writes for a University of Miami fan site called Sebastian’s Pub, is worth a read. It is a devastating analysis of the N.C.A.A.’s bogus investigation into its own unethical behavior in conducting its investigation of the University of Miami’s basketball and football programs. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
And while we’re on the subject…Yesterday the N.C.A.A. sent its “notice of allegations” to the University and to the various parties who had been accused of wrongdoing by embittered former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, who is now in jail for running a Ponzi scheme. Although the N.C.A.A. allegations have not been made public, the Associated Press reported that they include that most dreaded of accusations, “lack of institutional control.” The technical term for this is “the pot calling the kettle black.”
For the second day in a row, Donna Shalala, the university president, has done something I have never seen before from a university president dealing with the N.C.A.A.: she has pushed back hard, publicly accusing the N.C.A.A. of running a rogue investigation, and making it plain that Miami will not roll over and play dead, the way most schools do when facing even the most absurd N.C.A.A. allegations. If other presidents are willing to join her in speaking up, they might finally do what they should have done years ago: retake control of an organization they ostensibly run, but which has long since run off the rails.
Check out her statement below:
STATEMENT FROM UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PRESIDENT DONNA E. SHALALA ON N.C.A.A. NOTICE OF ALLEGATIONS
The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those N.C.A.A. violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.
Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the N.C.A.A. enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the N.C.A.A. interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the N.C.A.A. acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated.
Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:
* Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The N.C.A.A. enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation “corroborated”—an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice.
* Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro’s claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations. Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the N.C.A.A. enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well—the facts did not.
* The N.C.A.A. enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred. How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics?
* Finally, we believe the N.C.A.A. was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation.
Let me be clear again: for any rule violation—substantiated and proven with facts—that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable. We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions.
We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.
The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period.
We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process.
